ICANN Board, ICANN staff
and chairs of the ICANN Supporting Organizations and Advisory
Committees,
ICANN 47 was great!
ICANN meetings are complicated productions with multiple "story lines" unfolding in parallel, each with its own
challenges. In no particular order and at the risk of omitting important
events, these highlights come quickly to mind:
- Well organized and well executed
logistics. The local arrangements were quite good and all of the events
took place smoothly. This is no mean feat. As best I could tell,
the only issues that affected a significant number of people were the
disruption of Heathrow and the South African customs' insistent on a full
blank page in everyone's passport. Congratulations to the meetings team
and everyone involved.
- Excellent support from our sponsors,
ZADNA and ZACR, and from the African Union. This was a positive
experience all around and came as the result of extended and vigorous
communication and cooperation. Congratulations to
management.
- Uplifting and positive engagement with
the African community with multiple events. The Africa DNS Forum on
Friday and Saturday, a joint effort of ISOC, AFTLD and ICANN, kicked off the
extended week. The implementation of ICANN's strategy for Africa and
AFRALO Showcase and Reception on Monday kicked off the official week, followed
by the AFRALO/ARICANN Joint Meeting and Africa Untethered: The Era of Digital
Africa on Wednesday afternoon. (We also continued with the development
of regional engagement strategies for Latin America and the Middle
East.)
- The spirit that Nelson Mandela holds
over the entire continent and the very special occurrence of his 95th birthday
during our time there. Nii Quaynor gave a moving tribute to him and a
number of ICANN people participated in painting a school on Thursday morning
to observe Mandela Day.
- The signing of the new agreements with
the registries and registrars. This culminated years of discussion and
negotiation and is a big step forward. Congratulations to the
negotiating teams from the registries and registrars and to the ICANN
staff.
- A flowering of activity across all of
the SOs and ACs. The GNSO and ALAC continue to have so many events and
activities I can't begin to catalog them. SSAC is providing advice on
multiple fronts and is engaging with the entire community. ccNSO marked
its tenth anniversary and smooth transition from the strong leadership of
Lesley Cowley to the equally strong leadership of Byron Holland. RSSAC
is completing its reorganization and revitalization, and the ASO was active
with an IPv6 session on Wednesday afternoon and increasing its
plans for future
engagements.
- Extensive meetings of both the Expert
Working Group on Next Generation Directory Services lead by Jean-Francois
Baril and the second Accountability and Transparency Review Team (ATRT2) under
the leadership of Brian Cute, Avri Doria, Lise Fuhr and Alan Greenberg.
These are strategically important activities that will provide guidance on
improvements in critical areas over the coming years.
- The announcement of five presidential
strategy panels on long term critical topics. I'll not add details here;
much more will be coming forth over the next few months.
- The approval of the budget for the
Singapore hub to continue the transition from a single headquarters to
"tri-quarters" operation.
- The resolution related to metrics for
competition, consumer trust and consumer choice to initiate the fourth of the
Affirmation of Commitments reviews.
- And certainly not least are the changes
in structure and management within ICANN, particularly the creating of the new
Generic Domains Division with Akram Atallah as the divisional president, and
the arrival of Susanna Bennett as the new Chief Operating
Officer.
I last wrote to everyone at the beginning of 2012,
about a year and a half ago, reflecting on 2011 and looking ahead into
2012. The progress since
then is
remarkable.
I noted the opening of
the window for gTLD applications, the forthcoming selection of a new CEO, and
the renewal of the IANA contract. I emphasized the need for us to be
effective and for us to concentrate on cooperation and rapport in our
interactions
with our partners in the Internet ecosystem. During the time since
then:
- The gTLD
program is well underway, with
large numbers of applications through the evaluation process and delegations
into the root likely to begin before the end of this year.
- The IANA
contract renewal is well behind us.
- Fadi is now a familiar and effective
voice across the landscape.
I did not comment then on the upcoming
interactions in the Internet governance area, a definite oversight on my
part. Since then we have been heavily involved with the Internet
Governance Forum (IGF) in Baku in November, the ITU's World Conference on
International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) in Dubai in December, and the Fifth
World Telecommunications/ICT Policy Forum (WTPF) in Geneva in May. The
result was a historic change in our relationship with the ITU and a qualitative
improvement in discussions regarding Internet governance. This will be a
major theme in the coming year.
Finally, my own thinking about ICANN's
principles and posture has continued to evolve. I had spoken repeatedly
about the need for both effectiveness and efficiency, and these indeed remain
key tenets for me. We need to get our job done, we need to do it well and
we need to be efficient in our use of money and time. I had also mentioned
the need for rapport and communication with our partners in the Internet
ecosystem, ISOC, the IETF and IAB, the RIRs, W3C, et al. This point has
grown in my mind to include our interactions with *everyone*, and is part of a
broader theme, empathy. Empathy is key to effectiveness and efficiency,
and, indeed to trust as well. Do we understand the needs and desires of
the people we interact with, and do we make it clear that we not only understand
them but also appreciate them? Do they feel appreciated and well served,
even when our answers may not be the ones they're looking for?
If we're able to achieve effectiveness,
efficiency AND empathy, we will have truly arrived.
I look forward to continued progress
through the rest of 2013 and beyond. I know most of us are tired this
weekend and are either recovering or taking some well deserved time off.
Rest, recuperate and reconnect with your families, and then plunge in
again!
Cheers,
Steve Crocker
Chair, ICANN
Board of Directors