Hi-- I want to say a few things as the outgoing NA ALAC rep from the Nomcom process. I served on ALAC for two years, with my colleagues Wendy and John. It was great and I had a wonderful time and learned a lot. I came onto ALAC hoping to really try and add the end user's voice to the mix. I found ALAC in disarray. I started the icannalac website, I started a web-base voting tool, and basically concentrated on shoring up the infrastructure. Before my term ended in December 2006 I was even advocating a NARALO face to face meeting in spring 2007. But my term ended and I am not affiliated with any ALS. I entered as a real optimist; I left still hopeful but, well, disillusioned. You need to know that ICANN has a very narrow, rather geeky, mission. http://www.icann.org/new.html It is very boring to most people. Some people get involved with ICANN hoping it is something else. If you're hoping to fight spam or something, you're in the wrong place. Try IGF. http://www.intgovforum.org/ Things I learned: ICANN needs a "user's voice" to appear on its hierarchy chart. This lets the U.S. Department of Commerce (with which ICANN has a MoU - memorandum of Understanding--to actually assign names and numbers, etc http://icann.org/general/agreements.htm ) think that end users actually have a say in what happens with those names and numbers. It's true ALAC can have its say, but the "catch" is that ICANN doesn't have to listen, nor does it ever have to ask the users for advice. (Remember the name is the At Large ADVISORY Committee, so theoretically we're special). Sure they routinely ask for comments on things-- but not directly to ALAC--they issue a general request for comments from the entire Internet community. In reality, I am not convinced that a communique from ALAC holds any more weight than a comment from an interested individual. The ICANN board seldom even acknowledged receipt of our official memoranda on issues. So-- the "advisory" part has been ignored by ICANN, for the most part, in my opinion. Others may disagree. So what's the most important thing ALAC does? Actually, there are at least four things: 1. It appoints 5 members of the Nomcom. http://nomcom.icann.org/ The Nomcom is the real kingmaker--selecting a portion of the ICANN board seatholders. In the 2 years I was on, we appointed all outside people as our reps to the Nomcom. Only this year we discovered that ALAC members could fill these roles. I think this would be an excellent idea. 2. The ICANN Board is where the power is. ALAC has one non-voting seat on it, but it doesn't mean that the representative can't participate in discussions. (I believe, though, that the non-voting seatholders cannot serve on any committees.). Many of us believe that ALAC should have AT LEAST one voting seat on the ICANN board. Work for it. 3. ALAC can call for an "Issues Report." ICANN staff must then research a particular topic and write a report outlining the various issues and stakeholders involved in the particular issue. Issues Reports are important because they can be the first step in the Policy Development Process (PDP). http://www.icann.org/general/archive-bylaws/bylaws-08apr05.htm#AnnexA In Wellington (last March), ALAC asked for an issue report on Domain Name Tasting (add-drop grace period). Well, OK, ALAC couldn't decide if it wanted to start a PDP, so we asked for a staff advisory or something more watered-down than that. After months of delay we got a very short report that added nothing to our knowledge of the topic. ALAC staff at that time was an independent contractor with ICANN. I believe ALAC is still hoping to ask for a real issues report as a precursor to the PDP on the whole add-drop grace period mess. I know it came up again on a recent list posting and Bret replied he was working on something. The PDP is also where power resides. Use it. 4. Disseminate information on ICANN-- that means "warts and all." There are a lot of good people working in ICANN roles, but many times ...well, things just don't work right. Some say "there is no 'ICANN'--ICANN is just people." Hold that thought, but keep ICANN honest. I have to express disappointment about working with ICANN staff in the past. Although (congrats!) Nick is the new Executive Director of At-Large, and hopefully things will now be entirely different, he's still working under staff members that have been there for a long time. In my tenure on ALAC, there were many times some people (but not everyone) on ALAC felt that staff was actually working against it, trying to keep ALAC at the fringes and keep it from actually doing anything important. The allocation of the At Large budget is one way this happens. Make no mistake--At Large is more than just ALAC and the money is spent many ways. Make sure you understand how to make sure that the large budget allotted to At Large actually flows to the betterment of end-users. Don't do anything that is contrary to ALAC's mission. And again--keep ICANN honest. Hope this helps. It's not really clear what role RALOs will play, except to appoint ALAC members from the regions. As far as dissemination of info goes-- I think that's a requirement to be an ALS, so putting a RALO info structure in-between ALAC and the ALS's themselves doesn't seem to make much sense to me. RALO to RALO interaction may be more important though. I think it's important to get RALO reps to the ICANN meetings (spend that At-Large budget!). Again, be aware that what ICANN actually does and can do is so very technical that most people are bored to death. It's hard to get the end user interested--yet it is critically important to them. So, find a way to do that. best wishes, JP -- Jean Armour Polly http://www.netmom.com/