Darlene, The Summit Questionnaire was just finalized and the 15 areas of interest cited all relate to information that can readily be found through ICANN's homepage. Sufficient information is out there already for those that care about DNS issues. The answer is not to be found in creating a DNS for Dummies series in which 2 brief pages cover each issue -- if that approach is taken then all you will wind up with is something as useless as the "Guide to the DNS for End Users" that was prepared by an ICANN consultant. Show me one relevant area that an ALS cares about for which sufficient information is lacking. Information is out there for those that wish to seek it out. You seek to explain ALS non-performance, non-involvement, and non-engagement on the basis of a lack of educational materials. I don't buy the argument. The truth of the matter is that most ALSs have only a passing interest on an occasional topic; they have no deep commitment to defend those that they purportedly represent. Consider the IPC that aggressively acts to protect the interests of the intellectual property crowd. By contrast, the bulk of the ALSs have no interest in protecting us -- and that is not something that a Reader's Digest condensed version of an issue will cure. --- "Thompson, Darlene" <DThompson@GOV.NU.CA> wrote:
Well, OF COURSE the registrant community (in the US, anyways) responded to the RegisterFly debacle - it hurt their interests personally. If something affects me personally, I read up on it and respond, as well. If it doesn't I might not.
ALSs are generally non-profit organizations run by people putting in hugely long numbers of hours dealing with their work. They don't sit behind a desk and have huge amounts of time to go finding stuff and working on stuff that doesn't affect them (or their jobs) directly. You must have tons more time at work to read this stuff than the entire ALS community put together. We all have jobs that actually take up huge portions of our time/life.
When the Canadian ALSs signed up, we were told that easier to digest information would be soon coming out. As Nick has reported there have been various impediments to this but that it should "soon" be coming. Once this is available, then I would suggest that the NARALO do, maybe, a weekly informational e-mailing on one subject to all ALSs - both for their info and for their web sites.
In stating, "The problem isn't that ALSs aren't being properly educated; the problem is that ALSs are not the at-large. The real At-Large cares, reacts and responds; they don't." That is really wrong. The At-Large does care - about those issues that affect them. Comparing them to a registrant that has just had the plug pulled on their web site is completely misleading.
So, what issues do ALSs care about? WELL - that's the information we need to get out to them. What is happening that they should care about? What response is needed? Put out information such as that, and we will get more input.
Constant negativity sure won't help, though.
D
Darlene A. Thompson Community Access Program Administrator Nunavut Dept. of Education / N-CAP P.O. Box 1000, Station 910 Iqaluit, NU X0A 0H0 Phone: (867) 975-5631 Fax: (867) 975-5610 E-mail: dthompson@gov.nu.ca
-----Original Message----- From: Danny Younger [mailto:dannyyounger@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, April 14, 2008 10:32 AM To: Thompson, Darlene; Jacqueline A. Morris; Evan Leibovitch; Nick Ashton-Hart Cc: NA Discuss Subject: Re: [NA-Discuss] [At-Large] ALAC Draft Accountability Framework andConflicts of Interest Policy
Re: "How can we punish or even expect anything at all out of ALSs that haven't been educated?"
When these organizations signed up they agreed to (1) distribute information on ICANN activities and issues, (2) enable discussions among their members on the issues; and (3) involve their members in relevant ICANN policy development, discussions and decisions.
The ICANN website currently contains information on: a. accountability and transparency b. idn fast-track discussions c. mid-term review considerations d. the 2007 Annual report e. root-server agreements f. new gtlds g. independent reviews h. compliance initiatives i. whois issues j. the registrar accreditation agreement k. nominating committee activities l. iPV6
There are also links to the GNSO Improvements discussion, the ICANN travel policy considerations, the translation program, and to a host of other subjects.
So I guess what you're saying is we first need to teach ALSs how to read. Apparently, they are only capable of reading an ALS application form, but nothing else.
Funny, how registrants that encounter a problem manage to read everything under the sun about an issue and know where to send their complaints and concerns, yet ALSs remain clueless.
Odd that registrants in droves managed to find their way to the ICANN blog and to the public participation sites when the Registerfly mess unfolded, yet ALSs were absolutely silent.
The problem isn't that ALSs aren't being properly educated; the problem is that ALSs are not the at-large. The real At-Large cares, reacts and responds; they don't.
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