Interesting message, Wendy, on several fronts. In San Juan, the NA region came up with a plan for outreach and education in LA and submitted it (but NOT on the proper ICANN form) and then were never consulted about it at all for the LA meeting. I am definitely seeing a bit of a disconnect with ICANN. First we are told that the ALSs are supposed to be doing outreach, we attempt to, and then are completely ignored. This is also why a core group of us were attempting to push forward the idea of the "Summit" as a way of bringing the regions together so that we can understand the cultural differences in how we inter-relate and, in so doing, be able to work more harmoniously together. This, however, is simply my "take" on the situation. I look forward to seeing what others think. D Darlene A. Thompson Community Access Program Administrator Nunavut Department of Education/N-CAP c/o P.O. Box 1000, Station 910 Iqaluit, NU X0A 0H0 Phone: (867) 975-6531 Fax: (867) 979-8870 dthompson@gov.nu.ca -----Original Message----- From: alac-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org [mailto:alac-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org] On Behalf Of Wendy Seltzer Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 10:34 AM To: At-Large writ small Subject: [At-Large] ICANN regional meetings -- good or bad? In recent minutes, the Board approved a "regional meeting" in Taipei, announced at <http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-20sep07.htm> Some ALAC participants from the Asia-Pacific have raised concerns that none of the ALAC, AP RALO, or At-Large Structures were consulted, even though the ALAC and its structures are tasked with representing user interests in ICANN. I'm also concerned that ICANN not follow the strategy of other organizations, such as WIPO, in using regional meetings to divide and conquer, pitting regions against one another rather than helping them to realize and coordinate their common interests. I hope we can push ICANN away from that mode. Thoughts? --Wendy -- Wendy Seltzer -- wendy@seltzer.org Visiting Professor, Northeastern University School of Law Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/seltzer.html http://www.chillingeffects.org/ http://www.torproject.org/ _______________________________________________ ALAC mailing list ALAC@atlarge-lists.icann.org http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac_atlarge-lists.icann .org At-Large Official Site: http://www.alac.icann.org ALAC Independent: http://www.icannalac.org