| Watch ICANN CEO & President Fadi Chehadé's ICANN55 Welcome Video Message to Participants |
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Welcome to ICANN55 in the beautiful city of Marrakech. I know many of you have been to Morocco, but I want to start by thanking the people of Morocco and certainly our hosts, the National Authority for Telecommunications Regulations for welcoming all of us to this beautiful country. Almost four years ago, when I started at ICANN, I talked to you in Prague about building an ICANN that is an oasis, not a fortress. And today, in Marrakech, we are sitting on the largest oasis in North Africa. This beautiful oasis, in this beautiful country, is truly a fit for who we are. Fadi Chehadé
Click the photo above to watch Fadi's welcome message. |
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Today's ICANN55 High Interest Sessions
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TIME
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SESSION
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ROOM LOCATION
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12:00 to 13:00
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Orangeraie
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12:00 to 13:15
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Jardin Andalou
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Thomas Rickert , co-Chair, CCWG-Accountability
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ICANN's Brad White with
León Sanchez, co-Chair, CCWG Accountability
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ICANN's Brad White sits down with Thomas Rickert and León Sanchez, two of the co-Chairs of the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) to discuss their recent work and goals for ICANN55 in Marrakech.
Click the photos above to watch their interviews.
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How It Works Sessions Are Back
Learn more about the nature and activities of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), information transmission using Internet protocols, Domain Name System (DNS) registries protocols and root server operation through these sessions. Available on Sunday 6 March and Monday 7 March, these sessions are suitable for beginners and newcomers as they provide attendees with a basic overview of the discussion topic. Click the links below for detailed ICANN55 schedule information.
Sunday 6 March Sessions |
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This morning's AFRALO Program for African NGOs
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As part of AFRALO's continuing effort to raise awareness of ICANN and At-Large issues within Africa, AFRALO invited five representatives from African NGOs to take part in the AFRALO NGO Program at ICANN55.
The AFRALO NGO Program will feature a series of capacity building sessions for beginners. These sessions will take place Sunday 6 March through Thursday 10 March.
The sessions will include basic knowledge about ICANN and At-Large, including the policy development process and ICANN's unique bottom up multistakeholder model of decision-making. Members from the At-Large community and interested members of the African community are welcome to join the sessions.
Click the links below for detailed ICANN55 schedule information about these sessions.
Sunday 6 March Session
Tuesday 8 March Session
Wednesday 9 March Session
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Join us for the Sunday GNSO Weekend Session
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Today, the GNSO will meet from 09:00 to 16:00 in the Diamant Room. Part of the agenda are meetings with ICANN's Board, the new CEO, Göran Marby, as well as other senior executives. Discussions will focus mainly on recent developments in the GNSO, such as the launch of a New gTLD Subsequent Rounds PDP, as well as the Policy Development Process on the Next Generation Registration Data Services (formally known as WHOIS). Of course, the IANA Stewardship Transition will also feature prominently throughout the day, with discussion expected to focus on the outcome of the CCWG-Accountability.
Agenda details and relevant documents can be found here.
GNSO Working Session | Time: 09:00 to 16:00 | Location: Diamant
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Brush Up on the Basics of Universal Acceptance
Planning to attend the "Universal Acceptance of All TLDs" session on Wednesday? The Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG) has published a fact sheet that provides a high-level overview of Universal Acceptance, as well as a quick guide for developers. These handy documents will keep you in the know before you go!
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Tijani Ben Jemaa - TUNISIA
Vice Chair of At-Large Community (ALAC) & Executive Director (Volunteer) of the Mediterranean Federation of Internet Associations (FMAI)
FMAI's first project was applying for .med generic top-level domain - to give an online identity to the Mediterranean community. In June 2008, I attended ICANN32 in Paris to learn more about the New gTLD Program. I was impressed by the bottom-up multistakeholder model, so I applied for a fellowship to attend the Cairo meeting in November 2008, and was accepted. The FMAI then applied for certification as an AFRALO ALS [African At-Large Organization At-Large Structure]. Soon after, I was elected Vice Chair of AFRALO, then ALAC member, and finally, ALAC Vice Chair.
To date, I have attended 22 ICANN Public Meetings.
My call to action:
Openness and inclusivity are part of the ICANN core values; a better effort should be made to encourage more participation from the African community.
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| Top Ten Things to Do in Marrakech |
The ancient city of Marrakech is known for its winding streets, riads (courtyards), chaotic markets and exotic architecture. Marrakech's 1700-acre Medina (old city) is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Be sure to carve out time to explore this fascinating city!
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| ICANN Expected Standards of Behavior |
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Don't forget to read ICANN Expected Standards of Behavior at ICANN Public Meetings.
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