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Thanks for posting this. I think it is very true, and I agree that
it is our responsibility to make them welcome. We need a buddy or
mentoring system for folks who are coming for the first, second, and
third time. They need training wheels and they need to feel like
they are contributing. Not an easy thing to get going, especially
when folks are insecure about their own degree of power and
influence, but it is the only way to prevent quite a few ills,
notably burnout.<br>
Stephanie Perrin<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2015-10-06 17:53, Kieren McCarthy
wrote:<br>
</div>
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<div dir="ltr">There is a Facebook discussion currently going on,
and to my mind, this comment pretty much summed up one key part
of the problem with how ICANN currently operates.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It was from someone called Kerry Brown:
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-----------------</div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">I
attended the London ICANN where during the meeting I
actually felt like something was accomplished at the ALAC
summit. Within weeks I was totally disillusioned when I
realized that the board was paying lip service to the
results of the summit and that nothing would change. I
wonder how many board members actually read the
recommendations? I had previously attended a half dozen
ICANN meetings basically as an observer. I was excited to
attend as a participant. Now I am unsubscribed from all
the ICANN mailing lists. I doubt I will ever go to another
meeting.</span><br>
</div>
</div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">----------------</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">It's
not just the Board that is guilty of failing to foster a
real sense of community but clearly in this case it was. </span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">As
most of you know, I spent three years as ICANN's general
manager of public participation and I saw a big part of my
job as building sustainable systems that would bring in more
people, and make it easy and worthwhile for them to
participate. </span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">It
was extremely difficult and I spent more than half my time
dealing with efforts by those inside ICANN to undermine any
effective changes, largely because it meant a reduction in
their personal influence. </span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">One
fact that I continually used back then as a way to try to
shake people into thinking reasonably came from a series of
surveys, interviews, questionnaires and data analyses of
people actually attending ICANN meetings.</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">I
wanted to know: who are these people? Is this their first
time? And if so how do we get them to stay engaged and come
back?</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">The
results were very clear: one third of ICANN attendees were
regulars, coming to nearly every meeting; one third were
occasional attendees, often because they were obliged to go
to one ICANN meeting every year or two years, sometimes
because they were intrigued and wanted to see what one was
like.</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">And
one third - every single meeting - was people who were
attending for the first time. And at the next meeting, one
third were attending for the first time. And the next. And
the next. The percentage never got smaller. So I started
trying to track down these people that arrived and then
disappeared never to be heard from again.</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">Of
that one third, roughly a half came from the country ICANN
was in. They came because it was relatively local. Of them,
almost none ever returned - either physically and online.
They simply took a look, didn't like what they saw and never
came back. </span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">The
other half of first-time attendees came from all over the
world and went to a lot of trouble to get to the meeting. Of
them, around four-fifths never came back. I tracked people
down and asked them why.</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">They
were mostly vague but in the whole, it was the sense that
they were not made welcome. That the sessions were long and
boring. That no one gave their opinions any weight. That
everything was controlled by those ICANNites who attended
every meeting. And that no one ever sought to engage them;
they were irrelevant to the people that mattered.</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">When
I relayed this information (which I did repeatedly) to those
in the position to actually do something about it, not once
did anyone say "oh no, that's terrible, what can we do to
fix it?". </span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">Instead,
the responses varied from: "well, they're clearly not cut
out to join ICANN if they give up so easily", to "but we
have lots of opportunities for them to engage" to "I don't
recognize that at all; I see lots of new people engaging".</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">In
other words, an absolute refusal to accept it as a problem
that needed to be addressed. </span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
<div><font color="#141823" face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"><span
style="font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">I
think it is extremely rich to complain that ICANN is not
sufficiently broad or representative enough. All of you on
this list are responsible for that lack of engagement. And
if you were serious about actually involving and engaging
more people, it would take but one day to come up with a
long list of things that could be done to improve the
current situation.</span></font></div>
<div><font color="#141823" face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"><span
style="font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></font></div>
<div><font color="#141823" face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"><span
style="font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">Until
that happens; until you get serious about empowering
non-insiders; until real money and real resources are
applied to that effort; then I don't think any of you get
to talk about what real representation means.</span></font></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)">Kieren</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:13.4px;background-color:rgb(246,247,248)"><br>
</span></div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Oct 3, 2015 at 12:31 AM, Bruce
Tonkin <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:Bruce.Tonkin@melbourneit.com.au"
target="_blank">Bruce.Tonkin@melbourneit.com.au</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Hello All,<br>
<br>
The following is NOT a Board view.<br>
<br>
My personal thoughts on sole member is that I prefer a
broader membership structure to a sole membership structure.<br>
<br>
For me - a sole member concentrates all the responsibilities
of membership into a single legal entity. I much prefer
more distributed membership structures that are more likely
to represent the broader Internet community.<br>
<br>
I am not aware of any similar Internet based body that
operates under this model. I have been on the Board of
several non-profit organizations over the past 20 years in a
range of areas from sport to research to business, and I
have never personally had any experience in this model. I
have also done several company director courses and I have
never had this model come up in presentations or
discussions.<br>
<br>
The sole member model also doesn't seem to particularly fit
the current SOs and ACs that often have different interests
and areas of focus For example SSAC and RRSAC have quite
narrow mandates to look at particular technical issues.
They do not generally get involved in ICANN strategic
plans, operating plans, budgets, and naming policies.<br>
<br>
I think it is far better that SOs and ACs participate in the
ICANN model as themselves. I think we can empower each of
these groups in our bylaws in appropriate ways.<br>
<br>
If the CCWG really wants to go down the single member model,
then I would prefer a much more formal structure.<br>
<br>
- make the single member an incorporated entity<br>
<br>
- set the articles of incorporation up to ensure that the
single member has a fiduciary responsibility to the Internet
community as a whole. I.e. align its fiduciary
responsibility to ICANN's fiduciary responsibility<br>
<br>
- have a board of the single member with the same structure
as ICANN - with SOs and ALAC appointing directors, set up a
nominating committee (or use the one we have) to select 8
directors, and have liaisons from GAC, SSAC, RSSAC and IETF.<br>
<br>
- include in its bylaws its mission (to be a member of
ICANN), and processes it will use to reach decisions and
consult with the community<br>
<br>
<br>
If this is sounding like what we already have - then that is
not surprising.<br>
<br>
I feel that it is certainly legally possible to create a
sole member - but it is practically highly unusual, and also
seems completely unnecessary in that we already have a Board
that does much the same thing. The Board listens to all
parts of the community before making major decisions, and
acts for the benefit of the Internet community as a whole.<br>
<br>
<br>
So vmy preference order is:<br>
<br>
- leverage the governance model we have and refine to have
additional powers for the SOs and ACs in the bylaws, have a
binding IRP mechanism if any SO or AC feels that board is
not following the bylaws, and set up a mechanism to ensure
that IRP decision is legally enforceable. This is broadly
the current Board proposal.<br>
<br>
- move to a full membership model with appropriate
diversification and participation of members that include
infrastructure operators and users, with appropriate culture
and geographical diversity<br>
<br>
- use a sole member model - with a fully incorporated
member and clear fiduciary responsibilities. Set up the
board of the sole member with an equivalent level of
governance as we have with the Board of ICANN.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Bruce Tonkin<br>
<br>
<br>
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</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
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