Re: [lac-discuss-en] [ALAC] Some thoughts on ALS Criteria & Expectations Taskforce
- To: Evan Leibovitch <evan@xxxxxxxxx>, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl@xxxxxxx>
- Subject: Re: [lac-discuss-en] [ALAC] Some thoughts on ALS Criteria & Expectations Taskforce
- From: Alan Greenberg <alan.greenberg@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 8 Aug 2015 21:21:15 -0400
At 08/08/2015 06:36 PM, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
On 8 August 2015 at 09:37, Olivier MJ
Crepin-Leblond <<mailto:ocl@xxxxxxx>ocl@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> 3. The latter ones come to meetings, perhaps attend some meetings,
> enjoy the local offerings, and go home and forget about us until the
> next trip. THOSE are the ones that I have a real problem with.
And unfortunately whenever the time comes for having face to face
meetings, we treat those people the same way as we treat the people who
genuinely want to get involved.
So long as At-Large leadership is selected
bottom-up by a reasonably democratic process, it
will not always include the "hardest workers".
Politics of various sorts can happen in any
region, and it is not a stretch to say that
"number of hours spent on ICANN in the past" can
often be â??rended insignificant in an election
campaign next to social skills, global geopolitics or other factors.
Somebody may be elected based on nothing more
than a promise to vote a certain way on ALAC
statements or to advance a very specific agenda
on a narrow range of issues. How do you confront
that without threatening the democratic process?
The easy answer is to ask ICANN for more travel
spots as Olivier suggests, so that (as one
possible example) working group chairs (which
are usually in their posts by merit rather than
politics because of the workload). Well, that's
an easy answer for us -- to the rest of ICANN's
constituencies, most of which already take
At-Large to be a charity case, this will be a tough sell.
Although ALAC Members and RALO Leaders may well
fall into all categories, those tahat fall into
category 3 on a regular basis should be dealt
with directly, and the others we have little
choice but to accept. At least for their first
term. Of deeper concern and the ones I focused on
when answering were those for whom we support as ALS representatives.
(Then again, ICANN could if it chooses help
At-Large look for outside participation
sponsorship -- yet it is unwilling, or unable, to do so.)
â??Anyway... back when I was more deeply
involved in At-Large, I resisted and even
belittled the various attempts to push, prod,
measure and â??silo us. Most of these efforts
deserve continuing ridicule, for they remain
largely navel-gazing exercises which are more
effective at distraction and time-burning than anything else.
IMO, there are three overarching needs of At-Large:
* How do we make ICANN and its dilemmas more
accessible to the global public?
* How can we best determine what is important to that public?
* How can we best advance those priorities
within ICANN without being marginalized?
I agree. But for better or worse, we either need
to make the ALS/RALO structure work, or reduce
its visibility and cost. As it is, it is both
expensive (not necessarily in money, but in time
and focus) and opens us up to strong (and at times valid) criticism
â??Everything we do must serve one of those
needsâ??. This means frankly answering:
Who needs to do what at F2F meetings?
(Maybe some of our most important travel is NOT to ICANN meetings?)
How are we engaging with the public outside ICANN?
(If CROPP is as good as it gets let's not even bother)
What staff support do we need in research and communications?
(Can we get stats and opinion polls to back our policy actions?)
How do we mobilize pubic opinion?
(First, we get the public to care)
Wringing our collective hands over how to deal
with laggards and tourists -- who happen to be
popular enough to get elected -- pre-occupied
ALAC before I got involved, and it continues to
suck energy out of addressing the real reason
the At-Large community even exists.
â??Meanwhile, the other parts of ICANN that
prefer At-Large weak and ineffectual, delight in our tail-chasing.
â??
- Evan
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