[council] MSI Panel: A Call to Action

[Mike O'Connor]

hi Marika and all,

i'm very much of two minds about this project.

sure, moving ICANN forward is a Good Thing.  figuring out new/better ways to do stuff is a Good Thing.

but i made my living (back when i worked for a living) helping organizations repair projects that were going off the rails, or recover from the damage done by badly-crafted projects.  i'm worried that this project hits a few of the key indicators i used to look for during the repair/recovery efforts i ran.

- what are the expectations for this?  what problem is it trying to solve?  for whom?  why?  

i don't see the organizational-benefit statement for this project.  how are we going to know whether this project actually did what it's supposed to do?  

- is ICANN ready (i.e. widely shared strong feeling that the problem described above really serious)?   

are we just good little minions marching along under the orders of Top Management?  this is sometimes described as "the pain for change."  how badly do we feel this pain and how excited are we about how this project is going to fix it?  

another aspect of readiness is the capacity for the organization to participate.  right now, for me, this project has to take a back seat to other more pressing tasks.  i'm concerned that we're throwing too much work at too few people.  yet if we don't participate there's a strong likelihood that the results of this project will be rammed down our throats.  check back with me for guerrilla tactics on how to resist that -- i've seen a lot of inventive stuff in my day.

- is the timetable realistic?  

i'm struck by the notion that all the "good ideas" phase is going to happen in six weeks (and that we're half way through that phase already).  the proposals arising from those good ideas are going to be developed in one week after that.  etc. etc.  my reaction to that timetable is "this is going to be a heartbreaker, i think i'll save my energy for other efforts."  i'm even less reassured when i look at the proposals that have come in so far, at the halfway mark.  they're…  um…  thin.

- are we relying too much on outsiders?  

i know, that can sound insular and defensive.  so be it.  i'm an avid fan of the WG process and i don't see familiar faces in this team.  will they be able to really help make improvements and put WG work on a 21st century footing when they don't have much familiarity with the good (and bad) aspects of the bottom of the bottom-up process?

i can go on, but since this is a grumpy post and i don't like reading long grumpy rants any more than the rest of you i think i'll stop here.  i'm just voicing my reaction and concern.   please ignore this if i'm off in the weeds.  but if i'm not, maybe we ought to speak up?

mikey


On Dec 2, 2013, at 3:24 PM, Marika Konings <marika.konings at icann.org> wrote:

> 
> 
> Designing a 21st Century ICANN
> Hello!
> The ICANN Strategy Panel on Multistakeholder Innovation (the MSI Panel) and The Governance Lab @ NYU (The GovLab) recently launched an online engagement effort aimed at helping to design a 21st century Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – the public interest organization responsible for coordinating the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS).
>  
> We are writing to request your participation in this important initiative and to help us spread the word!
>  
> The MSI Panel has been charged with:
> 
> Proposing new models for international engagement, consensus-driven policymaking and institutional structures to support such enhanced functions; and
> Designing processes, tools and platforms that enable the global ICANN community to engage in these new forms of participatory decision-making.
> The Panel is a small group of seven with no monopoly on the best ideas for what ICANN should or should not do to coordinate the DNS in the public interest. All suggestions to make ICANN more effective and more democratic – whether constitutional, structural, legal, procedural or technological – will be welcome.
>                        
> While we cannot decide for ICANN, the aim of the MSI Panel is to use its authority to push for real change. Thus, we want ideas that are concrete and specific for innovative processes, structures, platforms, and techniques to design a 21st century ICANN.
>  
> To gather and organize your input – we’re launching this campaign in three stages:
>  
> Stage 1: Idea Generation – Starting November 19th and running for six weeks via an ideation platform, Ideascale. You can access our MSI Panel community page here. On the page, you can submit any and all concrete ideas you have. You can rate and rank others’ for importance and practicality. November 19 - December 31.
>  
> Stage 2: Proposal Development – Submissions will be grouped into general proposals and opened to discussion using a blog with line-by-line annotation features. This phase will be designed to take ideas closer to implementation. January 14 - January 21.
>  
> Stage 3: Collaborative Drafting – Using a wiki, we will invite collaborative drafting on specific proposals that the Panel will submit to the ICANN CEO, Board and community. January 28 - February 11.
>  
> To help us spread the word, we ask you to do any of the following:
> 
> Submit ideas and encourage members of your network/community to contribute to the Ideascale community site by providing them with the link: http://thegovlab.ideascale.com/.
> Broadcast our “Call To Action,” for this initiative, which is online here, as widely as possible within your networks. Feel free to link to this post or repost on your website edited to fit your needs.
> Share this information within your community and network via mailing lists and listservs.
> Use social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter to spread the word about the campaign. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #WeCANN.
> To inspire participation and learn how to contribute, watch and share a video The GovLab has made for the launch of this distributed brainstorm.
> Host your own brainstorming forum and share ideas generated with the MSI Panel on our Ideascale community page.
>  
> For more information, visit The GovLab at www.thegovlab.org.
>                                                                                                                
> Thanks and best,
> The MSI Panel & The GovLab
> 
> 
> 


PHONE: 651-647-6109, FAX: 866-280-2356, WEB: www.haven2.com, HANDLE: OConnorStP (ID for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)

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