Re: [atlarge-discuss] Outreach : brainstorming ideas and looking for responses

[Esther Dyson <edyson@edventure.com>]

that (doing outreach through registrars) was part of the idea when the ALSC 
was promoting the notion of DN registrants as voters, though unfortunately 
it didn't get as much support from the registrars as we had hoped.  In the 
end, we all had other more pressing battles to fight.

But I do think that it's a good idea and one that we should revisit when we 
are more established.

Esther


At 10:06 AM 6/16/2002, todd glassey wrote:
>What we need to do is to cut some deals with the Registrars so that they
>forward all newly registered DNS customers to us for registration as part of
>the At-Large community. We also need to setup some website kiosk wherein we
>can publicize what we are up to and our goals... Perhaps if we can get a
>link from YAHOO or AOL we might be in better shape.
>
>Todd
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Richard Henderson" <richardhenderson@ntlworld.com>
>To: <atlarge-panel@lists.fitug.de>
>Cc: <atlarge-discuss@lists.fitug.de>
>Sent: Saturday, June 15, 2002 11:05 AM
>Subject: [atlarge-discuss] Outreach : brainstorming ideas and looking for
>responses
>
>
>Help
>In order to claim that we represent ordinary users and the internet public,
>we need to increase our membership significantly. Otherwise we will be
>marginalised as a minority group, whereas the constituency we seek to
>promote and represent is in fact millions strong and deserves to have a
>critical
>executive role in the administration of the DNS and the future development
>of the Internet.
>
>ICANN being ICANN, the true voice of the internet majority will always be
>sidelined (particularly if it challenges ICANN policy) unless it
>negotiates/determines from a position of numerical strength. Size of
>membership
>is what ICANN will most truly fear, because the larger and wider our
>membership, the stronger our claim to be truly representative.
>
>Therefore, the premiss behind the ideas I'm posting (below) is that
>mass-recruitment is essential, and that we broaden our remit beyond mere
>"technical mission of ICANN" (which will never attract more than a few
>thousand) to become an organisation upholding the interests of the
>individual
>in the Internet, ranging from the way it is run, to consumer issues, to
>freedom
>and justice. Only if we embrace the issue of "The Future of the Internet" -
>as it
>impacts on individuals, families, communities with all their various
>interests - will
>we be relevant to many and grow significantly in numbers.
>
>The following Outreach ideas are not meant to be wholly rational and
>"sensible"
>in the first instance. They are intended to provoke thought, incite comment,
>and
>are basically a brainstorming exercise so we can explore collectively the
>ways we
>might achieve a broader membership. Some ideas you may quite like. Some, you
>may rule out completely.
>
>I take the view that most significant Outreach will take place at a national
>or local
>level, and I regard it as axiomatic that we press forward with establishing
>representatives for each country, and websites to accompany that
>representation
>wherever possible.
>
>OUTREACH IDEAS:
>
>Possible points of access and recruitment:
>
>1. Through University and College Internet Societies and IT departments,
>with a
>view to a student membership and network. This could be a worldwide feature
>of
>our movement, but could be promoted best at national level, with a view to
>sending
>speakers to various campuses. I believe in the idealism of young people, and
>they
>are a vital recruitment zone.
>
>2. Through Trade Union movements, interest groups, and already-established
>organisations at local and national level. We should demonstrate the
>importance
>of a "free" Internet run by people for people, not dominated by big
>business.
>We should demonstrate the link between organisations' interests and the
>future
>and freedom of the Internet. We should seek to affiliate with these
>pre-existent
>organisations and networks, and seek the representation and involvement of
>their
>memberships. It may indeed be possible to 'capture' whole membership lists
>of
>organisations, and link up via e-mail to significantly enlarge our
>representation of
>individuals.
>
>3. Through a "map" approach, starting with the world, and divisible down to
>country and town level, seeking to encourage representation from every town
>that
>has internet access (and indeed, indirectly, seeking representation from
>those villages
>and communities that don't). This would be a very graphic method of
>demonstrating
>our scale, scope and purpose - as an organisation speaking for ordinary
>people from
>every corner of the globe.
>
>4. Through conventional coverage and development of links with press and
>media,
>working particularly at national and local level. Publicity and Marketing
>are essential,
>and strategies should be consciously developed, targetting opportunities and
>planning
>the timescale and levels of publicity which will be most beneficial.
>However, we should
>never fall into the trap of 'spin' superceding 'substance', and we should
>always put
>integrity and truth before image and soundbite.
>
>5. Identifying certain key movements, whether Green organisations,
>religious/cultural
>groups, UN organisations, commerce or small business groups. Working out the
>"interface" and common ground on which to approach them, and demonstrating
>how
>the future of the internet (and its administration) is vital to them.
>
>6. Negative strategies. I believe it would be very useful to analyse,
>develop, and
>summarise for publicity, some of the most glaring failures, abuses, and
>controversies
>ICANN and its close allies have been guilty of. This is all part of the
>process of
>conviction and argument and recruitment (rest assured, ICANN would not
>hesitate
>to do the same to us). Clearly, this negative sub-category would merely be a
>small
>argument in our prevailing positive message.
>
>7. "Themed" initiatives. For example, you develop an initiative called
>"Schools of the
>World" linking to the theme "Sharing the Future : the Internet for All Our
>Children".
>In a similar vein to the "map" approach, you try to spread out and involve
>as many
>schools worldwide as possible. (This would be facilitated if we constructed
>links with
>eg Teachers' Unions etc.) We try to get a teacher representive (or more than
>one) and
>we link to interest/education/freedom issues and information. Setting up
>(from simple
>beginnings) a global movement like this would extend the scope of our
>membership,
>the importance of a free internet for all children, and the great thing
>about schools is
>that they are so closely knitted into their communities in so many places.
>
>8. Club membership and affiliation : the world is full of clubs, hobbies,
>interests etc.
>Set up lists of organisations, listed geographically and by
>subject/category. Approach
>clubs through national and local representatives. Explain how the Internet
>and its future
>matters for them. Encourage even just ONE representative to join our
>organisation
>(and of course, develop from there to involve the rest of their membership
>list).
>
>9. Exploiting the mass-following of sport worldwide. Sport is an interface
>which is
>worldwide. It can be an image of worldwide friendship, involvement and
>things we have
>in common. And the Internet is a meeting place, a linking place, and a place
>for
>supporters and players. Take Football for example : using the same "map"
>method, you
>could try to create a link and representative with as many clubs as possible
>in every
>country on the planet... "The Internet Future : is YOUR club represented
>yet?" Sport is
>high-profile. Sport uses the Internet. Clubs may be willing to exchange
>links. And
>supporters might join up so that their own teams are represented in this
>worldwide
>process of representation.
>
>10. Dialogue and Targetting Interested Parties. For example, analysis of
>whois lists
>enables me to see who are the most active domain registrants in the .info
>and .biz
>roll-outs. Why not enter into dialogue with some of these? Similarly, at
>local and
>national level, why not analyse, identify and engage webmasters, IT workers,
>interested
>groups or businesses? In this area we might not enrol such high numbers, but
>we would
>be attracting a more informed group, and a membership with the kinds of
>skills we
>could use.
>
>CONCLUSION.
>
>If you've read all this, I applaud your stamina. You could probably think of
>another
>10 initiatives in place of these. What I'm doing here is more of a "vision"
>thing than a
>"practical logistics" thing. And these ideas may be kicked into touch by one
>or all.
>I'm just brainstorming.
>
>But the point I'm trying to make is : without a substantial membership, our
>influence is
>limited and our claims can be marginalised in the very area we argue most
>strongly
>- representation.
>
>And yet, if we broaden our scope a little, while keeping ICANN/DNS/"How the
>Internet is Run" as a central project, we can create the kind of scale and
>representation
>(and global representation too) which ICANN knows will have the moral
>authority to
>demand representation and executive power.
>
>The Internet is a Worldwide resource for all the ordinary people of the
>world. The
>people of the world have a right to determine its development and its
>future. That's
>simple democracy. And much as Mr Sims loves to rule out "global democracy"
>along these lines, what we are proposing here is in fact something
>idealistic and about
>freedom and the reality - that the internet has truly become something that
>belongs to
>ALL the people of the world. Its ideas, its dreams, its freedom, its
>sorrows, its charities,
>its projects... it is this power for such great good, and for bringing
>ordinary individual
>people together.
>
>The concept of global representation, and the right of the millions upon
>millions of
>ordinary people to have a priority over big business in the decisions taken
>over the
>development of the Internet : this is an ideal which is waiting to be turned
>into a reality.
>Because it is an ideal (and a beautiful ideal too, because the Internet is
>growing so
>many creative opportunities for ordinary people) it will face opposition
>from those tired,
>grey, sordid power-brokers for whom the control of the net is more about
>"control" and
>"vested interest" and "power"...
>
>But the Internet has unleashed a different kind of power, creative,
>democratic,
>subversive of dishonesties and stolen power.
>
>So... however impractical some of my brainstorming ideas may seem... I
>invite you to tell
>ME, in reply, the ways YOU think we can "grow" a membership which truly,
>and authoritatively, represents the interests of the ordinary people of the
>internet - millions
>and millions of them.
>
>Faced with a movement that grows exponentially, and embraces openness and
>democracy,
>ICANN will find it very hard indeed to exclude its greatest constituency.
>
>Richard Henderson
>
>
>
>
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Esther Dyson                    Always make new mistakes!
chairman, EDventure Holdings
writer, Release 3.0 (on Website below)
edyson@edventure.com
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