[atlarge-discuss] Future

[Vittorio Bertola <vb@bertola.eu.org>]

Dear all,

I am sure that the At Large has to be a coalition of many different
independent groups; and most of us here, including myself, would be
able to start an At Large organization on their own, to put up a
website with their hands, to start discussion lists and forums, and to
get a good number of members in a few weeks. 

But this is not what we wanted to do in this effort. This is a unique
try of building up an *unitary* At Large coordination point with
democratical internal processes. Of course, this means that all
actions and decisions require much more time and energy than in a
single-man effort. But this also means that each of us has to accept
compromises to his own vision, and to respect the decisions and
priorities of the majority.

Now, what is unbelievable to me is that most of the few resources and
energies we have are wasted in ego clashes and process discussions, so
that we can't actually achieve anything; and that a good number of us
put their own vision and agenda above anything else.

I have been re-elected Chair (mostly for desperation, I suppose) two
weeks ago. As my first actions, I have tried to get our website
updated (as it is still inviting people to join the Shanghai
meeting...) and to find two persons who would take responsibility for
leading work on the website and on the bylaws. Up to now, I could not
find any. Even if I wanted to do it myself (and I don't want, for the
reason I mentioned above) I don't even have the passwords to access
our own website - neither the .org, nor the .com. 

Moreover, I once had passwords to check the full membership list on
the .com site, but apparently Joop has changed them, so I must confess
that the Chair and the panel don't even have the full membership roll
for this organization (I have a copy made in September, perhaps
someone else has a newer one, I will check).

So, there are a number of options in front of us.

If there are at least a few people who, together with me, want to
continue this effort, we can actually start to do some work, provided
that Joop gives us an updated membership list, and Bret gives us the
passwords to access the icannatlarge.org site. But we need to have a
group of people who want to cooperate and share the same goal, not to
stay there just to keep "a feet in two shoes".

In this first case, there are two sub-options: the first is that we
continue aiming to become a global At Large organization, that will
later decide whether and how to register as an At Large Structure and
participate in ICANN's ALAC. The second is that we become the informal
seed of the Regional At Large Organizations required in the new ICANN
picture, splitting into smaller "constituent" working groups in each
continent, so to ensure that they will be open and bottom-up. This
might be a more achievable target, and might help in reducing
conflicts.

But if there are no other people who want to continue this effort, we
can stop here and be happy with the results we already achieved. When
we started in March, there was absolutely no At Large on the ICANN
picture, while, thanks to the efforts of a few people, but also to the
simple existence of this organization, now at least we have an At
Large council which will elect 1/4 of the Nominating Committee,
nominate liaisons to the Board and GNSO Council, and will be formed
for 2/3 by people elected from the bottom. It's not our dream, but
it's much more than what we had eight months ago.

So it's up to you, folks. Please speak. Particularly, I would like to
understand how many of the other panelists are still willing to work
for this organization and to devote some real amount of time to it.


(In the meantime, I'm asking Joop to disclose the membership list and
change the name and look and feel of his site, so that there can't be
confusion.)
-- 
vb.            [Vittorio Bertola - v.bertola [a] bertola.eu.org]<---
-------------------> http://bertola.eu.org/ <-----------------------

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