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

[Sotiris Sotiropoulos <sotiris@hermesnetwork.com>]

We can start by adding banners to sites under our own control.  If every member
of this organization who has a web site or two under their controlwere to do
this, we'd be off to a good start.

Sincerely,

Sotiris Sotiropoulos

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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