Re: [ICANN-EU] European At Large Council

[Alf Hansen <aha@uninett.no>]

Thomas,

Thomas Roessler wrote:
> 
> On 2000-09-06 17:09:00 +0200, Jefsey Morfin wrote:
> 
> > IMHO Alf's question boils down to: does that list is the @large
> > Europan organization seed or something different.
> 
> I'd express it differently: Alf starts looking at the other end of
> the tunnel.  He asks: What should an at large council look like,
> what are the goals, and what's the most efficient way for such a
> council to influence decisions?
> 
> He is certainly right that structured output which can be presented
> to all the directors is a good way to do this.
> 
> Obviously, such a structure can be set up with ICANN's help, and
> organizatorial means: For instance, ICANN could start setting up
> open discussion lists for at large members, they could start holding
> elections to create a council, and whatnot.  However, I don't see
> such a structure emerge any time soon, given that ICANN doesn't seem
> to have a clear idea about the @large membership's future role.
> 
> Alf: Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I think you are right. I don't know ICANNs exact position on this one,
but my view is that ICANN should build up, with as little overhead as
possible, a minimum adm. infrastructure for regional At-Large councils,
givinge the opportunity for them to develop differnet in each region, as
long as they in a structured way can advice the Board. Note that I say
"the Board", not only "the Board member elected by the region".

> 
> Others (including myself) have been arguing from what we have: A
> mailing list with some members, lots of them running for
> endorsements, others having been nominated by NomCom, and still
> others just being "general public".
> 
> My hope is that we manage to extend the membership of this list, and
> facilitate a dialog within the interested parts of the ICANN at
> large membership, and the public.  I hope that this dialog may at
> some point evolve into some kind of structure, possibly with the
> director as a germ of condensation, possibly by functioning as an
> argument-creation machine which generates input for the board of
> directors.  Or, possibly, as something much more strange than we
> currently imagine.

Agree. I assume ICANN will have similar dialog with the other regions,
and a minimum common structure will develop.

> 
> > I think this list does exist and works well. It is organized
> > around Candidates with critcal opinions about ICANN (the word
> > used by Ester Dyson describing her future role, so no offence
> > intended). We agreed it was to support the European no-NomCom
> > Director.
> 
> Sorry, but I don't see this.  While this list was certainly created
> to help find reasonable candiates for member-nomination (which
> wasn't necessary, looking at the numbers ;-), I don't believe this
> list should have the goal to exclusively provide input to either
> Andy or Jeannette.  And I oppose to the idea that "this list" should
> produce any kind of recommendation for the election.  (Technically,
> it can't.)

Agree. My simple understanding of the list is to make it possible for
anyone to "know the candidates better".

> 
> > IMHO the @large european organization is something different. To
> > be efficient (?) or buried in innefficiency (?), it should be a
> > part of the ICANN structure, as defined in the by laws and
> > described by Alf. Several people expressed the opinion that ICANN
> > will eventually make its Membership paying (it makes sense).
> 
> There's no contradiction between the two approaches.  As I said in
> the suggestion for the new charter, this list could be considered to
> be a _germ_ for a future structure.  This structure may at some
> point grow into an ICANN-sponsored bureaucracy, or it may evolve
> into something completely different - including a place where only
> megalomanic lunatics meet.  See above.

Agree.

> 
> > If I consider the icann-france@egroups.com ML, it was not set
> > up to work within the ICANN and obviously not to support a
> > French. We understand it as part of the icann-europe ML, in
> > support of Andy or Jeannette or (if none was elected) in
> > support the consensus on icann-europe ML will favor.
> 
> --
> Thomas Roessler                         <roessler@does-not-exist.org>

Best regards,
-- 
Alf Hansen                     Mail address:
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