Re: [ICANN-EU] European At Large Council

["Jeanette Hofmann" <jeanette@medea.wz-berlin.de>]

Vittorio,

> It is not clear to me, also, what kind of role do you see for such
> "council". If you think that it would be a group of persons sharing more
> or less the same point of view, and willing to organize to defend it,
> then I understand the value of an open list. If you think that it should
> be the place where different opinions in the communities confront and
> try to get to a final consensus (a thing that in some occasions could
> also prove impossible), then a structured council, with elected members
> and so on, will be more suited. 

Think of the IETF model. Every working group has its onw  mailing list, 
which is open to anyone who wishes to subscribe. The mailing list is 
the basic working unit. While the working groups meet 3 times a year, 
decisions are made on the list only. The working groups are 
structured by charters and milestones, most of which are met 
eventually.  Every wg has two chairs. Of course, there is a hierarchy 
above the working groups. However, this hierarchy mostly concerns 
the standard setting procedure. As far as the work itself is concerned, 
the working groups get pretty much along on their own. This includes 
coping with controversies of all kind. 
Thus, there are existing models for informal working structures on the 
Net that have proved to be more or less successful. 

There is another aspect about the council that should be taken into 
consideration. If we'd follow the selection model as proposed by you 
we'd get several people on the council, none of us had ever a chance 
to talk to. How could we feel ourself represented by them?  

regards, jeanette