RE: [council] Regarding web conferencing tool that was trialed during the call

["Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Sophia,

It was all my fault.

I have been hearing requests for adding web conferencing like tools to
our teleconferences for several years, and it has certainly been
discussed again more recently.

Rather than wait another year while we all talk about how things could
be better, I thought it would be novel to try something new to improve
participation in the Council call.

The choice of tool was based on convenience (it is the same provider
(MCI/Verizon)  as our voice conferencing service), and based on the
requirements I have seen on the list so far.

The GNSO Secretariat only returned from leave the day before the call,
and I asked her to add this service to give it a try.   

There was no requirement from any Council members to try the service.
The call was run the same way as usual as a voice conferencing call.   I
didn't want to waste too much time on the call itself to talk about the
tool.   

Once we have a tool that seems to meet all the requirements, we can then
arrange some more structured training in its use.


                 - Possibility to show online presentations e.g.
Powerpoint
                 - Possibility to access to a online realtime scribe
                 - Possibility to ask questions via a messenger system
                 - Possibility to "raise a hand". 
                 - Possibility to see who's on the call
                 - MP3 recording
                 - product/service should be independent of any the
operating system

I believe that it meets most of the requirements above, although it
doesn't seem to be a good solution for those that are not using a
Windows PC.  If someone has an Apple Machintosh and is willing (or able)
to investigate further - I would be interested to know if it is possible
to use this service.    I am not sure whether the vendor provides a
real-time scribe - we could certainly arrange for someone to do that
separately - or potentially use some voice/text software to try this in
real-time.

This matter is being discussed in open discussion on the list.   I took
into account the list discussion before requesting the Secretariat to
give it a try - at least this can help get the requirements more
refined.

Note that my personal resources and ICANN staff resources are quite
limited - so constructive help is appreciated more than complaints.
The policy staff does not have any direct technical support, and in fact
the technical resources at ICANN are stretched very thin.

In terms of Council work practices - for most of the meetings you have
participated in so far in person - we have tried different things to
make us more productive.  So it is not surprising that the work
practices are hard to understand - that is because we are trying
different approaches to make progress, and we mostly volunteer our own
personal time.

I do agree that next time I will try to give more notice of the test,
and provide links to help files etc.   I agree that it also would have
been useful at the end of the call to allow some time for discussion -
but it was then midnight for me after a very busy day - and chairing a
call that is contentious at times is also very tiring.

I welcome other Councillors taking some initiative to set up some
technology for use by the Council.  Ross Rader in particular has been
helpful in this regard.

Regards,
Bruce Tonkin