RE: [council] Regarding Observers

["Gomes, Chuck" <cgomes@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

More important in my opinion than the size of task forces and working
groups or whether people are observers or constituency reps are the
following:
        - Making sure that as many diverse points of view are
represented as possible
        - Ensuring that all participants are constructive
        - Providing effective leadership of the group
        - Providing sufficient staff support (administrative and policy)

Also, I strongly believe that we need to move away from task forces and
working groups being made up predominately of Counsel reps.  That just
doesn't scale.  The Council should oversee each taskforce or working
group and should have a few members on the group to faciliate
communication but that should be quite limited.  We have too much work
to do so we need to spread the workload around to a much wider group of
people in the community.  The Council will untimately have to make
decisions on the work of any taskforce or working group anyway.

Chuck Gomes
 
"This message is intended for the use of the individual or entity to
which it is addressed, and may contain information that is privileged,
confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. Any
unauthorized use, distribution, or disclosure is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this message in error, please notify sender
immediately and destroy/delete the original transmission." 
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> [mailto:owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mike Rodenbaugh
> Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 11:15 AM
> To: council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: RE: [council] Regarding Observers
> 
> I support openness on WGs, but share the concern expressed by 
> some about the size of WGs and so agree there should be some 
> limitation on that decided in advance.  Mawaki had good 
> thoughts on this topic, and I think the issue manifested 
> itself at the Task Force meetings in LA re new TLDs and 
> manifests itself in some of the WGs I am involved with.  
> 
> I noted several 'votes' of that TF which included observers 
> and did not appear to note that some Constituencies were 
> under-represented (or explicitly leave time to go back and 
> get fuller views from those Constituencies on those straw 
> vote issues, before further draft reports
> -- if this indeed is happening, then excellent!).  I also 
> noted many of the same observers talking more often and at 
> greater length than Councilors, in general, on almost every 
> issue.  This also happens in WGs but is more understandable 
> in that context since they do not involve the entire Council.
> 
> I think the Council needs to separate its deliberations from 
> those of the TF at various points, to mitigate against undue 
> influence of observers and allow equal representation of all 
> Constituencies.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Mike Rodenbaugh
> 
> Sr. Legal Director
> 
> Yahoo! Inc.
> 
>  
> 
> NOTICE:  This communication is confidential and may be 
> protected by attorney-client and/or work product privilege.  
> If you are not the intended recipient, please notify me by 
> reply, and delete this communication and any attachments.
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> [mailto:owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> On Behalf Of Bruce Tonkin
> Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 12:50 AM
> To: gnso-idn-wg@xxxxxxxxx; gnso-pro-wg@xxxxxxxxx; gnso-rn-wg@xxxxxxxxx
> Cc: council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [council] Regarding Observers
> 
> Hello All,
> 
> I have had no objections to the notice posted on the Council list at:
> http://www.gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg03
> 251.html 
> 
> There have been some suggested refinements on the Council 
> mailing list to deal with potential problems.  At the next 
> Council meeting I will ask the Council to formally endorse a 
> policy on observers in working groups.
> As the working groups are on a tight time-line, I don't want 
> to hold up the spirit of the support I have received from 
> many of the GNSO Council members for allowing more 
> participation in working groups.
> 
> So I encourage working groups to move forward on the 
> following basis with respect to allowing "observers", who are 
> not GNSO constituency members.
> 
> 
> "Observers: Observers shall not be members of or entitled to 
> vote on the working group, but otherwise shall be entitled to 
> participate on equal
> footing with members of the working group.   In particular observers
> will be able to join the mailing list, and attend 
> teleconferences or physical meetings."
> 
> To guard against some of the behaviour that can occur with 
> unregulated mailing lists, observers must provide their real 
> name, organisation (if associated with an organisation) and 
> contact details to the GNSO secretariat, and the GNSO 
> secretariat will verify at least their email
> address and phone contact information.   Observers will also be
> requested to provide a public statement of interest, as for 
> working group members.
> 
> Where a person joins an already established working group, 
> this will be on the basis that it is their responsibility to 
> read the existing documents, listen to teleconference 
> recordings, and read the mailing list discussions before 
> commenting on topics that have already been dealt with by the 
> working group.
> 
> Regards,
> Bruce Tonkin
> 
> 
> 
>