RE: [council] About Designing a 21st Century ICANN

["Jonathan Robinson" <jrobinson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Mikey and others who have contributed to this thread.

 

I doubt anyone would take issue with increased and broader based
participation.  Nor some blue skies thinking as to how to achieve that.

I really like some of your concepts around different levels of
participation, use of mentoring etc.

 

The challenge (I think) we have here is that the blue skies thinking is
taking place with no apparent reference to the GNSO including current
purpose, function and mechanics.

This operation in isolation (top-down?) is one significant concern.

 

Jonathan

 

From: Mike O'Connor [mailto:mike@xxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: 04 February 2014 02:56
To: Council
Subject: Re: [council] About Designing a 21st Century ICANN

 

hi Klaus,

 

i too have been pushing a notion that we need to broaden the base of
participation.  for those of you who?ve already seen this picture, my
apologies.  but this is something i really want to work on, so i?m
constantly banging the drum.  the picture has now evolved into blog post
form and i?ll paste the whole shebang in here.  i think that this is mostly
human work ? not tech-tools work.  the problem that you bring in is the one
of scale ? how to reach all those people, organizations, businesses, leaders
across the whole world.  i don?t know the answer to that one.  

 

here?s the post.

 

mikey

 

http://www.haven2.com/index.php/archives/icann-participants

 


ICANN participants


I do these scratch-pad posts for really narrow audiences, the rest of you
will find them a bit bewildering.  Sorry about that.  This one is aimed at
the GNSO Council, as we ponder the question "how do we increase the pool of
PDP working-group volunteers?"

Broadening the bottom of the bottom-up process is a critical need at ICANN
right now. But at least in the part of ICANN where I live (GNSO
policy-making working groups) the conversations that take place are very
nuanced and do require a good deal of background and experience before a
person is going to be an effective contributor to the conversation.

So I think that we/ICANN need to develop a clearer understanding of the many
different roles that people play as they progress toward becoming an
effective participant in the process. And then put the resources and process
in place to encourage them along the way.  This is my current picture...

 <http://www.haven2.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Slide1.jpg> Slide1

 


Roles


Here's a starter-kit list of roles that people play. I'm putting them in
pairs because nobody can do this by themselves -- we all need the help of
others as we progress. I've also built a little drawing which puts these in
a never ending circle because we're always turning back into newcomers as we
explore another facet of the organization. I decided to beat the term
"translation" to death in these descriptions.  I think ICANN needs to
"translate" what it does for a wide range of audiences to make it easier for
them to participate.

Newcomer <-> Recruiter

A newcomer is likely to be just as bewildered by that experience as most of
the rest of us have been. They need a "recruiter" greet them, welcome them
into the flow, translate what's going on into terms they can understand,
find out what their interests and goals are and get them introduced to a few
"guides" who can take them to the next step.

Explorer <-> Guide

As the newcomer finds their place, they will want to explore information and
conversations that are relevant to their interests and they need a "guide"
to call on to translate their questions into pointers toward information or
people that they're trying to find.

Student <-> Teacher

As the person progresses they need a positive, low-risk way to learn the
skills and knowledge they need in order to be able to contribute. And, like
any student, they need a teacher or two. I've always thought that we are
missing a huge opportunity in the GNSO Constituencies by not consciously
using the process of preparing public comments as a place for less
experienced members to develop their policy-making skills in a more
intimate, less risky environment than a full-blown working-group. I'd love
to see newer members of Constituencies consciously brought into
progressively richer roles in the teams that write public comments for
Constituencies.

Researcher <-> Expert

Another person who needs a very specific kind of partner is a person who
comes to ICANN to research -- either to find an answer to a policy-related
question, find the best way to handle a problem or complaint that they have
with a provider, or to discover whether there is data within the ICANN
community that can help with formal academic research. Again, here is a
person with fairly clear questions who needs help sifting and sorting
through all the information that's available here -- another form of
translation, this time provided by a librarian or an "expert" in my
taxonomy.  This person may not want to build new skills, they're just here
for answers.  But filling that "expert" role could be a great opportunity
for somebody who's already here.

Teammate <-> Coach

A person who is experiencing a policy-making drafting-team (e.g. within a
constituency) or working group for the first few times has a lot of things
to learn, and many of those things aren't obvious right at the start. And
this person may not feel comfortable asking questions of the whole group for
a wide variety of reasons. They would benefit from a "coach" -- a person who
makes it clear that they are available to answer *any* question, no matter
how small. This person is translating a sometimes-mysterious team process
for a teammate who is learning the ropes.

Leader <-> Mentor

As our person progresses, they eventually take up a leadership role, and
once again could use the help of others to navigate new duties -- yet
another form of translation, this time delivered by a mentor who helps the
emerging leader be effective in their chosen role.


Information


I also think there are all kinds of information assets that participants use
and access in different ways depending on what their role is at the moment.
Another kind of translation!  :-)
<http://www.haven2.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif> Here's
another starter-kit list:

*       Organizational structures
*       Documents
*       Transcripts
*       Email archives
*       Models
*       Processes
*       Tools and techniques
*       Outreach materials

I think there's a gigantic opportunity to make this "career progression" and
"information discovery" easier and more available to people wanting to
participate at the bottom of the bottom-up process. I'm not sure that
there's much need for new technology to do all this -- my thoughts run more
toward setting goals, rewarding people who help, etc. But a dab of cool tech
here and there might help...

On Feb 3, 2014, at 3:12 PM, Klaus Stoll <kdrstoll@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:





Dear Friends

Greetings. I have now read the report twice and I think this report merits
an extended reply by the GNSO.

I will refrain from derisory comments about the report as far as a I can,
only one, the first page looks like IG buzzword bingo on steroids and like
steroids it replaces substance with short term illusions!

A good example is the first buzzword "crowdsource". Crowdsource is a good
thing, but as it is used in the report it is just a distraction the real
problem. The problem of IG in general and of ICANN in particular is not a
lack of participation, it is not even a question of language and acronyms.
The uncomfortable fact remains true that Cyberspace today resembles a
country where 1% of the population governs 99% of the population and 98% of
these don?t even know that the 1% exist! This represents a real legitimacy
problem for all current IG processes. Crowd sourcing is only real and
legitimate if it is based on knowledge that is available to everybody in
appropriate forms. Everybody needs to be able to be in the crowd and not
just a self-elected elite. ?The report says: (page4), ?For an institution to
merit the peoples trust, it first has to trust its people?. The people we
are talking about here is the global Internet user community, all of them.
Trust can only come when all the people know their rights and
responsibilities. In the case of IG the responsibility to inform all is not
simply discharged by awareness campaigns and nice pictures, but by
demonstrating the relevance of IG to every level of its user community.
People engage with things only if they are relevant to them, awareness is a
result of relevance, empowerment and trust are the result of trusting the
internet users in understanding the true significance and deep relevance of
IG in all our lives. (Mikey, here is I think also part of the answer to your
question regarding getting people involved into the Wgs, its not the
language, its not the time, its that we have to find a way to make the WG
topics relevant to a large number of people. This will not happen if we wait
that people come to us, we need to get out to them). IG institutions can
only be legitimate and successful if they put the awareness building and
empowerment at the center of their thinking and doing. All governance
structures for Cyberspace need to be user, not expert group centric.
Accountability can only come from the awareness of all what IG is
accountable for. Transparency in contracts and processes only makes sense
when all understand what the contracts are about. Innovation has to come
from informed participation based on relevance not engineered organizational
processes.

I am surprised by the liberal recommendation by the report of on-line tools
that are only available to an elite and not the average online user in a
developing country. Like the whole report, these recommendations reflect a
first world centered view on IG and technology. 

Are other councilors also disturbed by the liberal use in the report of the
?ICANN should...? phrase followed even sometimes by a time line and the
clear indication that the expectation is on speedy implementation without
much discussion and control? Maybe the authors of the report should be the
first who take their own recommendations serious:?In the future, we need to
eschew the kind of self-serious pomposity that gets in the way of change and
embrace humility and fallibility as touchstones to progress?. Wise words,
well spoken, unfortunately completely ignored in the very same report.

Happy to work with fellow councilors on a more detailed reply.

Yours

Klaus




On 2/3/2014 7:24 PM, Jonathan Robinson wrote:

Thanks All,

 

Personally, I can see no reason to use such words.  That symbolic detail
aside, this does throw up some critical points about how we engage with this
work.

 

I have a call planned this week to talk one-to-one with Beth Novek in order
to give some feedback.  I?ll obviously take into account any input from the
Council.

 

In addition, the Council needs to think about any other feedback, responses
or engagement with the work of this panel.

 

Jonathan

 

From: Gabriela Szlak [mailto:gabrielaszlak@xxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: 03 February 2014 17:46
To: Maria Farrell
Cc: John Berard; Jonathan Robinson; council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [council] About Designing a 21st Century ICANN

 

... And bear in mind that the purpose - in their own words is- :

 

·         Proposing new models for broad, inclusive engagement,
consensus-based policymaking and institutional structures to support such
enhanced functions; and

·         Designing processes, tools and platforms that enable a global
ICANN community to engage in these new forms of participatory
decision-making

Google translator cannot even translate those two words... it feels really
strange to talk about global engagement and participatory processes only in
English and in a an English that it seems also complex for english speakers
to get...

 

G.

 

 




Gabriela Szlak 

 

Skype: gabrielaszlak

Twitter: @GabiSzlak

 

La información contenida en este e-mail es confidencial. 

The information in this e-mail is confidential.

 

 

2014-02-03 Maria Farrell <maria.farrell@xxxxxxxxx>:

Goodness, I also nearly snorted my coffee but held it down long enough to
look up 'scylla' and 'charybdis'. I was chagrinned to learn these new (to
me) words were first used in the ICANN context by the beloved Norwegian
Harald Alvestrand back in 2002, a few reform movements back. Who knew?

"The current ICANN has attempted to chart a course between the scylla of
doing nothing and the charybdis of doing everything;" 
http://www.alvestrand.no/icann/icann_reform.html

 

On 3 February 2014 17:23, <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Jonathan,

 

My coffee came through my nose this morning when I read the blueprint from
the multistakeholder strategy panel.  But, while language like this:
"engaging people in meaningful and productive conversations about how to
redesign the way ICANN runs itself is difficult because the conversation
gets caught, on the one hand, between the scylla of broad generalities and
geopolitics without regard to the specifics of ICANN?s day-to-day work, and
the charybdis of mind-numbing technical detail on the other" is a bit
overblown, it also works as mis-direction. There is no argument but that
generalities, geopolitics and technical detail are a part of ICANN's life,
but I would argue with "broad" and "mind-numbing."  That kind of language
tips the player's hand.


Further, by pegging effectiveness to the use of expert networks and linking
legitimacy to crowdsourcing at each stage of decision making may only hint
at the future shape of ICANN but it is clear in its view that the current
version is no longer appetizing.  I will likely think hard about that as I
pack for the trip to Singapore.

 

Cheers,

 

Berard

 

--------- Original Message --------- 

Subject: [council] FW: Stage 2 Begins: Designing a 21st Century ICANN
From: "Jonathan Robinson" <jrobinson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 2/3/14 1:12 am
To: council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Stage 2 Begins: Designing a 21st Century ICANN 

 

 

From: The ICANN Strategy Panel on Multistakeholder Innovation & The GovLab
[mailto:icannmsipanel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: 31 January 2014 19:01
To: jrobinson@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Stage 2 Begins: Designing a 21st Century ICANN

 



        




 
<https://gallery.mailchimp.com/1a990feb5c/images/logo_icann_ideascale_3_.png
> 






Hello!


By engaging the stakeholders of the Internet (this really includes
everyone!), the ICANN Strategy Panel on Multistakeholder Innovation (
<http://openinggovernment.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1a990feb5c&id=9e
2fe95b04&e=32eced4cfd> the MSI Panel) and The Governance Lab @ NYU (
<http://openinggovernment.us6.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=1a990feb5c&id=d
1a6e896d6&e=32eced4cfd> The GovLab) are working to develop a set of concrete
proposals for designing the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN) ? the public interest organization responsible for
coordinating the Internet?s Domain Name System (DNS) ? for the 21st Century.

We?re writing to request your participation in this important initiative and
to help us spread the word!

Today launches Stage 2 ? Proposal Development ? of our online engagement
effort aimed at getting your input into the Panel?s work in order to bring
our ideas for evolving ICANN from principle to practice. The Panel has been
specifically charged by ICANN?s President and CEO with:

·  Proposing new models for international engagement, consensus-driven
policymaking and institutional structures to support such enhanced
functions; and

·  Designing processes, tools and platforms that enable the global ICANN
community to engage in these new forms of participatory decision-making.

To answer this charter, we launched a three-stage brainstorm initiative on
November 19, 2013. We started with Stage 1: Idea Generation. The Panel and
GovLab launched an
<http://openinggovernment.us6.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=1a990feb5c&id=4
9575264ee&e=32eced4cfd> engagement platform asking the global public to
share their ideas for what techniques, strategies, tools and platforms ICANN
could look to and learn from to help transform itself into an effective,
legitimate and evolving 21st century global organization. 

We now want to take these ideas closer to implementation during Stage 2. To
do so, we?ve shared the
<http://openinggovernment.us6.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=1a990feb5c&id=b
31cd77527&e=32eced4cfd> draft proposal blueprint on the GovLab Blog
organizing all of our ideas into 16 concrete proposals for ICANN, which we
are opening up to you for discussion. We want your feedback, input,
comments, questions, and suggestions on what we?ve collected. We?ve also
published our first set of proposals, which include recommendations for
ICANN to:

*
<http://openinggovernment.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1a990feb5c&id=c8
d26b0537&e=32eced4cfd> Leverage expert networking;
*
<http://openinggovernment.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1a990feb5c&id=78
cb16e898&e=32eced4cfd> Use crowdsourcing during all phases of
decisionmaking; and
*
<http://openinggovernment.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1a990feb5c&id=75
796fa362&e=32eced4cfd> Crowdsource oversight and develop standards to
measure success.

Feel free to provide feedback or reactions using comments or the
line-by-line annotation tools enabled on the blog.

You can also see all of these materials aggregated on the GovLab's ICANN
project page, online
<http://openinggovernment.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1a990feb5c&id=e6
06d3f2d6&e=32eced4cfd> HERE.

Help us spread the word!

Do you know any people or organizations who would be interested in these
proposal topics? We?d love to get their feedback, too. Consider doing any of
the following:

·  Forward this ?Call To Action? to colleagues and organizations you know
working in these areas who may have ideas or feedback to share on the blog.

·  Share our proposal draft links (all accessible
<http://openinggovernment.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1a990feb5c&id=16
6e90c780&e=32eced4cfd> here), as widely as possible within your networks
(e.g., via mailing lists and listservs). Feel free to link to these posts or
repost on your website edited to fit your needs!

·  Use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or Google+ to spread
the word about this initiative (use the #WeCANN hashtag!).

·  To inspire participation and learn how to contribute, watch and share a
<http://openinggovernment.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1a990feb5c&id=ad
b2ce10df&e=32eced4cfd> video The GovLab made when we launched this
brainstorm.

·  Discuss the MSI Panel?s work and proposals in your own communities and
share your comments and feedback with the us in the blog comments or at
<http://openinggovernment.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1a990feb5c&id=c7
8e16b652&e=32eced4cfd> icannmsipanel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.

  

Toward the end of February ? we will move into the last stage of this
brainstorm ? Stage 3: Collaborative Drafting. Using a
<http://openinggovernment.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1a990feb5c&id=e8
9c0b7d3f&e=32eced4cfd> wiki, we will invite collaborative drafting on a
first full draft of all proposals that the Panel will then submit to the
ICANN CEO, Board and community. So stay tuned!

For more information, visit The GovLab at
<http://openinggovernment.us6.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=1a990feb5c&id=6
c7b575816&e=32eced4cfd> www.thegovlab.org.


Thanks and best,

The MSI Panel & The GovLab



 






 
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