[ga] [At-Large] Virtual Conferencing

[Danny Younger <dannyyounger@xxxxxxxxx>]

My initial thoughts on the Borad Finance Committee
At-Large line budget item:

I can think of better ways to spend ICANN's money on
behalf of the At-Large than by allocating funds to
cover At-Large representative travel expenses.  While
I appreciate the gesture, much more can be
accomplished with such funds by purchasing the tools
that would enable fruitful consensus-building at-large
discussions in a virtual environment.  

During the course of the last year I have participated
in virtual events organized by Milton Mueller's
Internet Governance Project.  His university has
either purchased or leased interactive conferencing
software that enables anyone in the world to
participate by voice and/or text and in such a
conference through their own computer.  The conference
organizer can recognize speakers, present slides, ask
for a virtual thumbs-up or down on any issue, and
maintain a recording of the entire procedure.  

In my view, we are better off as a community accepting
funds that would allow for a collaborative approach to
policy development through such participatory
software, rather than accepting by funding that will
accrue to unelected "leaders" (selected by ICANN) for
occasional travel.

Perhaps Milton can let us know the approximate costs
for the cotelco service that he is using...






	
		
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