RE: [ga] Increased foreign attendance

["Debbie Garside" <debbie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Ted
 
Thank you for your welcome.
 
Comments in line:


 
First, welcome to the GA mailing list. As a newcomer, your interest and
participation in this forum is encouraging. It is a positive sign that ICANN
issues and the need for ICANN reform are reaching a broader audience.
Collectively, with your support and that of other interested observers, we
can make a difference. 
 
I think the more people we can get to actually speak in this forum the
better.  There needs to be balance. 
 
There is no doubt that Ginger is an intelligent woman. However in our
opinion, describing her an "ideal" candidate for the fellowship program is
stretching the realm of reality. By her own admission, she does not have a
strong technical background and focuses on social issues and human rights.
While those are certainly important areas that need to be addressed in the
modern global environment, you should realize that ICANN is not the United
Nations. Diplomacy, social issues and human rights are outside the scope of
ICANN's mission and authority of ensuring the stability of the DNS.
<http://www.icann.org/general/bylaws.htm#I>
http://www.icann.org/general/bylaws.htm#I With that being said, there are
many people who are much more qualified and deserving than Ginger, who have
been denied ICANN travel funding. 
 
I would have to disagree with you and would draw your attention to the
following By Law:
 
ICANN By Laws: Section 2 - Core Values
4. Seeking and supporting broad, informed participation reflecting the
functional, geographic, and cultural diversity of the Internet at all levels
of policy development and decision-making. 

As a newbie with no real technical background, how do you propose that I (or
Ginger for that matter) obtain the necessary qulifications if we do not take
the time and trouble to participate?  I can participate quite easily, Ginger
and her colleagues cannot so ICANN have funded some of them.  Good for
ICANN, good for Ginger, Good for the people that Ginger represents.

To be a leader, an individual must possess both knowledge and an ability to
influence others. 
 
Would you say I was a leader?   I am a leader in my own field and I can
cross fields and apply leadership skills.  Is Ginger a leader within her own
community?  I don't know, but neither do you. 
 
 Given that Ginger is not well versed in technical issues, it is axiomatic
that she can only assume a role as a follower and not a leader, as it
applies to ICANN issues. 
 
Hmmm... the same could be said about me.  However, it would be far from the
truth, I have an open mind and do not follow anyone in particular.  Maybe
Ginger is the same.
 
  One would also have to seriously question the technical qualifications of
other individuals from developing countries. 
 
If there is a meeting of both technical and non-technical people information
can be exchanged and the non-technical can become technical; that's the
whole point of an inclusion initiative.
 
By definition, developing countries are poor, having widespread poverty,
sickness, illiteracy and non-industrialized resources. Most areas of
developing countries lack modern basics, such as electricity and running
water, things that most people in industrialized countries take for granted.
These countries need to address the basics and become industrialized nations
before they can truly enter the digital age.  
 
Hmmm... I would have to point you in the direction of Rwanda to counter your
statement.  Rwanda has made major inroads into harnessing digital industries
after much political upheaval and their average annual income is something
like $240.  Do you think the internet could play a part in other nations
becoming industrialized... from the point of view of foreign trade that
would boost their economy thus providing much needed employment income that
could be spent on literacy, numeracy, electricity, running water etc. ?
Would you say that was a possibility?
 
 Not following that path would be analogous to teaching calculus to a 6-year
old child who lacks even rudimentary knowledge of simple math. It is overly
simplistic and idealistic to think that by introducing developing countries
to the Internet, we can wave a magic wand and eradicate their problems.  
 
Nobody has said that we can wave a magic wand and eradicate problems.
However,  as an example, in Africa great inroads have been made within
education thanks to both internet and radio initiatives.  Imagine an
educational podcast, downloaded from the internet onto solar powered MP3
players and distributed to teachers in the depths of Africa.  Get the
picture?  
 
 Our position remains that it is a waste of money and effort to prioritize
funding of ICANN participants from developing nations over those from
industrialized nations. 
 
It is the "our" in your statement that bothers me most.  I don't see any
consensus within this forum on this issue.  I certainly don't agree with
your sentiments.  
 
best regards
 
Debbie Garside
 
Sincerely,
Ted
Prophet Partners Inc.
http://www.ProphetPartners.com
 <http://www.Premium-Domain-Names.com> http://www.Premium-Domain-Names.com

 
 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Debbie Garside <mailto:debbie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>  
To: Domains@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ; ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 8:25 AM
Subject: RE: [ga] Increased foreign attendance

Hi Ted
 
I would say that Ginger would be an ideal candidate for funding as she is
involved with disseminating information to less well off countries - a many
for the price of one situation!  I'm sure she could also be quite good at
volley ball but I looked fairly closely at the video and I don't see a ring
through her nose with a rope attached which probably means she has a mind of
her own.  
 
If you were devising an inclusion process for ICANN how would you go about
including developing nations?  Or perhaps you think there should not be an
inclusion process for developing nations?
 
best regards
 
Debbie Garside
 
 


  _____  

From: owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Prophet Partners Inc.
Sent: 28 June 2007 12:47
To: ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ga] Increased foreign attendance


Hi Eric,
 

"ICANN's unique role is global in nature so it's important that we not only
invite the world to participate in our organization - we also need to find
ways to get involvement from developing nations and regions that might not
otherwise be able to participate," said Theresa Swinehart, ICANN's Vice
President, Global and Strategic Partnerships.

 
This nonsense is a complete waste of registrants' money. To us, it is
strictly a public relations stunt aimed at improving ICANN's image. We would
not be the least bit surprised to find ICANN using this sham to support a
ploy to become an international organization. Rather than getting people who
have an active interest in ICANN to participate (i.e. the people on this
mailing list), ICANN funds a bunch of stooges from developing countries that
they can lead around by the nose.
 
Although video and audio quality of the YouTube video is overall very poor,
it is possible to make out what some people were saying. The woman named
Ginger who started speaking at 02:21 says she is a tutor for the bilingual
Spanish/English group at the DiploFoundation. From their About Us page
http://www.diplomacy.edu/ig/About/default.asp , "DiploFoundation is a
non-profit organisation which works to assist all countries, particularly
those with limited human and financial resources, to participate
meaningfully in international affairs, through education and training
programs, research, and the development of information and communications
technologies for diplomatic activities." Ginger said that she is hoping to
fill in some holes in her technical issues as she tends more to the
education of social issues and human rights. These are the type of people
that ICANN selects for fellowship participants. Perhaps the real reason she
was invited was to fill a hole in ICANN's volleyball tournament lineup.
 
Sincerely,
Ted
Prophet Partners Inc.
http://www.ProphetPartners.com
http://www.Premium-Domain-Names.com

 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Hugh Dierker 
To: ga 
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 2:11 PM
Subject: [ga] Increased foreign attendance

This is a perfect example of how numbers get skewed. The amazing part is
that they are blowing their trumpets over it,
<http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-26jun07.htm>
They pay these peoples to attend. To bad I no longer live in a distant
exotic land.
I cannot believe that they did not see this article as a bad idea.
 
Eric