Post ATLAS II Implementation - Capacity Building

Actions: 

• 16 Sep 2015 
  
  • During ICANN 54 in Dublin, the ALAC to meet with Xavier Calvez to discuss FY17 Special Budget Request, with a focus on core activities/programs such as the Leadership Training Program
  • During ICANN 54 in Dublin, the ALAC to meet with Nora Abusitta to discuss this recommendation and the Next Gen Program, ICANN Fellowship, and Auction Proceeds
• 28 Sep 2015 (O&E SC): 
  
  • O&E SC co-chairs to review the appropriate O&E programs and come up with key ideas for those programs. This can be a preparatory work for the conversation with Xavier. 
  • Staff to invite the O&E SC co-chairs to the RALO secretariat session that will review the FY17 special budget request (Tue 29 Sep, 18:00 UTC); to add this as an agenda item 
• 30 Sep 2015: 
  
  • During ICANN 54 in Dublin, the ALAC to meet with GSE Staff and discuss the lack of communications/collaboration/synergy between GSE and some RALOs in outreach & engagement activities (exception: AFRALO has a very good synergy with AFRICANN). 
  • Outreach & Engagement SC to review the list of programs identified and see which ones are the most beneficial with great ROIs that need to be kept
• 05 Oct 2015: 
  
  • Capacity Building WG to report on this recommendation 

Notes: 

• Define 'programmes' that brought value members to the community.
• Need to think of ways to optimize budget.
• Outreach Sub-Committee to identify the so-called programs
• Finance & Budget Sub-Committee to evaluate the resources used so far and understand whether any additional funds is needed 
• 30 Sep 2015: 
  
  • Need to identify which programs that are most relevant to this recommendation and most valuable. We need to have examples, metrics, RoIs to demonstrate their value. 
  • Re the programs/activities that don't have great ROIs, we shouldn't simply give up but should figure out ways to make them more effective. 
  • The revenue stream of ICANN is uncertain and potential hard decisions in terms of cutting programs/activities may need to be made.  
  • GSE has done events/outreach activities in North America region without contacting or informing NARALO. It would be better to form RALOs-GSE collaboration and improve communication. 
  • We should also recognize the benefits that stem from the great synergy between RALOs and ICANN departments (e.g. AFRALO - AFRICANN) 
• 05 Oct 2015: 
  
  • Dev Anand Teelucksingh has shared the outreach calendar with GSE VPs and encouraged them to include events in the calendar
  • Communications between GSE and At-Large need to be improved, and this can be a point of discussion during ALAC Meeting with the VPs 
  • FSBC may not be able to meet before Dublin, but has been looking at the questions that Carlton asked (Question: What is the real practical outcome from all the budget work?  Is the At-Large better funded?  How much of the At-Large budgetary requests are satisfied? Which ones make our priority list?) and will discuss this with ICANN Finance Dept
• 18 Oct 2015 (ALAC & Regional Leaders Work Part I) 
  • Olivier Crepin-Leblond: Related to Rec 1, several of ALSes have admitted the concern that there might have been some programs done by the GSE, and local ALSes were not informed of the events taking place, and therefore they didn’t manage to get anything out of it. It didn’t appear to have local ALS engagement at all. 
• 30 Apr 2016
  
  • The Proposal for Multi-Year Planning of At-Large RALO Face-to-Face Meetings has been submitted to the ICANN public comment on the Draft ICANN FY17 Operating Plan & Budget and Five-Year Operating Plan Update; the Proposal has been reviewed by ICANN Finance. 
    

Input from Outreach & Engagement Sub-committee: 

• Define 'programmes' that brought valuable members to the community.
  • Leadership Training
  • Next Gen
  • Fellowship
  • CROPP
  • Regional Strategic Plans
  • Language Services
  • Online courses
  • ATLAS
  • RALO Face-to-Face General Assembly
  • Synergy between certain RALOs and GSE (e.g. AFRALO - AFRICANN) 
• Continue & increase support for the aforementioned programs 
• Identify the appropriate staff members as recipients
• Continue to provide support for people to follow ICANN activities remotely:
  • Cameras (more rooms, not just the ALAC ones)
  • Remote Hubs
• 28 Sep 2015 (O&E SC): 
  
  • EURALO will organize a networking and outreach event after the GA (coordinated with Jean-Jacques Sahel); it is an open event and is also an opportunity for other RALO members to participate. The event will invite ISOC Europe that will circulate a special invitation to encourage European chapters to participate.  
  • Re support issues for the outreach & engagement programs – if specific programs are identified, they can be submitted as part of the budget request for FY17. O&E SC can help identify appropriate programs. O&E SC with discuss with Xavier Calvez in ICANN 54 to understand how this can be done. 

Actions: 

• 16 Sep 2015: 
  • During ICANN 54 in Dublin, the ALAC to meet with GSE Staff and Regional VPs and raise their awareness of this recommendation and what they have been doing to address this recommendation. 
• 05 Oct 2015:
  
  • Capacity Building WG to review the ATLAS II recommendations in their upcoming call(s)

Notes: 

• Capacity Building WG / Outreach SC to develop a proposal in coordination with the GSE staff and then send the proposal for Board review.
• The proposal can be expanded on the relevant items listed in the appendix of the ATLAS II Declaration.
• 18 Oct 2015 (update from the GSE, slides)
  • Note on Slide: Examples from Asia-Pacific (policy read-outs, etc), LAC, Africa & Middle East (underserved regions project).
  • Yu-Chang Kuek on the GSE engagement efforts in the APAC region: 
    • Institutionalizing the collaboration through a framework under an APRALO and ICANN/APAC hub structure with the guidance from APRALO and Policy team. 
      
    • Under the framework, a regularly timed webinar has been co-organized by APRALO and the ICANN/APAC hub. It’s to make sure that information pertaining to the DNS, and information pertaining to ICANN affairs are shared with a broader, regional community, and that the content being put up for discussion is jointly curated by both APRALO as well as staff, based out in the region. 
    • Another item under the framework is language customization in a very diverse region. ICANN has signed an MOU with Thailand to help them and help us translate materials into Thai. With many partners in APAC region, GSE has taken the outcomes of ICANN Meetings and has read-out sessions in country as well. 
  • Baher Esmat on the GSE engagement efforts in the Middle East: 
    • There are two main programs that GSE embarked upon a year or so ago, one in relation to development of the DNS industry in the region. ICANN had an agreement with the Egyptian Regulatory Authority, NTRA, to establish a DNS entrepreneurship center to serve Africa and the Middle East. The objective is to not only develop capacities but also to further develop the ecosystem across both regions. In the past six months ICANN has run five workshops in four different countries. There was a two-day workshop with registries and registrars in Tunis, focusing particularly on the local market in Tunis – what the strengths are, what the weaknesses are, and so on. 
    • The other program is a School on Internet Governance. This is not an ICANN invention. There have been programs on Internet governance all over the world in the past ten years. GSE partnered with a number of community leaders in this field, and started this program last year in the Middle East. This year, and upon the request from the local community in Pakistan, the ISOC Chapter in Islamabad, which is one of the ALSes, led an effort to have a National School on Internet Governance as well. 
  • Maureen Hilyard: In Oceania, ICANN does not seem to have done enough outreach in the 22 countries and territories other than Australia and New Zealand. There’s a big black hole when it comes to ICANN activities in the Pacific. 
  • Save Vocea:
    • In 2014, ICANN started this stakeholder group bottom-up engagement where we brought participants from Oceania who’ve been involved in ICANN to be part of a Working Group to put together a strategy for the region. One of the things the group did was highlight some of the main activities that could be important for the region. Some of it was on capacity building for the region and how we could also assist in the stability of the DNS for the region. 
    • Never before in the past, you’ve never seen Pacific Islanders being here. In this meeting, we have about nine countries from the Pacific through participating on Fellowships. There has been more coordination with the regional organizations, particularly with PIC ISOC, as they’re the regional body for the ALS. Then there are other bodies outside, like the APNIC in the industry. 
    • One success is that those countries and territories are receptive to ICANN coming in. In the past six months ICANN covered about eight countries, working with the stakeholders within the countries. 
      
    • It's good to work in partnerships, but it’s not concrete in terms of how ICANN could set MOUs with Pacific island countries and territories. 
    • The challenge is still on communications. Even though we provide a webinar for the whole Asia Pacific region, in coordination with APRALO, the challenge is how do Pacific community members get access to online meetings? How do they pay for this access? Who will pay for this access. That’s been one of the major problems, and ICANN should work on that. 
  • Olivier Crepin-Leblond: GSE has provided a good deal of information on that. I think that’s also pretty much complete. 
  • Tijani Ben Jemaa: I proposed a program for capacity building to undertake some activities in the small islands in the Caribbean, and small countries in Africa where ICAN never go. I proposed to Jean-Jacques Sahel to collaborate on this, since he’s in charge of the civil society. 
    

Input from Outreach & Engagement Sub-committee: 

• Capacity Building WG / Outreach SC to develop a proposal in coordination with the GSE staff and then send the proposal for Board review.
• The proposal can be expanded on the relevant items listed in the appendix of the ATLAS II Declaration.
• Africa Engagement Strategy has been successful
• Not sure whether the engagement strategy in other regions are as good as the Africa engagement strategy
  • Indigenous population
  • Find out what regions don't have any ICANN presence (e.g. Dev's spreadsheet for LAC region)
• Stakeholder map across all the SOs/ACs/SGs is needed (key rec)
• Stakeholder engagement strategy has been successful
• Examples of effective campaigns:
  • LAC Road Show

Action: 

• 16 Sep 2015: 
  • During ICANN 54 in Dublin, the ALAC to speak with Nora Abusitta about the mentoring program and discuss this recommendation 
  • Gunela Astbrink to participate in the ALAC meeting with Nora Abusitta and speak about her experience in the ATLAS II Mentoring Program 

Notes: 

• 16 Sep 2015: 
  • The At-Large Capacity Building Working Group has organized a series of webinars; there will be an upcoming webinar on policy making in GNSO and At-Large working groups. Some of the webinar materials will be incorporated to ICANN Learn courses. At-Large Beginner's Guides also have information about policy making. 
  • B Meeting will have a significant engagement component. Hence, it will be a good opportunity to target end users and help them understand and get involved in the ICANN policy activities. 
  • End-users' participation in policy development is a complicated issue. Certain ALSes have no idea how to participate at all. Some ALSes don't even know what ICANN does. There needs to be some basic requirements and standards for certifying ALSes. ALS Criteria and Expectations Taskforce has discussed this issue, but ultimately RALOs need to work with the ALAC to address this issue. As RALOs have the closest contacts with ALSes, they need to play a big part in ALS engagement, for recruiting new members and finding new talents in the ALSes that have the interest and time to take part in policy development. 
  • The usual suspects have been doing all the policy work, and once they move on, At-Large will loose policy experts in those topics. Hence, mentoring & buddy system would be conducive to train newbies and sustain the knowledge and talents. 
  • There seems to be two types of mentoring program that took place in At-Large: 1) intensive (e.g. Gunela Astbrink has been involved in that; it was specifically designed for ATLAS II, but it is unlikely to continue), 2) general. There also seem to be mentoring programs in other places in ICANN. The purpose and subject of mentoring needs to be clarified (e.g. mentoring for engagement and mentoring for leadership would be very different). Mentoring program also needs to be an ongoing effort. 
  • Within the At-Large ALS Criteria and Expectations Taskforce, DT-A has been working on on-boarding programs to help newly joined ALSes and individual members participate in policy development activities using appropriate tools. Part of the DT-A work is to figure out ways to engage those members early on and formalize the mentoring efforts. 
  • An ICANN wide mentoring program would be a better way to go, and there is progress on that. Nora Abusitta would be able to speak about it. The need for ongoing mentoring efforts is really necessary, otherwise we will loose new blood. It is also necessary to have recognition of the mentors, as it requires tremendous time commitments. If a mentoring program is to take place, it needs to be followed through. Mentees also need to be supported somehow to continue engaging with ICANN (even after the completion of the mentoring program). 
• 05 Oct 2015: 
  • These efforts will help address the recommendation: Website redesign, including taxonomy of policy advice statements, organization, linking to resources related to policy topics, integration with public comment; capacity building webinars on policy development process and various At-Large and ICANN working groups; the tools to improve the policy management process system 
• 05 May 2016: 
  • The efforts mentioned in the bullet under '05 Oct 2015' made this recommendation completed: launch of the new At-Large Website with policy-specific sections, completion of At-Large Capacity Building webinars and RALO-GSE jointly Capacity Building Webinars, and the launch of the document production pilot project. 
    
    

Actions: 

05 Oct 2015:

• Capacity Building WG and Technology Taskforce to work with ICANN IT to make the webinar recordings easy to replay and share 

Notes: 

30 Sep 2015: 

• There are a number of existing capacity building webinars, both At-Large wide and RALO specific 
• Outreach & Engagement SC has been looking into such activities and efforts for engagement; Ideas for Engagement Strategies wiki page has been set up; the SC will discuss this issue in ICANN 54 
• Capacity building should be more than online webinars. We should access RALOs and human capital for doing policy work and outreach. We should have some tools to engage membership and help them get involved. Staff should help hold more sessions to get more information about the inactive ALSes and learn about their interests. We need to adopt a gradual and systematic approach to engage the new and inactive ALSes. 
• Judith Hellerstein and Glenn McKnight have identified a large group of ALSes who haven't attended any NARALO calls. They will reach out to them and conduct easy-flowing sessions to find out why they are inactive and give them an opportunity to ask questions. 
• ALSes are often overwhelmed by emails and don't understand how to navigate the information and ways to get involved. To help ALSes understand ways to navigate through the overwhelming amount of information in At-Large can be one of the capacity building topics. 

05 Oct 2015:

• It has been recognized that mentorship of new ALS representatives and the development of short tutorials (e.g. How to use Adobe Connect) can help dress he on-boarding challenges
• Capacity building webinars can be leveraged to develop those tutorial/mentoring initiatives and educate newcomers and inactive At-Large members 
• Pre-training of ALSes is important, including how to use Adobe Connect, etc., and they need to know that participate in teleconferences and webinars via AC is part of the ALS participation expectation 

18 Oct 2015 ( update from the GSE, slides) 

• Note on Slide: The work of the Stakeholder Journey sub team within the CEP team can help address this recommendation.
• Chris Mondini on the Stakeholder Journey program: 
  • It looks at the challenge of getting more volunteers, but also more active volunteers 
  • At a very high-level, GSE has looked at some data, to look at where people come from, where they may get stuck, what some of their challenges are. They looked at the structures across ICANN, because each structure approaches this question slightly differently, and each structure and constituency has slightly different needs. They have made some high-level observations about how we might attract people, by looking first at what their question areas are, what their issue areas are. 
  • They have looked at some tools that they can provide to help community volunteers be partners in doing that outreach. GSE will solicit feedback from the community, especially the volunteers who have a passion for bringing on the next generation to having a succession plan, so that the sustainability of ICANN in this community is assured. 
• Sally Costerton on the work of Community Engagement:
  • There has been coordination team inside the ICANN, co-chaired by Sally Costerton and David Olive, composed of senior staff that face the ICANN community. The team includes the Policy Team, the Engagement Team, the Communications Team, which is led by Duncan Burns, the Digital Engagement Team, led by Chris Gift, and the Meetings Team, led by Nick Tomasso. There are two frequent guests, which is DPRD, led by Nora Abusitta, and she has the Fellows Program under her remit in DPRD, which is a very important element of the Stakeholder Journey Program. Another guest is Cyrus Namazi, who leads engagement for the GDD Team. The goal is to try to make sure we have a much more holistic view about how ICANN, as a staffing organization, can maximize the resources at our disposal. 
  • This team is to tackle some of these difficult challenges that the community faces as it matures and grows, such as the great deal of exhaustion in the volunteer community. You see a lot of the same faces popping up in different Working Groups, and while that’s great in some ways, but it’s also not sustainable. 
  • It is also about providing people with tools, it’s translations – it’s access questions, generally, whether that be money to get on a plane, or stay in a hotel, whether it’s language tools that allow you to participate in an even way, whether it’s improving the search on the website so that it’s a more friendly environment. 
  • how do we take a holistic look, as staff, at all of the money that ICANN spends on volunteer support, community participation? Whichever word you want to use. Because we tend to view it in quite narrow pockets. There are particulate processes to apply for travel funding or special support work and so forth. 
  • but we will be able to do so in due course – it’s getting a real sense of, “How much in total, out of the overall ICANN Budget, do we have at our disposal? And how can we make sure that we match that, as effectively as possible, to this goal?”
  •  we’re trying to take what you’re talking about, as a more strategic view of it, to say, “Are there other ways we could do things differently that would make it easier for unpaid participants in the community to have a more equal participation?” 
• Siranush Vardanyan: GSE team should be connected to the Outreach calendars used in RALOs to see At-Large activities and explore collaboration opportunities.
• Rafid Fatani: How do we maintain the old, but also bring in the new and keep them in? One of that is actually maintaining and allowing them to grow within various leadership positions. I, in the ALAC, think personally that we have a problem with this. 
• Sebastien Bachollet: I think it’s good to have new people come in, but they need to be received, they need to be accompanied, they need to be sustained, supported, received in good conditions. Because if that’s not the case, they are going to leave and go somewhere else.
  
• Sally Costerton: GSE will have regular calls with the ALAC Outreach & Engagement Sub-Committee.  I’d be very happy to make myself and some of my team available, once, or regularly, to join that call. This may give us more time to get into more detail about some of the tactical things we need to do. 

23 May 2016:

• There have been efforts to make conference recordings more accessible, such as MP4 conversion of meeting recordings to be uploaded to YouTube 
• There has been significant progress in this recommendation, such as the revamp of At-Large website, implementation of captioning services, additional interpretation, LACRALO mailing lists, etc. 

Actions:  

• Chairs of these 3 WGs (Dev Anand Teelucksingh, Tijani Ben Jemaa, Leon Sanchez, Glenn McKnight, Judith Hellerstein) to discuss how to tackle this task

• Capacity Building Working Group to work with Social Media Working Group & Technology Taskforce to assess the knowledge management and the policy development system

• ALAC to follow-up depending on the status update on the SOs/ACs Chairs & ICANN Leadership Meeting on Friday 6 Feb 2015 
• Social Media WG to help generate the taxonomy of the policy categories and make sure the taxonomy are more accessible to newcomers/curious outsiders
• ICANN Board to help make the policy development process easily shareable via social media
• 24 Sep 2015: 
  
  • After the ICANN 54 meeting, SMWG to hold a call and review the taxonomy used on the new At-Large website and help review and revise the topic/organization tags on statements and news articles 
• 05 Oct 2015: 
  
  • Ariel Liang to circulate the taxonomy list on the SMWG mailing list 
• 23 May 2016:
  
  • Mark Segall to explore eXo platform and report back to TTF in terms of testing results

Notes: 

• A project that overhauls ICANN’s information management system
• The Technology Taskforce Chair is following up with relevant ICANN Staff 
• 09 Sep 2015: 

  • Technology Taskforce has discussed the tool Kavi with ICANN IT, as Kavi was tried out in GNSO. ICANN IT is unlikely to continue promoting or implementing Kavi as it does not appear to sustain the needs of GNSO (e.g. not mobile friendly, do not support multilingual work). Nonetheless, the discussion on Kavi is still useful for At-Large to understand the user profile of policy management process tools and to guide At-Large on understanding what users want/don't want. 

  • Technology Taskforce has recommended a few other solutions to IT that can be considered as alternative tools, and will explore other tools in the future. 
• 05 Oct 2015: 
  
  • Knowledge management is still a challenge in the community. Keeping track of action items and what is happening in the Working Group is difficult.  
  • Confluence has capability to include consolidated task lists for certain wiki parent pages and their respective child pages. 
  • To keep a concise summary / table of hot topics and key activities in working groups may help address knowledge management issue 
  • Staff-created weekly policy update (that includes the activities and topics in the working groups) can serve as a template for such summary/table - explore potential to publish them on the new At-Large website? 
  • Need to build an one-stop shop of working group/RALO/liaison reports: https://community.icann.org/x/XwCB 

Input from Social Media: 

• 24 Sep 2015: SMWG to give feedback on the taxonomy used on the new At-Large website (tagging of news articles and policy advice Statements). 
• 19 May 2016: TTF has tested an open source software *** (Dev to provide the link)

Input from Technology Taskforce: 

• The At-Large Website Redesign has been completed - part of the website design attempts to provide a policy background on policy issues as well as to create a taxonomy of policy categories and highlight policy metrics. The new website can be viewed at https://atlarge.icann.org/. The website redesign effort has significantly reduced the manual work in publicizing public comment work in At-Large, and this has been demonstrated during ICANN 53. 
• The TTF will be reviewing the Policy Development Processes at the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) to see what could be adapted for At-Large Policy Development; conference call will likely happen in the end of September 2015. 

• Suggested Implementation Strategy

  • Assemble cross sectoral technology team to determine the full scope of the project 
  • Allocate adequate budget for completion
  • Create realistic timelines
  • Roll out a beta test with assigned volunteers in each sector to test and provide feedback 
  • Need to provide a recommendation of best practices
• 21 Sep 2015: 
  

  • Reviewed and evaluated LACNIC's customized policy development process and web tools in the teleconference: https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/At-Large+Technology+Taskforce+2015-09-21

• 23 May 2016:

  • TTF will investigate eXo Platform: https://www.exoplatform.com/. It can create different work rooms to facilitate policy discussions and communications, etc. Learn more about eXo here: 

  • Comment from Carlton Samuels: what we need is a competent librarian to do the curating.  THis morning for example there was a call on the Subsequent Procedures WG for output from all communities that pronounced on the new GTLD process.
  • A librarian has been hired in ICANN to look into issues mentioned in the recommendation. So far the librarian has been working on the taxonomy and search strategy with the language service team. 
• 12 Sep 2016:
  
  • A team to test the eXo platform has been formed: https://community.icann.org/x/pAC4Aw 

What do we want in a Policy Management Process System?

1. To quickly find historical information on a policy issue
   For example, find policy history on “new gTLDs” and get a report in chronological order.
   Such searches could be further refined (e.g show history in past 4 years) or show the submissions made by a particular AC/SO on a policy issue. Such searches could be visualized using a timeline (e.g http://codyhouse.co/gem/vertical-timeline/). A system would have the policy history stored in a manner to allow for such queries.

2. To subscribe to policy updates/notifications by interest
   For a person who has a keen interest in certain policy issues (e.g IDNs), persons should be able to subscribe to receive updates on specific policy issues with links to where the discussions are happening for that AC/SO.

   This is where a taxonomy of policy categories to be defined for past, current and future/upcoming policies. Furthermore, a policy system could track past user interactions, so that if a person commented on a particular policy issue (e.g WHOIS), they could be notified of new, related policy issues for their review.

3. Track deadlines for responding to policy comments
   With multiple policy comment periods happening simultaneously at different stages, a system should update a calendar or other system for the AC/SO to track and manage deadlines.

4. The ability to read policy issues and updates in your language
   Comment Periods on Policies posted for review are posted in English with translated policy  documents being uploaded at a later time. Persons should be able to subscribe to notifications when policies are available in their language to review.

5. Having the policy review process more accessible to mobile users.
   With more and more users using mobile devices, the policy review process should be made accessible to such users to engage in the policy process.

6. Reduce the manual duplication to disseminate information.
   AC/SOs expend a lot of effort to manually copying and pasting text in order to disseminate policy information to the communities and to the wider public (wiki pages, emails, sharing on social media). A system should offer sharing mechanisms so that persons wanting to get the word out can do so more easily.

7. What do you want in a Policy Management Process System?

Notes: 

• 30 Sep 2015: 
  
  • TTF has worked on a template on Confluence for RALO Secretariat Report 
  • The news page in the revamped At-Large website will incorporate template that can be potentially used for reporting purposes; login for community members will be worked on after the Beta site launch 
• 05 Oct 2015: 
  • RALO secretariats may be able to use a form-based template to provide updates via the new At-Large website 
    
    

Input from Social Media Working Group: 

• RALO and Liaison reports seem to fulfill the request of this recommendation
• Explore options of generating a template (e.g. online form, google doc) for RALOs, Liaisons, and Working Groups so that they can file reports in an efficient manner
• Follow up with RALO secretariats on the status of the RALO report templates
• 24 Sep 2015: 
  
  • RALO Secretariat reports should use a template that is easy for social media sharing. 
  • Community members have made an effort to create that template. 
  • New At-Large website redesign will also incorporate that Secretariat Report template design in the future; the reports can be tagged in order to show in the news feed of future RALO pages. 

Input from Technology Taskforce: 

• The TTF looking to syndicate RALO topics across all RALO wiki pages using the Confluence’s wiki capabilities.
• Wiki addons such as Confluence Questions (http://bit.ly/1EUah6O) & group chat applications may allow for such crowdsourcing of topic discussions; TTF to continue evaluation
• To ensure regular updates from RALO chairs and secretariats in a form suitable for sharing, a template to standardise the information collected from RALOs is being developed
• 23 May 2016
  • A template has been created in wiki for RALO secretariats to fill out and track topics of interest. The template is not viewable to the public at the moment 
  • The new At-Large website has features to automatically organize public comment proceedings and news articles based on policy topics, but this only partially satisfies the recommendation 
    
    

Actions: 

• 30 Sep 2015 
  • During ICANN 54, Technology Taskforce to meet with ICANN IT (Josh Baulch) and discuss AC recording conversion into videos
    
  • Nathalie Peregrine/ Ariel Liang to confirm that whether the wiki page of the repository of webinars is included in the ALS welcome email 
  • During ICANN 54, ALAC to discuss with Nora Abusitta with regard to the internship program 

Notes: 

• Need to define 'Capacity Building' and possibly change the term
• 30 Sep 2015: 
  
  • There has been a fully developed At-Large webinar program in 2015, but the participation level has been quite low 
  • The webinars on important cross community issues usually attract participation. 
  • APRALO-APAC Hub webinars address the needs in the region and the topics have been identified collaboratively between staff and community members. This is appreciated by the community. 
  • Webinars should continue and ALSes need to be encouraged to participate 
  • One of the challenges is the ability to use the webinar materials after they take place and share them on social media. AC recordings are difficult to be converted into videos that can be shared on YouTube. 
  • It would be good to track the stats (e.g. number of downloads) with regard to the past webinars. Far more people may be watching the webinars after they have taken place. Those stats can serve as the baseline numbers to measure future participation. Participation in the capacity building program can be a good metrics/criteria to measure engagement. We need to push the capacity building information/materials to the community members and encourage them to take advantage of them. 
  • At-Large Structures should know about the wiki page of the repository of the webinars.  
  • The repertoire of the webinars is large, but it may be intimidating for a newcomer to navigate through. At-Large Community members/Staff need to provide more guidance to make webinars more accessible, highlight the key webinars, and provide frameworks on how to use the resources. Reorganization of that wiki page is needed. The listing of the webinars needs to be more intuitive and should not be merely based on publish dates. A short blurb about each webinar or some blog posts about learning opportunities may be a good way to entice ALSes to click through, as learning process itself takes time. Potential ICANN interns can work on this type of project. 
  • Re publicizing the webinars after they take place - IEEE breaks the recordings down into digestible sections, uses twitter feed and mailing lists. NTEN uses twitter feed and tweet throughout the entire webinar. They also use tools to see how long people have been engaged with the webinar, as well as other tools to retain people's attention. 
  • Twitter feed will be effective if it is targeting individuals. We don't know much about the individuals (ALS members) within the At-Large community. It is important to first get to know the individuals within the ALSes and understand who we are trying to attract in order to get them engaged. 

Actions: 

• 30 Sep 2015: 
  • During ICANN 54, ALAC to discuss ICANN Learn online courses with Jeffery Dunn. 
• 05 Oct 2015: 
  • During ICANN 54, ALAC to discuss potential additional Beginner's Guide with Nora Abusitta (now should be Betsy Andrews), including guides about other SOs/ACs
    
    

Notes: 

• 30 Sep 2015:
  
  • Existing Beginner's Guide need to be updated 
  • The new At-Large Website should make the Beginner's Guides more accessible 
  • Some of the online courses are very uninteresting to newcomers. 
  • Someone who has read through all the Guides and taken the courses can make judgement call on how to improve the information. Jeffrey Dunn is the go-to person for creating/improving ICANN learn courses  
  • Beginner's Guide to At-Large Structure is going through an updating process. Its Redline Version - Beginner's Guide to At-Large Structures (ALSes) is open for comments 
• 05 Oct 2015: 
  
  • Challenge about the Beginner's Guide is that a reader may easily get lost due to its organization of information; the Guide should follow the style of the ICANN Strategic Plan 
• 03 Jun 2016:
  
  • Progress made on this recommendation: Beginner’s Guide for ALSes has been updated and new version will be published momentarily; icann.org has prominently featured all Beginner’s Guides, with 6 UN language versions available.
  • However, the number of print copies of Beginner's Guides have been reduced; a limited number of print copies are reserved for specific regions

Input from Outreach & Engagement Sub-committee: 

• Contact Nora Abusitta about this
• People with disability need to be able to read the beginner's guides (accessibility of documents)
• Noted the prominent location of the beginner's guides on icann.org and want to make sure that future website will still put the beginner's guides in a prominent location