Independent Examiner’s Final Recommendation | In the interests of transparency, a clear indication of all opportunities for At-Large travel funding support and the beneficiaries thereof, should be published promptly and in one place on the At-Large webpage. |
Issue Identified | Need more systematic RALO participation in regional events. |
Does ALAC Support Recommendation? | Support in principle |
If Not, Please Provide Reasoning. | Not Applicable |
If ALAC Does Not Support Recommendation, Does It Suggest an Alternative Recommendation? If so, please provide a suggested alternative Recommendation. | Not Applicable |
Prioritization | |
At-Large Comments | The ALAC agrees that opportunities for travel and outreach should be well documented and easy to locate, as should reports (both the recipients and more substantive reports of outcomes). However, the programs themselves are managed by various parts of ICANN and often published on their respective parts of the ICANN web. Having information replicated on the At-Large site is likely to cause information to become dated or out-of-sync. However, the ALAC strongly supports making such information easy to locate. The ALAC supports full disclosure of who receives such support and the monetary value of that support, but would object strongly if this were limited to just the At-Large. A similar policy must be applied for the entire organization including the SOs, review teams, the Board and ICANN staff. While the ALAC does support transparency in travel funding, it also notes that this is not a one-sided relationship. In ICANN parlance, “volunteers” refers to all parts of the ICANN community not paid by ICANN. However, a large part of this community is in fact paid to participate in ICANN on behalf of their employer or by serving their self-interest as part of the domain name ecosystem. At-Large volunteers are in fact volunteers in the true sense of the word. Virtually all of their time at face-to-face meetings and when participating remotely (conference calls, e-mail, document preparation) is personally donated. The cost to them (such as lost revenue, unpaid leave or vacations not spent with families) far exceeds the actual out-of-pocket costs to ICANN. ICANN rarely factors in these contributions and it must do so to properly present the costs AND benefits of volunteer involvement. |
Possible Dependencies | The decision to make such information available is out of scope for the ALAC. ICANN regularly publishes the travel costs for ICANN meetings and events directly associated with them (excluding the Board and staff), but not for other activities. Staff costs are published only to the extent that they are required for senior executives under US tax law. Recently, in order to discover the costs of the annual GNSO Non-Contracted House Intersessional meetings, a formal Documentary Information Disclosure Policy request had to be filed (https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/didp-20160211-1-rrsg-request-2016-03-14-en). The programs themselves are manages by various parts of ICANN and often published on their respective parts of the ICANN web. Having information replicated on the At-Large site is likely to cause information to become dated or out-of-sync. |
Who Will Implement? | ICANN Staff |
Resource Requirements | Staff resources and technical, development support to publish travel funding information online in a coherent manner across ICANN |
Budget Effects impact? | |
Implementation Timeline | |
Proposed Implementation Steps |
AT-LARGE GATEWAY
At-Large Regional Policy Engagement Program (ARPEP)
At-Large Review Implementation Plan Development
5 Comments
Alan Greenberg
My thoughts
Status:Accept in principle??
Comment: (Note that this recommendation has morphed over the drafts from a publication of travel funding to a publication of opportunities and recipients.)
The ALAC agrees that opportunities for travel and outreach should be well documented and easy to locate, as should reports (both the recipients and more substantive reports of outcomes). However, the programs themselves are manages by various parts of ICANN and often published on their respective parts of the ICANN web. Having information replicated on the At-Large site is likely to cause information to become dated or out-of-sync. However, the ALAC strongly supports making such information easy to locate. The ALAC also notes that At-Large should not be the only part of ICANN subject to such clear disclosure of who is receiving support.
Glenn McKnight
Status Accept
Comment
In the case of NARALO we discuss all CROPP travellers, our Mid Term and Annual Report to NARALO reports who travelled, results and event. Not sure how to make it more transparent then we aready do in our community. Perhaps a good procedure for all ATLARGE. The bigger issue is metrics from the trips as to recruitment of new ALS's or unaffiliated membership and followup
Ariel Liang
ALAC comment in the ALAC Statement on the At-Large Review Draft Report
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Although the decision to make such information available is out of scope for the ALAC, the ALAC strongly supports full disclosure of all travel costs, with the understanding that a similar policy is applied for the entire organization including the SOs and the Board and ICANN staff. ICANN regularly publishes the travel costs for ICANN meetings and events directly associated with them (excluding the Board and staff), but not for other activities. Staff costs are published only to the extent that they are required for senior executives under US tax law. Recently, in order to discover the costs of the annual GNSO Non-Contracted House Intersessional meetings, a formal Documentary Information Disclosure Policy request had to be filed (https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/didp-20160211-1-rrsg-request-2016-03-14-en).
While the ALAC does support transparency in travel funding, it also notes that this is not a one-sided relationship. In ICANN parlance, “volunteers” refers to all parts of the ICANN community not paid by ICANN. However, a large part of this community is in fact paid to participate in ICANN on behalf of their employer or by serving their self-interest as part of the domain name ecosystem. At-Large volunteers are in fact volunteers in the true sense of the word. Virtually all of their time at face-to-face meetings and when participating remotely (conference calls, e-mail, document preparation) is personally donated. The cost to them (such as lost revenue, unpaid leave or vacations not spent with families) far exceeds the actual out-of-pocket costs to ICANN. ICANN rarely factors in these contributions and it must do so to properly present the costs AND benefits of volunteer involvement.
Alfredo Calderon
Ariel makes a good point, "time and effort" should be detailed when volunteers are working in ALAC initiatives. This will give a clear impact on funding versus volunteer monies spent.
Vanda Scartezini
yes, we can support it but be understanding that we have a normal procedure to publish any issue. I normally forward to my facebook as with much other information. However, to have it published on our website will not reach any outside person, since they do not know the ALAC page address.... social media is the only real way to reach people nowadays. in other points Ariel points are quite clear, no need to reinforce.