Minutes of 2nd Meeting of the Oceania-ICANN Engagement WG
Date:20 November, 2013
Venue: Retro Room B, ICANN 48 Venue
Time: 1:00pm -2:00pm
Present:
- Mr. Criden Appi - Nauru, member of Government Advisory Committee (GAC)
- Ms. Ellen Strickland - New Zealand, Internet New Zealand
- Mr. Emani Fakaotimanava - Lui, Niue, Internet Niue
- Mr. Keith Davidson - New Zealand, InternetNZ, Vice Chair of the ccNSO Council of ICANN, and A Board Director of The Internet Society (ISOC).
- Ms. Maureen Hilyard - Cook Islands, Pacific Internet Society Chapter Chair, ALAC nominee
- Ms. Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro - Fiji Islands, Pacific Nexus (Scribe)
- Mr. Savenaca Vocea -RVP Australasia/Pacific, ICANN
Apologies: None.
Agenda
1) Appoint Chair of Working Group
2) Other matters
Mr. Savenaca Vocea facilitated the meeting and introduced the Agenda items which were adopted at the start of the meeting.
Ms Tamanikaiwaimaro nominated Mr Criden Appi and advised that she had asked him yesterday and he had accepted the nomination. This was seconded by Mr. Emani Fakaotimanava and Ms Maureen Hilyad. The calls to nominate a Chair had been published on the mailing list and also discussed at the outset of the Working Group meetings. As at the ICANN48, since there were no other nominations received at the time, we came into unanimous agreement to have Mr Criden Appi be Chair. This is because ICANN staff have a Policy to not to drive initiatives but to provide support and meeting facilitation to the community.
Communication
Mr Vocea shared about the history of the working group and advised on the current asynchronous modes of communication namely, Adigo Conference Calls, Wiki Confluence and Mailing List. There was some discussion about how the Adigo was still not accessible by some countries hence affecting communication. Ms Tamanikaiwaimaro suggested that this was possibly because the vendor and the platform was in Los Angeles and asked Mr Vocea to negotiate with a regional Vendor to provide similar services to enable access and broader engagement within the Pacific countries. Mr Mr. Emani Fakaotimanava - Lui, Niue, Internet Niue had mentioned that he could not access Adigo in Niue.
Secretariat
Mr Vocea raised the issue of the need for a Secretary to note the Minutes and hold the pen in the development of the Engagement Strategy. It was broadly discussed that this would be a collaborative effort amongst the Working Group. Mr Keith Davidson suggested that there should be a full scale Secretariat to facilitate the support and offered the support of financially supporting the Secretariat. There was general agreement on the need to have a secretariat. Ms Tamanikaiwaimaro offered to carry out Secretariat duties at no cost through Pasifika Nexus. This was endorsed and accepted by those present. The role of the Secretariat would be to provide support for to the Working Group.
Engagement Strategy
There was general discussion on things to be considered within the Engagement Strategy such as increasing participation from the Pacific from diverse constituents through outreach and capacity building and working with other partners and potential stakeholders on mutual engagement in other foras on pressing issues related to the Internet. This will be further teased out through the mailing list and also on the Confluence. Some of the challenges to participation was discussed.
Policy Support
There was brief inquiry as to existing policy support mechanisms within PICISOC. Ms Strickland advised that the PICISOC was in the process of dealing with Bylaws. Ms Tamanikaiwaimaro suggested that we develop a mechanism where we could jointly provide support in policy advisory, analysis for the purposes of feeding into the diverse policy spaces in the area of both names and numbers. Mr Savenaca Vocea mentioned that all GAC members were in receipt of the GAC Advisory note and that this was so even if they do not attend the ICANN meetings.
Oceania Website and Content Management
Mr. Emani Fakaotimanava - Lui volunteered to create and design the Oceania ICANN website with links to the confluence to allow for content aggregation. This will be hosted on the dot nu domain. This was endorsed and adopted and he will work in collaboration with the Working Group to develop this.This website will feature the links of the Working Group Wiki Confluence links.
Oceania Engagements
There was discussion on preparation for the ICANN meeting in Singapore and how the Pacific can engage. There was a suggestion of having a Cocktail sponsored by stakeholders in Oceania which could allow the Pacific to showcase the Pacific. There was also discussion in participating at the APNIC meeting in New Caledonia. A suggestion to bring the ICANN closer to the Pacific by having an ICANN Pacific Conference that the President could be invited to attend that would allow greater participation of local constituents and stakeholders. This could easily coincide with the Pacific Internet Governance Forum as suggested by Mr Keith Davidson.
The meeting was concluded with Mr Criden Appi starying in his role and adjourning the meeting as Chair of the Working Group.
Ends.
