The APAC Space web conference held on 28 May 2019 continued discussion on the topic “Evolving ICANN’s Multistakeholder Model”, as a follow-up to the ICANN64 Kobe APAC Space meeting where the topic was first raised. The basis for discussion was the draft Issues List published for public comments until 13 June 2019, 23:59 UTC. 12 community members attended the web conference.
Pam Little introduced the topic and facilitated community discussion as the APAC Space Community Facilitator. Participants discussed how to balance efficiency, representativeness and inclusiveness in ICANN’s Multistakeholder Model and contributed suggestions to facilitate APAC community participation in ICANN.
Key action points following the meeting are:
- Participate in community discussions on this topic at ICANN65 Policy Forum in Marrakech. Remote participation will be available.
- Jia-Rong to update on opportunities for APAC community and newcomers to meet ICANN community leaders during events in the region and facilitate conversations.
Links to the meeting recording and presentation slides can be found at the APAC Space Community Wiki webpage here: https://community.icann.org/display/GSEAPAC/APAC+Space.
Details of the session are as follows:
Welcome Remarks
Jia-Rong Low, VP of Stakeholder Engagement and Managing Director - Asia Pacific, ICANN, highlighted that APAC Space was a place for the APAC community to comfortably discuss topics as a region, and take these points to the larger global discussions. This session’s topic on “Evolving ICANN’s Multistakeholder Model” would be such an opportunity.
Community Discussion on Evolving ICANN’s Multistakeholder Model
Community Facilitator Pam Little provided background to the topic “Evolving ICANN’s Multistakeholder Model”. Discussions began at ICANN63 and continued in ICANN64, where the community shared about the issues in ICANN’s multistakeholder model. Community’s feedback was compiled into a draft Issues List which was published for public comments until 13 June 2019, 23:59 UTC. Brian Cute, the community facilitator appointed by the Board, also hosted webinars for the ICANN community to facilitate further input. The link to the recorded webinars are at: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/governance-plan-improve-multistakeholder-model-2019-04-08-en.
On the issue of balancing representation and efficiency, Pam highlighted possible examples as seen by the Expedited Policy Development Process on the Temporary Specifications for gTLD Registration Data (EPDP). Some examples she gave were: the GNSO Council drafted a Charter with a precise and narrow scope of work; training was provided to members on GDPR/privacy laws; and to ensure adequate representation, the EPDP team composition intentionally included stakeholder groups outside the GNSO rather than to leave membership open which was the typical practice for normal PDPs.
Antonia Chu from Alibaba Cloud shared about the GDD Industry Summit 2019 session on “Making ICANN Policy Development Work for Business” which was conducted with Pam. The session discussed resourcing issues for registries and registrars, working group composition, geographic representation, and how to balance the goals of efficiency and inclusivity.
Key Observations Raised by Community
- Language – as English is the working language for the global ICANN community – remains a key barrier faced by the APAC community that hampers participation.
- Timezone differences continue to make participation in ICANN PDPs and meetings difficult. Active volunteers from the APAC region often have multiple calls scheduled throughout the night. Furthermore, although polls were conducted to find favorable timings to meet, as APAC participants were the minority, they would not get their preferred timings.
- On representativeness, it was noted that APAC was well-represented in the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) and the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO). 82% of the APAC economies were GAC members, and 71% of country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) in the APAC region were ccNSO members. However, few APAC economies (31%) have individual or organizational membership in At-Large. On this note, Jia-Rong shared that the ICANN APAC Regional Office currently works with the Asian, Australasian and Pacific Islands Regional At-Large Organization (APRALO) leadership to bolster APAC representation by engaging economies with no At-Large members. One example was a visit to Vietnam with Satish Babu (APRALO Chair) to engage local stakeholders, and another was an upcoming visit to Myanmar.
- Representation is not participation. Many APAC representatives do not participate actively or speak up in ICANN. A notable comment is that it would be acceptable if participation follows the 80-20 “rule” (i.e. out of 10 members, 2 members participate actively).
Suggestions to Increase APAC Participation
- To facilitate discussions in PDPs, a brief containing information on the issue and the discussion thus far could be provided to Working Group members. This may encourage newcomers to contribute more effectively and confidently as they would be updated on the discussions. To tackle language barriers, breaking up the issues into clear questions may help participants to form their input. The questions can also be sent through email to let participants respond at their own pace.
- Knowledge sharing, proper onboarding, and mentoring would be useful for newcomers. In particular, mentorship by APAC community leaders would help prepare newcomers to step up to leadership positions in the future. The APAC community could meet in smaller groups at various regional events to mentor and share views and knowledge with each other.
- Consider sharing the workload of calls in difficult timezones by having alternates attend the calls when participants are unavailable.
- Join working groups as an observer as a first step to involvement in ICANN. Businesses often participate in ICANN not only to advocate their policy positions but also to ensure that no bad policies are made. More can be done to encourage working group participants to be active rather than passively tracking issues.
- Improve inclusivity by collaborating across stakeholder groups. For example, the At-Large is working with GAC on capacity building activities to help their members participate effectively in ICANN.
- Conduct capacity building for those who participate regularly but do not speak up due to various reasons. Capacity building for these APAC ICANN “regulars” conducted by “veterans” such as Pam, Edmon and Cheryl Langdon-Orr would be useful to help get them up to speed on other topics. With mentoring, these “regulars” could be more confident and speak up.
- Collate views from the APAC community and invite ICANN regulars and veterans to share these views to ICANN on behalf of the community. APAC space could continue to be developed to facilitate this.
The APAC community was encouraged to submit their public comments individually or through their stakeholder groups and constituencies in ICANN by 13 June 2019, 23:59 UTC. Discussions on evolving the ICANN multistakeholder model will continue at ICANN65 Policy Forum in Marrakech during sessions facilitated by Brian Cute. Remote participation will be available for those not attending in-person.
