APAC Space (web conference), 21 April 2016
List of recommendations to enhance APAC participation in GNSO and ICANN
The inaugural APAC Space in web conference format was held on 21 April 2016. The below captures a list of recommendations that the participants discussed on enhancing participation and contribution to the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), and more broadly in ICANN’s policy development activities:
- Need for Data on participation. Data related to participation would help to guide and determine follow-up actions to improve participation and contribution in areas such as diversity.
- Examples include: Data such as membership composition, number of active members versus inactive members.
- It was noted that ICANN staff are working on a Working Group (WG) Sign Up Tool which would facilitate the tracking of membership and other indicators of participation such as affiliation, geographic location, etc.
- Conduct Survey (sent out by SG/C or ICANN staff) to existing but dormant members of Stakeholder Group (SG) / Constituency (C) to identify reasons why they are not actively participating, and find out what incentives will be useful in order for its members to participate.
- Live scribing for GNSO Working Group (WG) meetings. It was noted that all GNSO Working Group meetings are recorded and transcribed after the meeting. This was considered to be less useful than live scribing. Live scribing was found to have been helpful for participants at ICANN meetings, as non-native English speakers might find it hard to follow participants’ interventions by listening, but could follow the discussion through reading the transcripts.
- Based on the above, it is recommended to explore providing for live scribing at GNSO WG meetings as well.
- It was noted that the APRALO-APAC Hub webinar has piloted live scribing. Participants were encouraged to attend the APRALO-APAC Hub webinars to test and give feedback on the live scribing. The feedback could help provide guidance on whether live scribing could be used at other webinars or online WG discussions, although issues such as cost should be factored in.
- Regular time zone rotation. Some GNSO Stakeholder Group (SG) / Constituency (C) conference calls do not rotate to APAC time zones because of the lack of APAC participants. If calls could regularly rotate to APAC time zones, there will be a gradual increase in APAC participants. The current issue is that the calls are not rotated on a regular basis, and would make it hard for APAC participants to adjust their schedules to attend.
- Raising Awareness. More awareness raising needs to be done to help APAC stakeholders see the value of their participation. For example, gTLD operators (registries) and registrars tend to be more focused on their businesses rather than policy making. By drawing the link between how the GNSO policy could impact on their businesses, it would generate interest for them to participate. As they might not have enough resources to help write policy, fellow community members could take down their inputs and incorporate them in the SG/C discussions.
- To consider incorporating the link between a policy and how it affects the stakeholder (e.g. registries and registrar businesses) in PDP materials.
- Work with ICANN staff to have local/regional community members to act as “champions” to speak on policy development issues to increase awareness and participation amongst local/regional community.
- Reduce barriers to entry through newcomer programmes.
- To consider having experienced members of SG/Cs to be mentors to newcomers.
- Organize webinars specifically for newcomers to a WG, SG/C, in simplified language to help them participate more effectively. This can be done regularly throughout the lifecycle of a WG.
If you would like to participate in the discussion or to give a recommendation, please join the discuss@tld.asia group by writing to yannis@dot.asia.
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