No.	Recommendation	Recipient	Thematic Group Source	Assignees	Status
17	ICANN needs to be sensitive to the fact that social media are blocked in certain countries and, in conjunction with technical bodies, promote credible alternatives	ICANN GSE Staff; ICANN CIIO	TG2	Technology Taskforce Social Media	COMPLETED

Summary

Implementation Details

ICANN is already aware that popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are blocked in certain countries. To address this issue, ICANN’s Communications Department has made a conscious effort in establishing and managing credible alternatives in those countries for promoting ICANN’s work. Examples include ICANN’s Weibo blog, Wechat channel, and YouKu channel in mainland China.

The At-Large Community has contributed to this effort by researching and testing other social media tools. For instance, At-Large’s Social Media Working Group discovered and shared with ICANN Staff SLACK (a cloud-based, team collaboration software)’s capability to integrate with Twitter and publish tweets in countries/territories that Twitter is blocked.

Next Step

At-Large will maintain a watching brief on ICANN’s efforts of spreading its social media footprint to reach and communicate with users around the world as widely as possible.

Actions:

24 Sep 2015:
- Social Media WG assignees of this Rec to do the reporting
23 May 2016
- Dev Anand Teelucksingh to work with Ariel Liang to install twitter integration in SLACK and to document how it was done

Notes:

05 Oct 2015:
- The objective of social media is to share information about At-Large and encourage target audience to engage with the community
- Slack can be a better alternative tool for group chat
18 Oct 2015 (update from the GSE, slides)
- Note on slide: ICANN is sensitive to this issue but this topic could be considered outside of ICANN’s technical remit. It would be helpful to hear more from At-Large on this recommendation.
19 May 2016
- TTF has looked into various tools as alternatives to mainstream social media tools. For example, slack can be used to curate/publish social media content blocked in certain regions. Testing of slack is yet to be done.

Input from Social Media Working Group:

Review the social media platforms blocked in certain countries/regions (e.g.http://citizenlab.org/) & alternative platforms local to those countries/regions
Assignees (Beran Dondeh Gillen, Bukola Fawole, Murray McKercher, Glenn McKnight ) to research alternative social media platforms in countries that block Facebook, Twitter, and/or YouTube & report back to the group via mailing list and future WG call
Assignees to to contact the citizen lab and find out previous research on this subject
Glenn McKnight to follow up with the other assignees on this Rec
Ariel Liang & Murray McKercherto explore ICANN's Wechat account
24 Sep 2015:
- ICANN has launched Wechat and YouKu accounts to reach audience in mainland China
- Slack can separate conversations based on topics via hashtags and do search of the messages globally. Slack is a good alternative tool for internal communications of the community, especially At-Large. Skype has various challenges, as it can easily loose chat history. Slack has a great mechanism for retaining chat history. It also has various add-ons/integration with other tools.

Input from Technology Taskforce:

At-Large Workshop on “TOR and alternative naming mechanisms to the DNS” held at ICANN Singapore 2014 https://community.icann.org/x/7CPRAg
TTF has looked at Group Chat services (https://community.icann.org/x/Hr3hAg) such as Slack, HipChat and Hall.
At-Large Social Media WG is researching alternative social media platforms where traditional ones are blocked.
While the TTF considered listing several platforms/services that allow access to blocked services, it was felt that even listing such services could be construed as endorsing breaking of national laws, irrespective of whether we (global At-Large) think such laws/restrictions are unjust.
10 Dec 2015:
- TTF has a meeting with David Goulet, Tor developer, and explored social media/communications channels used in regions that block certain mainstream platforms
23 May 2016:
- ICANN has implemented alternative chat services, such as SLACK, which has the capability to curate tweets and feeds from various social media channels
- ICANN Comms has developed Wechat, Weibo, YouKu to reach the Chinese public that cannot access Facebook, Twitter, etc.

No.	Recommendation	Recipient	Thematic Group Source	Assignees	Status
21	Encourage public campaigns on using the Internet for education, information, creativity and empowerment.	ICANN Board; GSE Staff	TG3	Outreach & Engagement Social Media	DISCARD

Actions:

Social Media WG to clarify the recommendations with TG3 leaders (Jean-Jacques Subrenat, Fatima Cambronero, Wolf Ludwig, Gunela Astbrink, Glenn McKnight, Judith Hellerstein)
Leon Sanchez, Murray McKercher to contact GSE staff and learn about their past public campaign efforts
Leon Sanchez to attend the GSE meeting in Singapore on Sunday 8 Feb 2015
09 Sep 2015: Dev Anand Teelucksingh to relay this recommendation to the O&E SC and note whether B meeting will be a good opportunity to encourage public campaigns

Notes:

09 Sep 2015:
- ICANN Staff-organized fellowship and next gen programs can be considered part of this effort.
- B meeting may be a good opportunity to encourage public campaigns on those topics, as it is the only meeting that ICANN communities will have a specific day dedicated to outreach and it may be easier for the community to make specific request to conduct those activities. Hence, this recommendation is linked to Recommendation #1: https://community.icann.org/x/JJZCAw
- At-Large Ad-Hoc New Meeting Strategy Working Group has been looking into regional strategy for outreach activities in B meeting.
- ALSes should have a large role to play in education, information, creativity, and empowerment related to Internet Governance and ICT issues. They should share their own public campaigns via various communication platforms (e.g. wiki, social media) with the wider At-Large community.
- At-Large needs to provide a platform that serves as an one-stop shop for showcasing the ALS efforts in public campaigns and helping RALOs exchange information.
- A shared calendar can be such one-stop shop (both NARALO and LACRALO strongly supports this). RALOs, GSE, and even NomCom can use the calendar to coordinate the events in the region in order to do outreach and encourage participation. Users can view the events and subscribe to the calendar. Admins can include their own event entries but won't be able to override other people's entries. If successful, this calendar can be expanded to allow other stakeholder groups to update their events.
- Outreach & Engagement SC has found a shared calendar solution (i.e. team-up: http://teamup.com/ks9df2f9bc986a0d72/) and presented it during the Aug 17 call (https://community.icann.org/x/OJNCAw). It has already been set up and rolled out for the RALOs to update their events.
- It's the responsibility of RALO Chairs and Secretariats to do ALS management and make communication/publicity tools aware to the ALSes and encourage them to share their efforts across the community (e.g. monthly ALS spotlight is not enough).
- It is recognized that there is challenge for RALOs to obtain fundings to send members to attend regional events. Applicants need to submit application well in advance (usually in Jan or Feb) in order to have a chance to pursue those travel opportunities.
- The CROPP funding has limitations, as it allows people to travel to attend organized events but not for organizing new events locally. Hence, this recommendation also links to Recommendation #40 (https://community.icann.org/x/dJZCAw): ICANN should offer process similar to the CROPP, but not related to travel
- In line with the public campaign topics, there may be room for collaboration between At-Large, NCSG, NCUC, and NPOC to do public campaigns focusing on civil society engagement.
- No need to add additional request re this recommendation, just to report on the progress.
05 Oct 2015:
- ICANN can share existing resources and/or resources from I* organizations, RIRs to develop public campaigns. At-Large community should not spearhead those types of campaigns.
- Some ALSes may be monitoring social media tools/platforms that are blocked in certain regions, and it would be worthwhile to get more information from them
- Public campaign is outside the remit of ICANN.
18 Oct 2015 (update from the GSE, slides)
- Note on slide: It would be helpful to hear from At-Large on how they see this within ICANN’s remit. This recommendation is being addressed by other groups outside ICANN.

Input from Outreach & Engagement Sub-committee:

Not in ICANN's core mission & value
Collaborate with other I* organizations, but not to spearhead those programs
28 Sep 2015:
- Staff confirmed that Nora Abusitta will be joining the ALAC session and can address what her department has been doing with regard to this recommendation

Input from Social Media Working Group:

Input from Murray McKercher:
- Encourage public campaigns on using the Internet for education, information, creativity and empowerment.
- Recent discussion indicated this recommendation, while considered a worthy goal is written in too broad terms for consideration by ICANN's board.
- While not a member of the Thematic Group 3, I believe the sentiment of this recommendation may have evolved from a need for ICANN to use the internet more wisely for its own needs for public education, and outreach for the role it plays in he Internet Ecosystem.
24 Sep 2015:
- ICANN has various resources that can potentially become public campaign topics: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/security-terminology-2015-09-16-en
- ICANN should leverage existing resources from I* organization and collaborate with them in conducting public campaigns

No.	Recommendation	Recipient	Thematic Group Source	Assignees	Status
22	Members of the general public should be able to participate in ICANN on an issue-by-issue basis. Information on the ICANN website should, where practical, be in clear and non-technical language.	ICANN GSE Staff	TG4	Social Media	COMPLETED

Summary

Implementation Details

The revamp of the At-Large Community website is a significant step in the right direction. It contains topic specific pages that not only explain ICANN policy issues in clear and non-technical language, but also illustrate their relevance to end users, At-Large Community’s contributions, and ways to get involved in those issues. Visitors can also access further learning materials on those pages to gain more knowledge.

Beyond At-Large, ICANN’s Communications Department, Policy Development Support Team, and other departments have been making great efforts to communicate with the general public about what ICANN does and facilitate their participation. Examples include the various improvements of ICANN public comment proceedings, such as the inclusion of background information, additional reference, and translation of documents. The public comment page on icann.org will soon go through an overhaul to become more user friendly. Other examples include topic-based microsites (e.g. IANA transition and enhancing ICANN accountability, WHOIS), multimedia library (contains infographics and videos which explain complex topics in simple and enticing language and form), ICANN Learn online courses, Frequently Asked Questions / Fact Sheet about the IANA transition, and other programs and materials.

These efforts have resulted in a positive trend with regard to general public’s interest in and understanding of ICANN, which is partly reflected in mainstream media coverage of ICANN.

Next Step

At-Large members will continue providing input to ICANN staff on improving the multimedia library, microsites, and other communications efforts targeting the general public.

Notes:

05 Oct 2015:
- Wolf Ludwig thinks this recommendation is a wishful thinking. The general public will have difficulty to truly understand/engage in ICANN issues. Such recommendation may be counter productive and unrealistic to achieve.
- Maureen Hilyard, for example, disagrees and thinks that engaging the general public is a big part of the multistakeholder bottom-up process. Part of the ICANN ALAC/At-Large mandate is to involve end users. To use less technical languages is important to enhance that engagement and carry out the mandates.
19 May 2016
- The At-Large website has met the requirement of communicating ICANN issues in a clear and non-technical language, but may not have met the requirement of engaging end users in ICANN on an issue-by-issue basis.
- Document production pilot project may somewhat meet the requirement in this recommendation, as policy premier on different topic issues will be produced

Input from Social Media Working Group:

Build a storage of graphics and educational resources that accompany ICANN policy issues
Example: http://www.commoncraft.com/
Dev Anand Teelucksingh to show the Loomio tool
Link this recommendation to the progress on the website
Recognize the efforts on the IANA, Accountability, and WHOIS microsites; similar microsites of other ICANN issues need to be created
24 Sep 2015:
- Build a storage of graphics and educational resources that accompany ICANN policy issues - this has been done by the outreach & engagement WG and ICANN
- ICANN should have a catalog to organize those graphics
- The new At-Large website can potentially promote and link out to those graphics and educational resources; the new site also provides beginner friendly information on policy issues
- This recommendation should be implemented on an ongoing basis by soliciting feedback from the community
- Some topic-based microsite has already been done by ICANN (e.g. WHOIS, IANA, Accountability)
23 May 2016:
- At-Large website helps explain ICANN issues in a clear and non-technical language, but may not be sufficient to help the general public to participate in ICANN on an issue-by-issue basis.
- Simply providing information about what ICANN does without telling end users why they should care is not enough. The Document Production Pilot project which aims to produce policy premiers for RALOs and help educate endusers about ICANN issues may help bridge this gap and partially satisfy the requirement of this recommendation.

No.	Recommendation	Recipient	Thematic Group Source	Assignees	Status
23	The roles and jurisdiction of the Ombudsman should be expanded. The ICANN website should provide a clear and simple way for the public to make complaints.	Contractual Compliance, ICANN Board, Chris LaHatte	TG4	IANA Transition & ICANN Accountability Social Media	COMPLETED

Summary

Implementation Details

The enhancements to ICANN Ombudsman’s role and function have been the subject of significant discussion throughout enhancing ICANN accountability process. It is currently being examined in the CCWG-Accountability Work Stream 2 within a SubGroup. At-large Members have not only actively participated in the SubGroup, some has also assumed the Rapporteur position in leading the work and shepherding the processes.

Once the community’s recommendations on an updated scope and nature of the ICANN Ombudsman’s role have been issued and considered by the Board, ICANN will put out a Call for Expressions of Interest, and conduct a global search for the next Ombudsman. Pending the conclusion of the community work, Herb Waye has assumed the role of Ombudsman starting on 28 July 2016.

Furthermore, At-Large Community members took the initiative to contact former Ombudsman Chris LaHatte and ICANN’s Digital Engagement team, and offered a number of suggestions to improve Ombudsman’s blog and social media channels. ICANN recently revamped the Ombudsman’s microsite, incorporating clear messaging on the role of Ombudsman (e.g. infographic of the ICANN Expected Stands of Behavior) and simple instruction on how to make complaints. Herb Waye has also maintained an active presence on Twitter and Facebook, making himself accessible to the ICANN community.

Next Step

At-Large will continue engaging in the CCWG-Accountability Work Stream 2 to help shape the roles and jurisdiction of the Ombudsman. Seasoned At-Large leaders will encourage more At-Large members to participate proactively and make greater influence.

Actions:

Future Challenges WG to follow up on the expansion of the roles and jurisdiction of the Ombudsman
Social Media WG to provide recommendations for community members to easily make complaints to the Ombudsman via the At-Large website
Glenn McKnight and Murray McKercher to look at the Ombudsman's social media channels, critique whether they have been used effectively, and provide suggestions
Holly Raiche to explain that this means: The roles and jurisdiction of the Ombudsman should be expanded

Notes:

05 Oct 2015:
- This rec can link to the work in CCWG-Accountability WS2, which may touch on the roles and jurisdiction of the Ombudsman
06 Jun 2016:
- The function of ombudsman will be fully reviewed in WS2
- We encourage At-Large members to participate in WS2

Input from Social Media Working Group:

Need to promote and interact with Ombudsman's website and social media channels
Possibly tweet / post the public-facing report that Ombudsman developed after each ICANN meeting
24 Sep 2015:
- SMWG to monitor the Ombudsman's social media channels and interact with his content

In interview with Chris LaHatte on the Atlas ll recommendation Item 23 & 24

Both the areas of the Ombudsman and Contractual Compliance should report regularly on the complaints they received, resolved, pending resolution and actions taken to address issues raised by unresolved complaints

Action

In interview with Chris LaHatte on the Atlas ll recommendation

In conversation with Chris he reiterated that due to the confidentiality of his office its very problematic to report on statistics and details on complaints since the privacy issues is paramount. His normally reporting is to the board and the issue of providing the community with statistics on number of filings, number of resolutions and more needs clarification.

Item One Blog

As to Ombudsman's social media sties. ie. blog, Facebook and Twitter feed
One Blog- Word Press omblog.icann.org‏

The blog is once a month posting

25 posts

Analysis

Missing analytic of volume of traffic and where the visitors are coming

Lack of value added content or relevance

Recommendations

Change the Wordpress ( Blog) template to use proper widgets to integrate TWITTER, FACEBOOK FLICKR and other feeds to the site
Provide public user feedback
Needs less text and more pictures and videos
Need update on actual functions of the office
FAQ

Item Two Twitter

chrislahatte

Analysis

Followers 310

Tweets 512

Retweets unknown and need to know

Recommendations

Integration of Twitter to automatically go to blog and Facebook

Conclusion

I think some of the content is restricted due to privacy but perhaps graphical presentation of resolutions would help people understand the role of the office.

He will be meeting with Laura B of ICANN on revamping his Blog and he to share our recommendations into the integration

Glenn McKnight

No.	Recommendation	Recipient	Thematic Group Source	Assignees	Status
24	Both the areas of the Ombudsman and Contractual Compliance should report regularly on the complaints they received, resolved, pending resolution and actions taken to address issues raised by unresolved complaints.	Contractual Compliance, ICANN Board, Chris LaHatte	TG4	Social Media	COMPLETED

Summary

Implementation Details

The At-Large Community is keen on holding ICANN’s Contractual Compliance department accountable by pushing for greater transparency and openness in reporting its activities. At-Large held many constructive discussions with Senior Staff from the department during ICANN meetings and teleconferences on those issues. These efforts have resulted in the department’s significant improvements in providing clear and consistent communication on its activities. Its revamped section on icann.org not only includes clear messaging, infographics, and videos that explain what they do and how to make complaints. It also publishes and regularly updates annual, quarterly, monthly, and audit reports, as well as detailed metrics on compliance and enforcement for a rolling 13 month period.

Due to the sensitive nature of the complaints that the ICANN Ombudsman receives and the legal limits on what can be reported on, the At-Large Community is satisfied with the current level of communications from the Ombudsman about his activities to the general public. Nevertheless, At-Large members took the initiative to contact former Ombudsman Chris LaHatte and ICANN’s Digital Engagement team, and offered a number of suggestions to improve the Ombudsman’s blog and social media channels. ICANN recently revamped the Ombudsman’s microsite, incorporating clear messaging on the role of Ombudsman (e.g. infographic of the ICANN Expected Stands of Behavior) and simple instruction on how to make complaints. The newly appointed Ombudsman Herb Waye has also maintained an active presence on Twitter and Facebook, making himself accessible to the ICANN community.

In addition, At-Large members have been actively leading and/or participating in the CCWG-Accountability WS2 Ombudsman SubGroup. Recommendations proposed by the SubGroup would enhance the scope and nature of the ICANN Ombudsman’s role, and may impact the mechanism for the Ombudsman to report on complaints.

Next Step

The At-Large Community will maintain a watching brief on Contractual Compliance performance metrics and reports, as well as the communication channels of the Ombudsman, ensuring the ongoing nature and the continuous improvements of these types of reporting for transparency purposes.

Notes:

If the reports done by Contractual Compliance are open to public, we will consider tweeting/posting them
09 Sep 2015:
- ALAC is satisfied with the progress made by Ombudsman in reporting their work
24 Sep 2015:
- Due to the confidentiality of his office, it is sensitive to post 'unresolved complaints'. There is limitation in what SMWG can do. Nonetheless, At-Large can interact with his social media content to promote his work.
19 Oct 2015:
- https://features.icann.org/compliance - work of contractual compliance

In interview with Chris LaHatte on the Atlas ll recommendation Item 23 & 24

Both the areas of the Ombudsman and Contractual Compliance should report regularly on the complaints they received, resolved, pending resolution and actions taken to address issues raised by unresolved complaints

Action

In interview with Chris LaHatte on the Atlas ll recommendation

In conversation with Chris he reiterated that due to the confidentiality of his office its very problematic to report on statistics and details on complaints since the privacy issues is paramount. His normally reporting is to the board and the issue of providing the community with statistics on number of filings, number of resolutions and more needs clarification.

Item One Blog

As to Ombudsman's social media sties. ie. blog, Facebook and Twitter feed
One Blog- Word Press omblog.icann.org‏

The blog is once a month posting

25 posts

Analysis

Missing analytic of volume of traffic and where the visitors are coming

Lack of value added content or relevance

Recommendations

Change the Wordpress ( Blog) template to use proper widgets to integrate TWITTER, FACEBOOK FLICKR and other feeds to the site
Provide public user feedback
Needs less text and more pictures and videos
Need update on actual functions of the office
FAQ

Item Two Twitter

chrislahatte

Analysis

Followers 310

Tweets 512

Retweets unknown and need to know

Recommendations

Integration of Twitter to automatically go to blog and Facebook

Conclusion

I think some of the content is restricted due to privacy but perhaps graphical presentation of resolutions would help people understand the role of the office.

He will be meeting with Laura B of ICANN on revamping his Blog and he to share our recommendations into the integration

Glenn McKnight

No.	Recommendation	Recipient	Thematic Group Source	Assignees	Status
26	Current policy management processes within ICANN are insufficient. ICANN must implement a workable Policy Management Process System, available for use across the SO/ACs, in order to: • enhance Knowledge Management, • improve the effectiveness of all ICANN volunteer communities, • improve cross-community policy-specific activity, • enhance policy development metrics, • facilitate multilingual engagement, • create a taxonomy of policy categories, • provide policy development history as an aid for newcomers.	ICANN Policy Staff; ICANN Board	TG5	Social Media Technology Taskforce Capacity Building	IN PROGRESS

Summary

Implementation Details

Progress has been made incrementally to address parts of the recommendation, especially as reflected in the At-Large website revamp.

Regarding taxonomy development, the new At-Large website has implemented a taxonomy of 18 policy topics to automatically tag, organize, enable the search, and improve the navigation of ALAC policy advice statements and other At-Large documents. This taxonomy list expands on the taxonomy used to categorize ICANN public comment proceedings. The GAC has referenced the At-Large taxonomy and adopted a similar list to categorize the GAC Advice in their new website, which is under construction. Furthermore, ICANN has hired a new library and information sciences specialist to review all types of documentation within ICANN and develop a harmonized taxonomy strategy conducive to the document management efforts of all SOs/ACs.

To aid newcomers in ICANN’s policy activities, the new At-Large website has dedicated topic detail pages (example) that explain the history and background of 18 policy issues, their relevance to end users, contributions from At-Large to those issues, and ways to get involved. Those pages also automatically curate ALAC advice in the chronological order, as well as news and further learning resources. Specifically, to help newcomers take part in ICANN public comment, the At-Large website is integrated with the public comment page on icann.org and automatically pulls in new proceedings (example). This function eliminates the manual work from ICANN Staff to publicize these proceedings among At-Large members. Furthermore, visitors can track deadlines and development status of an ALAC advice and know when to provide input. There are also information pages that explain the ALAC procedure to develop advice. Lastly, the website has a responsive design so that users can review and search policy work via mobile devices.

The various improvements of the public comment page on icann.org fulfil some of the requirements in this recommendation. An user can click on the ‘Follow Update’ button to track changes to a public comment proceeding and get notifications. To facilitate multilingual engagement, more and more public comment materials have become available in 6 UN languages and Portuguese in a timely manner. The new Upcoming Public Comment Proceedings section is helpful for early engagement planning. The public comment page on icann.org will soon go through an overhaul to become more user friendly.

To improve the cross community policy activities, the ICANN IT department, Productive Team, and the Policy Development Support team have been coordinating with the ICANN Community to develop and test out working group membership management tools. As a result of this effort, the Global Enrolment Portal will soon be launched to facilitate the sign-up process of working groups across SOs/ACs.

It still remains a challenge to identify the ultimate Policy Management Process System that meets all the requirements in the recommendation. To search for such system or tool, the At-Large Technology Taskforce invited LACNIC representatives to present their customized web tools that support policy development. More testing of tools are being planned, including the eXo Platform.

Next Step

The At-Large Community will continue collaborating with relevant ICANN Staff departments in the search for and development of the Policy Management Process System. ICANN Staff are encouraged to actively reach out to At-Large to solicit input on existing projects and efforts that tackle the recommendation requirements.

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?

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

No.	Recommendation	Recipient	Thematic Group Source	Assignees	Status
29	The ALAC should implement an automated system for tracking topics of interest currently being discussed among the various RALOs, and accessible by everyone.	ALAC	TG5	Capacity Building Technology Task Force Social Media RALO Chairs	IN PROGRESS

Summary

Implementation Details

The new At-Large website has the function of automatically tagging, curating, and organizing ALAC advice, At-Large news, ICANN news, and reference resources based on topic areas that the At-Large Community has sustained interests in. This function helps the Regional At-Large Organizations track the development of those topics, as well as reflect RALOs’ inputs and contributions to those topics.

However, RALOs still need to take a more active role in sharing with the wider At-Large Community about their topics of interests and activities related to those topics.

Currently, RALO leaders report on their RALOs’ activities via the RALO Secretariat Report, but the formats of the Reports are not consistent across RALOs and they are not easily accessible or sharable. The leaders in the North America Regional At-Large Organization took the initiative to design a form-based template to facilitate the process of reporting RALO activities related to their topics of interest. This template needs to be further refined, promoted, and implemented across RALOs to fulfill the requirement of this recommendation.

Next Step

RALOs will develop an appropriate tool and mechanism to report and share their activities related to their topics of interest.

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

No.	Recommendation	Recipient	Thematic Group Source	Assignees	Status
31	ICANN and the ALAC should investigate the use of simple tools and methods to facilitate participation in public comments, and the use of crowdsourcing.	ALAC; ICANN GSE Staff	TG5	Social Media Technology Taskforce RALO Chairs	COMPLETED

Summary

Implementation Details

The At-Large Community is exemplary in the ICANN Community for its ongoing effort to research, test, and analyze tools and methods to facilitate end users’ participation in ICANN Public Comment proceedings.

The At-Large Advisory Committee and Regional At-Large Organization, particularly the Latin America and the Caribbean Islands Regional At-Large Organization, held a number of capacity building webinars and briefings specifically about ICANN Public Comment proceedings and invited subject-matter experts among staff and community members to explain their significance to end users. The new At-Large website clarifies the development pipeline of ALAC advice in response to Public Comment, makes it easy for users to find and provide input on draft ALAC advice, and enables keyword search and taxonomy-based sorting to help users research past ALAC advice. In addition, beginner-friendly information regarding the ALAC advice development process is published on the website to encourage end users to get involved. The At-Large Technology Taskforce has investigated a variety of communications platforms and collaboration tools, such as SLACK, Lumio, Liquid Feedback, Ahocracy, and Kialo, with the aim to find a Skype alternative that is superior in tracking and archiving discussions related to Public Comment proceedings and ICANN policy issues.

As a result of these efforts, the At-Large Community has been prolific in the submission of Statements in response to ICANN Public Comment proceedings. Receiving substantive input across the entire At-Large Community, these submissions have contributed valuable end-user perspectives to the development of ICANN policy issues.

Next Step

In collaboration with relevant ICANN staff departments, the At-Large Technology Taskforce will continue their search for a Skype alternative and provide a final recommendation for an effective communication, collaboration tool that can facilitate policy activities.

Actions:

24 Nov 2015
- Social Media WG and Technology Taskforce to continue their investigation of better tools
09 Mar 2016
- RALO leaders to use the policy section on the new website and provide feedback on how it could help ALSes to participate in the policy advice development process
18 Feb 2016
- Technology Taskforce to discuss Rec 31 during its next teleconference
20 May 2016
- After social media WG and TTF complete testing of lumio, liquidfeedback, trello, and other tools, report on the testing results and mark this recommendation complete
23 May 2016
- Jimmy Schulz and Dev Anand Teelucksingh to organize a special purpose session to demo/test kialo.com; Jimmy will invite a rep from kialo.com to do the demo.

Notes:

Fatima Cambronero to email Dev Anand Teelucksingh about the tool for Statement drafting collaboration
24 Nov 2015 (secretariat meeting)
- SLACK is one of the tools for investigation
- Technology Taskforce will provide a summary of their investigation so far and what does and what does to be published on a wiki
21 Jan 2016 (secretariat meeting)
- Potential public comment period needs to be made aware to RALOs, as public comment period may be brief and RALO members cannot engage in time; ALAC members need to closely collaborate with RALO members with regard to this process; capacity building of public comment proceedings is also needed
- ALS Criteria and Expectations Taskforce has been working on figuring out a suitable way that ALAC and Staff to feed ALSes information of policy. RALOs need to take the initiative to confirm interests in obtaining such information.
- It may be useful for subject matter experts to provide an overview of public comment, instead of just stating the procedure related matters, during RALO calls.
- LACRALO has worked with GSE and ALAC members and invited speakers to educate ALSes about certain public comment topics during teleconferences.
09 Mar 2016 (secretariat meeting - ICANN55)
- Siranush Vardanyan: The Document Development Program may encourage ALSes to participate in policy development and to participate in public comment process and comment on those policy developments we need. Whenever there is a policy up for comment, we would need some one-page, simple language, non-technical, just explanation – what is this policy, how it can influence to end users – to be sent to us and to share with our ALSs and encourage them to come and comment.
- Glenn McKnight: TTF has been testing different tools, such as SLACK and Buffer. Besides these, TTF is addressing accessibility issues concerning people who are using Linux or people who have problems using Flash; Judith Hellerstein: TTF also works to make sure which tools meet the standards of W3C on web accessibility.
- Ariel Liang: the new At-Large website includes beginner-friendly information about public comment and ALAC advice development process; this may be helpful for the ALS to participate in the policy activities
- Alberto Soto: Short public comment period is a challenge. Longer public comment period, such as the one on the Final Report Recommendations of the Geographic Regions Review Working Group, allows RALOs to identify penholders and draft response, as well as to invite subject matter expert to provide further information on the topic.
12 May 2016
- Technology Taskforce has been exploring different tools (e.g. Lumio) and will continue this ongoing effort, as the mandate of the TTF is to evaluate and review Information and Communication Technologies that can help the ICANN At-Large Community (including the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC)) better able to accomplish their role in ICANN activities.
- Crowdsourcing is a non-starter as it is not the way that At-Large works.
23 May 2016:
- Lumio has been tested but it does not satisfy this recommendation
- Several discussion tools need to be tested, such as Liquid Feedback, Trello, SLACK, etc.
- Jimmy Schulz has recommended kialo.com and he has been using it for discussions. He has also used Liquid Feedback and Ahocracy (https://adhocracy.de/) but they are not very intuitive compared to kialo and have a lot more features than needed.

Input from Social Media Working Group:

Dev Anand Teelucksingh to list the tools investigated:https://community.icann.org/x/QaM0Aw
24 Sep 2015:
- The challenge for social media is that can we have a conversation on policy via social media? Current policy conversation is taking place on Skype, mailing list, and calls/meetings.
- It would be useful to monitor different social networks to see what has been said about certain policy topics/reports.
- ICANN should task certain staff members in following social media conversations about policy topics.
- This recommendation is also related to Outreach & Engagement Subcommittee. It talks how to get people engaged in public comment periods, etc.
- Social Media Working Group can ask question to get people involved in public comment.
- Break down the questions and encourage people to answer questions in small bits.
- Use particular hashtag to group the conversations around certain policy topic.
- Task an At-Large Working Group to experiment with this method and ask/answer questions about policy topics.

Input from Technology Taskforce:

The TTF is to review tools such as Liquid Feedback ( http://liquidfeedback.org/ )
The TTF is currently evaluating Loomio (https://www.loomio.org/) an online tool for collaborative decision-making
08 Aug 2016: A guest speaker demonstrated Kialo (https://www.kialo.com/) to the TTF and showcased its capability that allows a group of people to discuss and debate on various issues. TTF has concluded that Kialo may be good for the Community to form broader positions on potential Statements in response to ICANN public comment proceedings than doing detailed document editing work. TTF would suggest the ALAC to trial this tool and see how it would be used to form the arguments in ALAC Statements.

This page attempts to capture the various tools used to fulfill ATLAS II Recommendation 31:
"ICANN and the ALAC should investigate the use of simple tools and methods to facilitate participation in public comments, and the use of crowdsourcing."