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This new Workspace is the hub for all updates, documents, and work related to the ALAC/At-Large Improvements Implementation project.

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Announcements

18 March 2011

ICANN's Silicon Valley Meeting concluded today with a public session held by its Board.  In this session, the Board approved the opening of the public comment period on the ICANN Bylaw amendments proposed as part of the ALAC/At-Large Improvements Project.  The primary goals of these amendments, as established in the Final Report of the ALAC Review Working Group on ALAC Improvements (Final Report; 9 June 2009), are two-fold:

• To affirm that the ALAC, as the representative body of At-Large, is the primary organizational home for the individual Internet user within ICANN; and
• To reflect the ALAC’s continuing purpose within ICANN (i) in providing advice on policy, (ii) in providing input into ICANN’s operations and structure, (iii) as part of ICANN’s accountability mechanisms, and (iv) as an organizing mechanism for some of ICANN’s outreach.

These amendments were developed by the ALAC and At-Large Imrpovements Work Team A (on the ALAC's continuing purpose within ICANN) and proposed by the At-Large Staff and Office of the General Counsel. 

The public comment period on the amendments is expected to open during April.

17 March 2011

At ICANN’s Silicon Valley Meeting today, as part of its ALAC & Regional Leadership Wrap-up Meeting, the four ALAC/At-Large Improvements Work Teams (WTs) presented the bulk of their draft implementation proposals to the ALAC.  This marked a major milestone for the current phase of the Improvements Project.

Notable examples of the implementation proposals presented by the Improvements WTs include the following:

• A proposal by WT A (on the ALAC’s continuing purpose) that the ALAC request the At-Large Staff to submit to the Board a set of ICANN Bylaw amendments developed collaboratively by the WT, the ALAC, and the Office of the General Counsel, aimed at clarifying the continuing purpose of the ALAC within the ICANN structure;
• A proposal by WT B (on ALS participation) that the ALAC initiate a training and education program, to coincide with ICANN Meetings, for new ALS members;
• A proposal by WT C (on ALAC planning processes) that the ALAC initiate, develop, and maintain an institutional knowledge management and retention system for At-Large; and
• A proposal by WT D (on ALAC’s policy advice development) that the ALAC adopt a new Policy Advice Development process (PAD) incorporating (a) earlier document translation and education of the ALSes about policy issues, (b) multiple points at which extensions of the public comment period may be requested, and (c) the development of a Staff Policy Review Committee (PRC) to inform the Community of upcoming policy comment periods.    

Immediately after the Silicon Valley Meeting, the WTs, along with the At-Large Staff, will begin preparing their final report to the ALAC on the Improvements Project.  This report will contain the WTs' formal proposals for the ALAC's consideration.  This phase of the Improvements Project is scheduled to conclude early in the second quarter of 2011.

13 March 2011

Even more striking than this progress has been the extensive “bottom-up” approach taken by the ALAC and At-Large in this work.  The Improvements Project has truly been conducted and led by the At-Large “edges” – that is, by the regional ALSes and their members.  Of the eight co-chairs of the Improvements Work Teams (WTs), the majority (five) are not ALAC members; furthermore, the majority of WT members, by far, come straight from the ALSes.

Since the goal of the At-Large Improvements Project is no less than the enhancement of the ways in which the ALAC and At-Large conduct their business, the RALOs’ and ALSes’ leadership of this Project has ensured their widespread – and very beneficial – influence on our Community for years to come.

At the Silicon Valley Meeting

During the past week, at ICANN’s Silicon Valley Meeting, the At-Large Improvements WTs have focused on their final implementation proposals – receiving feedback on them from the ALAC, RALOs and broader At-Large Community, as well as formally presenting most of them, during Thursday’s ALAC & Regional Leadership Wrap-up Meeting, for the ALAC’s consideration.

For more information on the ALAC/At-Large Improvements Implementation Project, please see:

• WT A Workspace
• WT B Workspace
• WT C Workspace
• WT D Workspace

13 August 2010
The call for RALO and ALAC volunteers to serve on the four At-Large Improvements work teams, which closed today, had an especially strong response. Each team will include members from all five RALOs.

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