Name: Mili Semlani Region: APAC Gender: Female Employment: Media consultant Conflict of Interest: None Why do you want to serve on the EC? As a youth participant in IG, my interaction with ICANN began as a fellow. Spending over four years living, working as a journalist and engaging in local/regional IG discussions in the APAC community has given me a good understanding of the issues and needs of the people in the region. I want to enhance the quality and quantity of increasing number of Asian internet users, and youth participants in the multistakeholder policy making process at ICANN. Serving as the NCUC EC for APAC will help me in this capacity building initiative. Provide a brief biography of recent experience, associations, and affiliations relevant to serving on the Executive Committee. Describe the relevance of your personal and professional experience to serve on the NCUC Executive Committee, and identify any conflicts of interests you might have.I have been involved in the IG space since 2014 and since I started as a youth ambassador (NetMission), representing the voice and strengthening youth participation. I have gained relative experience in recognising and addressing barriers for youth to participate and remain engaged in regional, local and international forums. My work with the BPF Gender and Access at IGF has also enhanced my knowledge and interest in topics related to gender and ICT with a special focus on how ICT can be used to fight gender issues in developing Asian economies. I also lead a community of ICT women in India to foster a group of highly engaged and active participants in the IG sphere and bridge the representation gap. I am currently co-chair of the Program Committee in MSG and we collectively work on the workshop submission guidelines, themes and sub themes for APrIGF 2018, etc.Since 2017 I also actively contribute to the synthesis document that records the discussions at APrIGF as a part of Drafting Committee. At the local level, I am championing a women at IG group to build a community of women from India (either in STEM careers or IG related fields) to strengthen the voice of women in the region thereby. I also lead the newly formed Youth4IG– a regional group for all IG engaged youth and fellows of various IG programmes that seeks to educate young internet users in Asia and facilitate their engagement at IG forums. Fortunately for me, all my other roles align and enhance my role as NCUC EC. The EC performs several functional responsibilities for the Constituency. What level of time commitment can you bring to your EC role on a weekly and overall basis? Describe any concerns or limitations on your ability to attend online meetings of the Executive Committee and ICANN Meetings in person. As a communications specialist, I work independently and remotely. Thanks to that, I have gained an entrepreneurial approach to work. Working in diverse cultural backgrounds across Asia has enhanced cross cultural communication, greatly honed my ability to switch between comfort zones, and adapt easily. I have been balancing my time at work and volunteering in IG forums for over 5 years now and I am increasingly committed to make the Asian voice count– given it is and will be the largest number of internet users in the world. Communication with the membership is critical. How would you keep members apprised of your EC-related activities? A key part of my education and profession, communication is precisely what I found weak as an NCUC APAC member. With adequate channels to reach out these days, in my other capacities at Youth4IG, APrIGF, etc. I have used a combination of tools like social media, newsletters and even monthly virtual meetings. I will use lessons from my former positions to not only bring the NCUC APAC members to the fore but also usher in new memberships and take NCUC missions to the masses. How do you foresee NCUC’s function, scale, or role changing in the future? What areas of ICANN policy, if any, need more attention and why? While I am relatively new to NCUC to predict changes, enhancing micro communication (in this case at regional level) is essential. As a youth fellow, while I have always come across At Large and RALO's at capacity building sessions, NCUC (which has a similar target group) was seldom heard of. The recent survey is a huge step (Thanks Stephanie, Bruna and Louise) and I sincerely feel regional outreach, capacity building and communication can be further improved.I am happy to answer more questions here on the list or on the "meet the candidates" call. Thank you for the nomination and good luck to all the running candidates.
Experience in ICANN
My involvement with ICANN dates back in Copenhagen as a first time fellow. One week prior to the ICANN58 I had the chance to participate at the NCUC session at the Internet Freedom Festival that later resulted on my application to be a member. Ever since, I continued to engage with our Constituency and was offered the opportunity to attend ICANN59 as an NCUC fellow. Back in november 2017 I was elected as the representative for the Latin American and Caribbean region at the Executive Committee and in June of the present year I was assigned the Vice-Chair position for the same term. I also have been serving as the NCUC's chair since 2018 - first stepping up as chair given vacancy of the post caused by the previous chair's resignation and then being elected to this current term back in 2018.
Regarding public comments and PDPs, I am a member of the New gTLD subsequent procedures PDP WG, an observer at the new gTLD Auction Proceeds CCWG and recently joined the CCWP Human Rights. I have also contributed as a penholder to several NCSG's submissions to Public Comments related to the work of the New Subsequent Procedures WG.
NCUC and goals
As a lot of you may know, I have take on this present role under rather intricate circumstances and had to go through some sort of forced transition due to the challenges posed at the time as well as the previous chair resignation. Therefore I had to learn the specificities of the Chair position along the way, trying to rely as much as I could on the NCUC EC and some key members of our community advices (thank you all for that). Being 7 months into this first term as NCUC Chair, I do believe we have a lot space for improvement inside our constituency - from strengthening our efforts in onboarding new members to providing a safe space for the exchange of ideas and building capacities to join policy work and so on.
Having said that, I would like to list the three following areas that I could see NCUC improving at:
1. Communication: Members should learn about how NCUC is acting in the different regions and should also be offered the chance to weigh into debates and administrative work. Having said that, the idea is to continue to foster all the information channels of our constituency in order to improve the dialogue between NCUC leadership team and members. Sharing information on how to get involved as well as the initiatives carried by our members is a way to do it.
2. Outreach-inreach: given the fact that NCUC members are a representative fraction of the internet governance community in all the different regions of the globe, I think it is of utter importance for them to know who else is alongside them and who they could reach out to in any subject they wish; Therefore, I would continue with members calls and activities regarding the mailing list in order to strengthen NCUC's relation with the less present regions, with the help of the EC. As NCUC is also on the way of working on its Strategic Outreach Plan for the FY20, I would personally like to hear more from our members and help connect their work throughout the constituency.
3. Policy work and Capacity Building: Improving NCUC member's participation in policy work is something I value and have been committed to at past years. Therefore, it is super important to continue to work closely with the NCSG PC representatives in order to build capacity within the constituency and become even more participative in echoing the CS voices in policy related discussions. As a Constituency we could reach higher levels of participation once the right bridging between incoming members and PDP active members is done - for that specific point, and in regards to what has already been discussed, a great idea would be to strengthen some initiatives and opportunities available such as the Buddy program and the Policy Writing capacity building. But we also want to hear more from our members on the obstacles to their participation in NCSG policy work, for that reason Stephanie, Louise and I decided to work on our Engagement Survey [docs.google.com]. We do believe that the diagnosis provided by this survey results will help us find out about possible areas in which we should be improving our work - whether its new members onboarding or any new capacity building efforts.
About me
My name is Bruna Martins dos Santos and I am the advocacy strategist at Coding Rights, an organization that aims to advance in the enforcement of Human Rights in the digital world. My work with Coding Rights requires me to engage with legislative discussions related to broader subject o Digital Rights in Brazil as well as some international discussions related to Privacy and Data Protection - more specifically the brazilian General Data Protection Law, Gender and technology and Freedom of expression. I hold a BA in Law with experience in Internet Regulation, Human Rights and International Law. I am 28 years old and I am based in Brasilia, Brazil.
I have previously worked as a legal advisor at the Brazilian Government, covering Internet Governance issues and being responsible for issuing legal opinions on the implementation of the Access to Information Act and the Civil Rights Framework [en.wikipedia.org]for the Interne [en.wikipedia.org]t. I have also participate in several regional forums such as LACIGF and the Brazilian IGF (FIB), and other IGF related intersessional work such as the Best Practice Forum on Gender and Access.
Once again, I would like to highlight how grateful I am for holding this position for the past 7 months and for being a member of both NCUC and NCSG. If membership agrees on this second term as a chair, I would be willing to continue coordinating our works and helping spread the Non-Commercial word inside and out of ICANN.
Name: Mili Semlani Region: APAC Gender: Female Employment: Media consultant Conflict of Interest: None
Why do you want to serve on the EC? As a youth participant in IG, my interaction with ICANN began as a fellow. Spending over four years living, working as a journalist and engaging in local/regional IG discussions in the APAC community has given me a good understanding of the issues and needs of the people in the region. I want to enhance the quality and quantity of increasing number of Asian internet users, and youth participants in the multistakeholder policy making process at ICANN. Serving as the NCUC EC for APAC will help me in this capacity building initiative.
Provide a brief biography of recent experience, associations, and affiliations relevant to serving on the Executive Committee. Describe the relevance of your personal and professional experience to serve on the NCUC Executive Committee, and identify any conflicts of interests you might have.
I have been involved in the IG space since 2014 and since I started as a youth ambassador (NetMission), representing the voice and strengthening youth participation. I have gained relative experience in recognising and addressing barriers for youth to participate and remain engaged in regional, local and international forums. My work with the BPF Gender and Access at IGF has also enhanced my knowledge and interest in topics related to gender and ICT with a special focus on how ICT can be used to fight gender issues in developing Asian economies. I also lead a community of ICT women in India to foster a group of highly engaged and active participants in the IG sphere and bridge the representation gap. I am currently co-chair of the Program Committee in MSG and we collectively work on the workshop submission guidelines, themes and sub themes for APrIGF 2018, etc.Since 2017 I also actively contribute to the synthesis document that records the discussions at APrIGF as a part of Drafting Committee. At the local level, I am championing a women at IG group to build a community of women from India (either in STEM careers or IG related fields) to strengthen the voice of women in the region thereby. I also lead the newly formed Youth4IG– a regional group for all IG engaged youth and fellows of various IG programmes that seeks to educate young internet users in Asia and facilitate their engagement at IG forums. Fortunately for me, all my other roles align and enhance my role as NCUC EC.
The EC performs several functional responsibilities for the Constituency. What level of time commitment can you bring to your EC role on a weekly and overall basis? Describe any concerns or limitations on your ability to attend online meetings of the Executive Committee and ICANN Meetings in person. As a communications specialist, I work independently and remotely. Thanks to that, I have gained an entrepreneurial approach to work. Working in diverse cultural backgrounds across Asia has enhanced cross cultural communication, greatly honed my ability to switch between comfort zones, and adapt easily. I have been balancing my time at work and volunteering in IG forums for over 5 years now and I am increasingly committed to make the Asian voice count– given it is and will be the largest number of internet users in the world.
Communication with the membership is critical. How would you keep members apprised of your EC-related activities? A key part of my education and profession, communication is precisely what I found weak as an NCUC APAC member. With adequate channels to reach out these days, in my other capacities at Youth4IG, APrIGF, etc. I have used a combination of tools like social media, newsletters and even monthly virtual meetings. I will use lessons from my former positions to not only bring the NCUC APAC members to the fore but also usher in new memberships and take NCUC missions to the masses.
How do you foresee NCUC’s function, scale, or role changing in the future? What areas of ICANN policy, if any, need more attention and why? While I am relatively new to NCUC to predict changes, enhancing micro communication (in this case at regional level) is essential. As a youth fellow, while I have always come across At Large and RALO's at capacity building sessions, NCUC (which has a similar target group) was seldom heard of. The recent survey is a huge step (Thanks Stephanie, Bruna and Louise) and I sincerely feel regional outreach, capacity building and communication can be further improved.
I am happy to answer more questions here on the list or on the "meet the candidates" call.
Thank you for the nomination and good luck to all the running candidates.
--- With gratitude Mili Semlani
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Louise Marie Hurel
Name: Louise Marie Hurel
Gender: Female
Position/Employer: Project Coordinator and Researcher, Igarapé Institute
Currently Based: London, UK
Conflict of Interest: None
Statement:
I have had the incredible opportunity to serve as representative for the European region at the Executive Committee of NCUC since 2017. Having joined NCUC and NCSG a short time before that (mid-2016), I was quite new to the whole ICANN ecosystem back then. I am particularly thankful for Tatiana, Rafik, Farzaneh, and Ayden's mentorship all throughout this process.
Though learning is at the core of all of the activities within the NCUC with our members, the first year was definitely a steep learning curve. We had an exceptional case of leadership change when our former NCUC Chair resigned. Throughout that year, we learned in practice how to better inform, communicate, and overcome internal obstacles. Inwardly focused, the EC matured and sought to gradually engage members, while simultaneously understanding how to better work together. I am grateful to have worked with people that are now in different leadership roles and/or have remained committed to advancing the work of the EC.
Having participated in different working groups, supported and written public comments, and advanced into a second term, I have certainly matured in my engagement. As a team, the performance of the EC ultimately depends on the people there. Some are more vocal, others less, but all meaningfully composing a vital part of setting forth the possible conditions for us to continue to advocate for greater accountability, transparency, and privacy (to name a few) within ICANN. Making sure we abide by our Bylaws and Operating Procedures, whilst maintaining an open channel with members. In this past term, I have continuously engaged in drafting different public comments (KSK rollover, EPDP Phase 1 Report, and MSH model), structuring ABRs, helping prepare the different calls we issue, interacting more directly with civil society in Europe (through conferences such as CPDP), and contributing to the development of our Onboarding documents.
After being appointed as Vice Chair, I have also had the opportunity to work more closely with the NCUC and NCSG chairs in advancing our values and work. To put it plainly, I've really enjoyed working with the EC and, in particular, with Bruna a Stephanie.
Priorities:
In previous years I would normally restate our core priorities (i) onboarding (inreach and outreach), (ii) capacity building, and (iii) communications. Though they remain central, pressing, and extremely relevant, I believe that we have the opportunity to improve in being more strategic. This includes, but is not restricted to, some of the recent efforts directed towards building better metrics to effectively evaluate our participation in capacity building or policy processes. These actions also comprise thinking strategically of how to better connect with the local and regional community in the country hosting an ICANN meeting, making sure that our Buddy-Mentor programme is capable of taking some of the incredible people in our membership and connecting them to those that are equally experienced, but slowly breeding confidence to engage in policy development processes.
I remain fully committed to advancing our engagement with civil society across Europe. This means: Keeping civil society groups in the region informed of our work, identifying potential areas for collaboration (organising workshops or providing insights of cross cutting issues ), and providing our members with information about opportunities for engaging with the broader IG ecosystem in the region.
As we head towards a period of reviews that touch upon ICANN's structure, model and policy process, we as a Constituency have the chance of working cooperatively and closely within our stakeholder group to make sure we are able to re-evaluate, assess, and identify blind spots on how we can strategically advance in these three pillars.
About:
I currently work as Project Coordinator on Cybersecurity and Digital Liberties at Igarapé Institute, a think and do tank based in Brazil. My work focuses on cybersecurity governance, norms development, confidence-building, and the implementation of monitoring technologies in developing countries. I hold an MSc on Media and Communications (Data and Society) from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA in International Relations from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro.
Most of my research focuses on the politics of cybersecurity expertise and the interplay between cybersecurity and Internet governance communities. Previous work experience includes consultancy for UNESCO’s project on multistakeholder models, two years at the Center for Technology and Society at FGV (CTS-FGV) working on Internet governance, security and privacy issues, participation at the BRICS Youth Forum (2017) and approximately four years at the Center for Strategic and Political Studies at the Naval War College in Brazil.
Louise Marie Hurel
Research and Project Development Cybersecurity and Digital Liberties Programme | Igarapé Institute
--- With gratitude Mili Semlani
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Africa
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Thato Mfikwe
Why do you want to serve on the EC?
I believe my participation in NCUC EC will create another alternative for community members to participate and get more involved within NCUC and NCSG activities and committees, especially newcomers and followers who are not yet active.
Personally, I have participated and engaged the NCUC and ICANN Africa regional strategy since 2016, during my first ICANN meeting in Hyderabad. I hope the NCUC members will give me another opportunity to further contribute to activities NCUC and serve the African region as I also intend to intensify engagement with and among NCSG constituencies, committees and NCUC itself in order to enable mainstreaming of regional members within NCUC, NCSG and ICANN activities. I have always incorporated leadership and administrative capabilities in every task I undertake.
I plan to contribute to enhancing up capacity building initiatives to also encompass research and analysis with drafting skills, as there are currently few penholders within NCUC who can see a public comment to completion.
Provide a brief biography of recent experience, associations, and affiliations relevant to serving on the Executive Committee. Describe the relevance of your personal and professional experience to serve on the NCUC Executive Committee, and identify any conflicts of interests you might have.
I am not conflicted and I have experience in financial administration, policy development, research, analysis, project management and advocacy skills and experienced acquired over 15 years of my professional span. I have co-founded multiple organisations which are operational, worked with global companies, civil society and collaborated with governments before engaging the digital space, which started in 2010. My role as the current ISOC South Africa Gauteng Chapter President and member of South African Multistakeholder Committee on Internet Governance does not affect my plans for NCUC as all is inline and complements the work of the Chapters and the local IG fora.
2.1 Other activities within ICANN
In 2017, I also helped managed the NCUC stall during the Global IGF in Geneva, over 2 days, at differentiated time slots. I was also involved in the coordination and moderation of NCUC outreach in Johannesburg, pre ICANN59, 2017, which was a success.
During 2018, I worked with NCSG FC and community members, to finalise the FC Operational Procedures which was a serious exercise, especially with limited number of volunteers. The work of the FC was faced with challenges due to diverse views of community and committee members in regard to functions, autonomy and purpose of the FC within NCSG and how it collaborates and consults with constituencies. The FC during the said term, worked on ABR analysis, ICANN and IANA/PTI comments, and started developing reference document like action plans and summaries of ABRs. I have also participated in outreach during ICANN meetings, specifically, ICANN 62 and ICANN64.
Now in 2019, since ICANN64, I am currently coordinating with the current NCUC EC Africa representative and the regional mailing list members and volunteers to find a way to improve regional participation and contribution within ICANN, NCSG and constituency activities. I started engaging the ICANN Africa office as from early 2018 to figure or map out ways on how to improve regional participation and contributions within ICANN and regional activities before setting up a meeting during ICANN64.
I am also a member of CCWG on New gTLD AP proceeds and am currently participating in a community comment on mainstreaming organisational reviews next steps, I also continue following up on ICANN 5-year and annual plans and budget sessions by ICANN finance online and onsite where possible.
2.2 Other activities within the Internet Governance space
I have participated and set on panel of different global, regional and local events like the 2017 ION conference in Durban, South African IGF 2014 -2019, 2016 - 2017 Community Networks Summit and the 2016 African IGF, as a member of the South African Multistakeholder Committee on Internet Governance, representing civil society, we will also been facilitating local IGFs in the past 2 years and this year will also be facilitating the 1st South African School on Internet Governance. I am the South African coordinator of ACSIS – African Civil Society on Information Society and member of the Africa Community Network Summit Program Committee. I have been active in the internet space since 2010 developing community networks in South Africa’s townships and rural areas and promoting policies for an open, affordable and stable internet.
During my career and professional span, I have received various distinctions, fellowships and awards, the most recent:
August 2015: Nunnovation African Innovator of the month accolade
2015 IVLP (International Visitors Leadership Program) by the US Government focussing on innovation, entrepreneurship and small business development in 4 states
ICANN57, 62 and 64 Fellowship
2016 AFRISIG (African School on Internet Governance) fellowship
I have actively participated in national, regional and international levels also worked with local registries, registrars, working groups formed by ISOC, local state Department of Postal Services and Telecommunications, World Economic Forum and other local businesses, foundations and institutions.
The EC performs several functional responsibilities for the Constituency. What level of time commitment can you bring to your EC role on a weekly and overall basis? Describe any concerns or limitations on your ability to attend online meetings of the Executive Committee and ICANN Meetings in person. I normally have time for attending meetings online and onsite and I am already spending 10 -20 hours per week on working groups, community comments, NCUC, NCSG and communities’ regional activities.
Communication with the membership is critical. How would you keep members apprised of your EC-related activities?
I normally share reports and updates as I have previously done while engaged in NCSG FC, I provided NCUC EC and NCUC Africa webinars with reports on Financial activities, plans and updates. I also learned the community communication practice within ICANN communities and plan to improve or sustain my communication with the mailing list. With the help of the NCSG FC, I have also coordinated online meetings with NCSG FC committee members, started to develop the FC document repository, attended NCSG and NCUC monthly calls and normally giving report on the FC activities, although the last 4 months have been challenging due other reasons.
ICANN as a global policy driven institution with community-driven processes, it is expected that internal politics will arise from time to time since we all come from different backgrounds with different challenges, not all views will be agreed upon all the time but I believe that in an environment of enhanced accountability, impartiality, trust, and transparency, it is less likely to encounter significant disagreements and clash of views. The politics that take place within ICANN and communities cannot be given a blind-eye because those who are denied opportunity and support will never participate and contribute at expected levels. So, it is my goal to understand the decision-making process that takes place at NCUC EC as it is good to have battles on principles and avoid personal fights, for instance, I believe opportunities should be shared not amongst membership not earmarked for specific few members or committees, for whatever reasons, community ABRs should be more open for regional and membership applications and so should CROP.
I normally discuss issues and collaborate and normally avoid conflicts and confrontations but I feel that an environment needs to be created for newcomers and inactive members to anticipate without fear of being judged for lacking skills, experience or fluent in a particular language since there is a thin line, IMO, based on personal perception between being assertive and being disrespectful and being weak against being humble. Threading around this dynamic will lead to effectiveness and tolerance of diversity within the community.
Improvement in communication methods at all levels to facilitate more dialogue between the constituencies, NCSG and the GNSO is paramount, so I look forward to promoting the bottom-up approach to policy development and community consultation and engagement to ensure that pertinent issues are tabled before the NCUC EC.
How do you foresee NCUC’s function, scale, or role changing in the future? What areas of ICANN policy, if any, need more attention and why? Incumbent candidates should answer in a manner that is both backward and forward-looking, i.e. taking note of their contributions and work in the previous year.
Within NCUC, I have also mentored newcomers in order to fast track their participation within ICANN and constituency activities, through the NCUC buddy program, which I believe, need to be revived as it was a very good program that gets members active and broadens participation.
Now with a change in my role within the FC, now being an observer member, my participation in NCUC EC will provide me another opportunity to serve NCUC in a different capacity, especially when it comes to exploring how AFRALO is organised to work with ICANN AFRICA GSE office collaborating on regional events and activities. I believe that NCUC must consider ways of ow to strengthen its regional efforts by exploring feasibility of adopting regional structures to steer qualitative growth of community and membership efforts.
Besides my administration, financial and project management background, I am also experienced in research, analyses and policy development, I intend to use all this to contribute to community activities and ensure that voices of the global south and underrepresented regions are brought to the table during discussions. I believe that the ground needs to be leveled and the use of degrading, intimidating comments and language needs to be guarded against with vigor in order for inactive members and newcomers to start participating and contributing to activities because it seems currently like voices from developed countries/global north normally dominate the ICANN and community policy discourse within ICANN communities, activities and related decision-making processes, IMO, leaving the affected at the mercy of the empowered, so cross-regional community collaborations can also be a link to such issues and for addressing capacity shortages, challenges in certain secluded regions or members.
I am certain that the work of NCUC will have a strong impact on the development and evolution of DNS space and respective PDPs, which is the reason why representation in this role will require collaboration and taking into account your proposals and contributions of members.
IMO, policy areas needing attention include:
- Organisational reviews
- Right Protection Mechanisms
- Expedited Policy Development Process
- Open Data Initiative
- Universal Acceptance
- New TLD subsequent procedures
Conclusion
As much as I am a direct person, sometimes mistaken as being disrespectful, I am normally expressive and vocal on critical issues, I believe the policy development environment needs vocal members who can represent the interest of the underrepresented in a meaningful way since a regions such as Africa is still lagging behind in terms of representation in ICANN meetings and organising itself, furthermore in our region we do not yet have collaborative spaces like Internet Houses where RALOs, RIR and other communities can collaborate on ICANN topical issues unlike other regions like LACNIC.
I appreciate and have worked and collaborated well with different members of NCUC in the past, like Farzaneh and Ayden during plenary of NCUC before ICANN 59, with Renata, Remmy and Joan of NPOC on NCSG FC activities during FY18. Renata has also been my mentor and I still respect her contributions for making NCUC more inclusive and enabling newcomers using innovative programs, her contributions have been very helpful to date.
Regionally, I am currently working with NCUC regional members to improve participation and contribution to the ICANN regional strategy. I intend to represent the African region within the NCUC EC to present her concerns during discussion and deliberation in the Committee meetings. I want to be a voice that stands for what is important and just right for NCUC and Africa.
I believe Africa’s NCUC quantitative membership growth will impact on regional contributions within ICANN and hard decisions must be made to enhance transparency, fairness and equitable and consistent decision making. I intend to attempt changing the narrative that Africans cannot do anything by themselves because I do not and will never subscribe to that notion. I intend to continue collaborating and working with regional members to tackle regional issues and challenges, irrespective of the outcome of NCUC elections because only a few regional members are able to contribute and participate in community activities. Your vote will be appreciated to enabling development and execution of alternative strategies for the benefit of NCUC and the African region, including respective community and regional demands, thank you.
My choice to serve as NCUC EC Africa representative stems from my CROP application work plan - where I had indicated participate in the election process, [MC1] as an outcome of the opportunity and my years of engagement in NCUC. I also would like to see improved participation of members from the Africa region in the policy development process. I believe the core NCUC mandate is of higher service to the Africa region, so it is unfortunate to see limited participation by Africans in NCUC policy development conversations. My duty is to try and increase African engagement and also mainstream African issues on the frontlines. With other ECs, I hope we can articulate ICANN’s mandate in a manner that is engaging and practical to the region. This will allow us to have a policy development process that is not only based on academic knowledge, but also practical.
NCUC visibility in the region can be highly improved.
Issues such as affordable access, Internet shutdowns represent the critical issues for Africa.
Taking into consideration the missions and visions of NCUC and recognizing the many technological challenges Africa is confronted with, there is a strong need to strengthen institutional effort in addressing some of the many policy developmental challenges in light of strengthening policy developmental capacity across Africa. Improved participation of Africans on NCUC and ICANN will foster collaboration among members, improve and facilitate a mentorship program for African members and above all champion the course of NCUC among the internet governance communities across Africa and other regions.
2. Provide a brief biography of recent experience, associations, and affiliations relevant to serving on the Executive Committee. Describe the relevance of your personal and professional experience to serve on the NCUC Executive Committee, and identify any conflicts of interests you might have.
I have a specialization in ICT4D and Digital Health with over 10 years’ experience working in international development. I am currently a DAAD postgraduate research scholar at the Namibia university of Science and Technology and Regional Coordinator ofICT4si.org [ict4si.org] .
Active member of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of NIGF.
Alumni of the first African Summer School of Internet Governance - AfriSIG,
AfriNIC and ICANN fellow, member of ISOC Nigeria Chapter.
I am a member of Nigeria Coalition of Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), consistently advocating for affordable and inclusive Internet access.
I belong to the coalition of Africa Center for Citizens Orientation (ACCO), championing improving access for women and girls to up-to-date ICT education and some existing ICT facilities in Abuja and northern Nigeria.
My area of research is Persuasive Technologies for health behavioural change and personal informatics. I have over ten years’ experience working as an ICT4D manager in an international NGO and in public health in Nigeria. I participated in the NetMundial Meeting, Netmundial Initiative in Sao Paolo in 2014 which led up to the IANA Transition process.
I have been active in NCUC as member of the Membership engagement team. I am an ICANN fellow, AFRINIC fellow, Diplo Foundation alumni, and alumni of the inaugural Africa Internet Summer School.
Contributed to a few NCUC and NCSG call for comments especially those relating to the Africa region.
I am always eager to help and to collaborate to achieve the greater good as a group. I have introduced a handful of new members to NCUC and ICANN.
Experience within ICANN
Fellowship Alumni AfrICANN group
CCWG Accountability
GNSO Next-Gen RDS PDP WG
· Draft Proposal of the New Fellowship Program Approach – commented on the NCSG draft statement.
· Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) in all gTLDs PDP Working Group – member – regularly on call of this WG
· Defunct Next-Gen WHOIS/RDS PDP WG, however following closely the EPDP process. – Member of draft teams (DT) on Domain Sales and WHOIS Data elements.
· Making comments as part of the NCSG, formed a team on the ICANN Africa Strategic Plan 2016-2020 version 3.0 – volunteered to on the comment drafting team
· NPOC Policy committee - volunteer
He is a member of other committees
1.TWG on drafting Nigeria eHealth Policy
2.Nigeria Open Government Partnership - Non State Actors Group
3.A4AI Consumer and Pricing Working Group
4.Global Network for Cybersolution (CSO)
5.Nigeria ICANN Multi Stakeholder Group
6.Member and (Cybersecurity) Alumni Diplo Foundation
3 The EC performs several functional responsibilities for the Constituency. What level of time commitment can you bring to your EC role on a weekly and overall basis? Describe any concerns or limitations on your ability to attend online meetings of the Executive Committee and ICANN Meetings in person.
Generally, I can commit 8 hours per week and I am readily available for emergency calls or assignments. I am very much committed to the course and development of the visions and missions of NCUC and ICANN. I am a full-time researcher and a student of Informatics.
4 Communication with the membership is critical. How would you keep members apprised of your EC-related activities?
As a member EC representing the African region, I will identify the critical policy issues which are on the table for discussion and simplify them for the understanding of my African audience and newcomers. I will use available channels of communications such as emails, newsletters, blogs, and targeted social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Google Hangout. Also, I will work with existing NCUC communications strategies and members to advance the work I am doing in the NCUC EC. I hope to drive engagement by linking my EC activities to some of the real-life issues and benefits of NCUC activities to the African users, especially on the issues of Access, Local Content, Human Rights, Development, Privacy, and Multilingual Internet. These issues, when addressed, will ultimately grow the domain name business in Africa. Ultimately reinforcing the stability, security and resilience of the global network
We need to organize more Pre- Post ICANN events in Africa Region to help improve the region’s members and their involvement.
In collaboration with the NCUC ‘s e-platform group, I hope to develop an ICANN and IG-related activities schedule to keep members abreast of events going on.
I will become active on social media, especially Twitter, during or after ICANN events and calls.
Language is a major constraint to fully engage the full potential of Africans participation, as we have about 50% francophone in Africa to actively engage. I hope to use French as a channel to reach more participants. I intend to work with mentors like Mamadou and Muriel Alapini to push this engagement agenda.
Gender - gap in participation from the region are yet to be tapped into, we have higher female participation from my region in other IG space, why not in NCUC, this is what I want to improve.
I will facilitate productive and sustainable mentoring relationships.
ICANN/ NCUC-Africa Outreach is a major project for me to increase our fan base on the continent.
Become active on social media, especially twitter during or after ICANN events and calls.
5 How do you foresee NCUC’s function, scale, or role changing in the future? What areas of ICANN policy, if any, need more attention and why?
With the ongoing Evolving ICANN’s Multistakeholder Model - it is certain NCUC engagement will evolve in the process.
With the ongoing Evolving ICANN’s Multi-stakeholder Model - it is certain NCUC engagement will evolve in the process.
Personally, I see NCUC’s function evolving in the future, as we bring more participation of academia, CSOs and other non-commercial users from developing countries on board. As we connect the next billion to the Internet and NCUC as the home of the non-commercial users; we need to engage our members to become stronger advocates for the issues of concerns to the constituency (civil society's communities and individual users) in ICANN policy development processes and trending Internet Governance issues. I believe we need to awaken the competent hands in NCUC, that have gone silent and activate new voices, the balance of these two groups will determine how strong NCUC is among stakeholder group within ICANN must also move to champion education about domain name rights, freedom of speech, etc. of civil societies and other bodies with common interests. NCUC within ICANN will have to seek collaborations from ICANN constituents who have common goals on different policy issues for the purpose of the greatest impact. NCUC with ICANN must support those UN SDG goals that coincides with NCUC mission.
Areas ICANN policy needs attention
EPDP on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data - Phase 2; this next phase, it requires the delicate balance between data protection, privacy advocate and need for innovation + data on the Internet.
Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms in All gTLDs PDP
ICANN Africa Strategy, this region requires more of ICANN’s engagement to help grow the DNS market.
New gTLD Auction Proceeds Cross-Community Working Group: the mechanism to utilize the resources should help improve and grow the Internet where it is lacking, especially in Africa.
It is with excitement that I look forward to serving the NCUC community to engender participation of all diverse groups, especially those from developing countries and newcomers to ICANN.
Benjamin Akinmoyeje
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Hago Dafalla
Hago Dafalla
1. Why do you want to serve on the EC? First, in order to represent the best representation of Africa in this position, and secondly in order to serve and possible all stakeholders to exercise good stewardship cemented in human dignity. We need a period of renewal for another blood in the veins of this organization until the election of new people to the benefit of everyone. To help my continental African and to raise the voice of African in ICANN. To try to support african people in the ICANN community.
2. Provide a brief biography of recent experience, associations, and affiliations relevant to serving on the Executive Committee. Describe the relevance of your personal and professional experience to serve on the NCUC Executive Committee, and identify any conflicts of interests you might have. I am Electronics Engineer (System Administrator and Network) I completed a Master degree in Computer Engineering and Networks. MY activities: I am participating in many activities: April To May 1996 : Training in E-Mail by Dr. Khursheed, McMaster University, Canada. 11 to 19 July 1998: Network Training workshop for Countries in the Early Stages of Internetworking, Network Navigation and Services Track, Geneva, Switzerland, Using UNIX as Operating System. 20 to 21 July 1998: Developing Countries Networking Symposium, Geneva, Switzerland, Using UNIX as Operating System. 21 to 24 July 1998: INET’98 Conference, Geneva, Switzerland, Using UNIX as Operating System. 2 26 July 1998 to Now: Internet Society Memberships (ISOC). 12 Oct. to 7 Nov. 1998: Fifth College On Microprocessor-Based Real-Time System in Physics, in the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy, Using LINUX as Operating System. -1 To 19 Feb. 1999: Second ICTP-URSI-ITU/BDT School on The Use of Radio for Digital Communication in Developing Countries, in the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP),Trieste, Italy, 7 to 11 May 2001: African Network Operators’ Group (AFNOG) Workshop for Internetworking in Scalable Network Infrastructure, Accra, Ghana. 12 to 13 May 2001: African Network Operators’ Group (AFNOG) Meeting, Accra, Ghana. 8-13 June 2003: African Network Operators’ Group (AFNOG) Workshop for Internetworking In Scalable Internet Services. Kampala, Uganda, Using UNIX as Operating System. 14 to 15 June 2003: African Network Operators’ Group (AFNOG) Meeting, Kampala, Uganda. - ICANN Meeting in Cairo, Egypt 2008. - ICANN Meeting in Sydney, Australia 2009. -ICANN Meeting in Belgium. -ICANN Meeting in Costa Rica. - I am a Member of Locking of a Domain Name Subject to UDRP Proceedings PDP WG Working Group, ICANN. - I served as a Member of The Inter Register Transfer Policy Part C working Group, ICANN. - I am participated in the 3rd Euro-Africa Cooperation Forum On ICT Research, Scandic Marina Congress Centre - Helsinki, Finland ,2010. - I am participated in the 2010 Euro-Africa E-Infrastructures Conference, Scandic Marina Congress Centre -Helsinki, Finland. - I am participated in the 6th International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. - I am participated in the AFRINIC Meetings, 2001,2003,2006,2011 and 2012. - I served as NomCom 2011and 2012, AfriNic. - I am participated in the African Peering Coordinate Forum (AFPIF), Peering Coordinators Day, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. - I am participated in the EGM on the Roadmap for Internet Governance in Arab Region, United Nations House, Beirut, Lebanon. - I am participated in the first and second, seventh African Internet Governance Forum. - I am participated in the First and Second Arab Internet Governance Forum. - I am participated in the Internet Governance Forum, Bali, Indonesia, 2013. I have no conflicts of interest.
3. The EC performs several functional responsibilities for the Constituency. What level of time commitment can you bring to your EC role on a weekly and overall basis? Describe any concerns or limitations on your ability to attend online meetings of the Executive Committee and ICANN Meetings in person. I have dedicate about 12 Hours a week and more if there are some more meetings available. I will perform my duties and responsibilities perfectly . Also to increase my contribution in ICANN Meetings in person and online meetings .
4. Communication with the membership is critical. How would you keep members apprised of your EC-related activities?
The Communications for the memberships is very important and it can be available through mailing list and regular announcements.
5. How do you foresee NCUC’s function, scale, or role changing in the future? What areas of ICANN policy, if any, need more attention and why? I promise to continue to raise issues with NCUC policy and rules. I need to raise the issues in Cyber security, especially in Social Security ( protections of children from the dangers of Internet). We need to continue engaging more youth people in ICANN Process and to hear their voice and their contributions. We have to continue engaging in the GNSO PDP process. I shall pressure to see new faces in ICANN Board Members especially in developing countries. More about me see my C.V. attached here
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Latin America/Caribbean
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Franco Giandana
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North America
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Michael Karanicolas
Name: Michael Karanicolas Region: NA Gender: Male Employment: Research Fellow leading the Wikimedia/Yale Law School Initiative on Intermediaries and Information Conflict of Interest: None
Personal statement: For those who don't know me, I am a veteran human rights advocate, whose focus is on promoting the right to information, freedom of expression, and privacy in the digital space. Although I'm based in Canada, my work has always been internationally focused, including extensive experience in Myanmar, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Jordan, Tunisia, Mongolia and Morocco, among other countries. Here at ICANN, I am active in a number of working groups, particularly RPMs, and on the ATRT3 Review Team. I was also previously the Rapporteur for the WS2 Transparency Subgroup. This will be my third and final term on the EC, and very much look forward to working with the new incoming representatives, as well as continuing to work with colleagues whom I greatly respect. I also look forward to handling a steady transition after I complete this term. Indeed, I have been sad to see that all of my elections have been unopposed, and will make it a priority to search for new candidates to take over when I leave this position next year.
In addition to my position at Yale, I serve as the President of the Right to Know Coalition, which works to promote open government in Atlantic Canada, and the Policy Director of the Domain Name Rights Coalition, which works to promote freedom of expression and privacy in the ICANN space.
I am currently in the process of completing my LLM at the University of Toronto. Although my research here is focused on digital platforms, it also includes a component related to ICANN, and my latest academic publication, on trademarks and rights protection mechanisms in the domain name space, is due out in the next issue of the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal. Prior to this degree, I obtained by BAH (Dean’s List) from Queen’s University, and an LLB (Dean’s List) from Dalhousie University.
