25 June 2014
Panelists:
- Savé Vocea, Vice President, Oceania
- Yu-Chuang Kuek, Vice President, Asia
Summary: The session updated the ICANN community on the ICANN Asia Pacific Hub’s (APAC Hub) engagement activities in Oceania and Asia. The presentation slides are attached: 1) Oceania WG Update 2) APAC Hub Update.
The recording of the session will be added here when available (unavailable as of 1 July 2014).
Over 40 participants attended the session. The key points of the feedback are captured below. We welcome your comments and feedback on this platform as well.
Key Discussion points:
- Pablo (APNIC) and YJ Park (SUNY – Korea) commended ICANN's expansion of activities in the APAC region, and the building of capabilities at the APAC Hub.
IANA Stewardship Transition and Asia Pacific Community Involvement
- YJ Park (SUNY-Korea) highlighted the need to engage the APAC community in depth on the topic of the IANA stewardship transition. In this regard, our participation in the IANA transition Coordination Group would be critical. There is a need for the APAC community to be represented in the Coordination Group to provide regional balance.
- Going forward, it was noted that many forums in the region will feature the IANA stewardship transition discussion: the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) in New Delhi in August; the Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) meeting in Nantou, Taiwan in August; NetHui IGF in Auckland in July; NOGs such as PACNOG; and the APNIC regional meeting in Brisbane in September etc.
- As the different forums had different audiences, it was agreed that different messages had to be worked out to interest the various communities on the topic of the IANA stewardship transition. APNIC expressed interest to work with ICANN on this.
- YJ shared her experience that the technical community, such as those attending APAN, had a lot of knowledge on the issue but were not motivated to be engaged in this space. Kitamura Yasuichi (APAN) highlighted that while the APAN audience knew the DNS structure and how it works well, the IANA stewardship transition topic was considered political and they would prefer not to be involved. It was agreed that a strategy was required in the messaging, particularly to highlight the impact the IANA stewardship transition would have on the “real internet world” (i.e. technical community). The APAC community at large would also need to be engaged, factoring in issues such as language and culture to facilitate interest and discussion.
NextGen@ICANN and the Asia Pacific Internet Leaders Programme (APILP)
- YJ Park noted that the NextGen@ICANN initiative and the APILP programme appeared to reach out to a similar target audience, and asked whether they should be combined to maximize resources.
- While it was clear that the NextGen@ICANN initiative would not be restricted to the APAC region, and the programme targeted youth (aged 18-30) involvement at ICANN, it was agreed that the APILP’s target group still needs to be worked out by the APILP Working Group (WG), of which the APAC Hub is currently providing secretariat support. The APILP Terms of Reference (TOR) is currently an open draft that needs to be finalized, and will be discussed at the APrIGF in New Delhi in August. Those who are interested in participating in the APILP WG, please contact the APAC Hub at apachub@icann.org.
- Sunny Liu (NetMission) commended the APAC region in terms of youth engagement. Sunny highlighted that in his interactions with youth from other regions at ICANN meetings, they would ask whether the NextGen meeting would be conducted in other regions. Sunny highlighted that if ICANN can commit to place the NextGen initiative as a regular feature in the ICANN meetings calendar, more promotion and publicity can be made so that participants from other regions could participate.
- Kuek assured Sunny that the NextGen@ICANN initiative would be here to stay, and that he will work with Nora Abussita (ICANN’s VP for Development and Public Responsibility) to spread the word to the other regions, particularly for the next meetings in the Americas and Africa regions. Kuek also hoped to receive the support of our partners in the region when the ICANN meeting comes back to Asia.
Policy Development Processes
- Yannis Li (DotAsia) noted that the draft roadmap on the Universal acceptance of TLDs is now available for Public Comment, and asked whether the APAC Hub would be doing anything to facilitate the APAC community towards this process. Kuek replied that while the ICANN Policy Development Process (PDP) would not be replicated in the individual regions, the APAC Hub will be happy to work with the community on this. Kuek invited the community to let him know how the APAC Hub can work with you.
Future APAC sessions at ICANN meetings
- More interaction and discussion is preferred for future APAC sessions at ICANN meetings. In this regard, instead of allocating time for updates by ICANN staff, it was preferred for updates, including PPT presentations, to be sent via the APAC Hub mailing list in advance.
To subscribe to the ICANN APAC Hub mailing list and newsletters, please write in to apachub@icann.org.
