August 2013 Report
ALSs
The following three orgnisations have been formally accepted as ALSs
- the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network
- South Pacific Computer Society
- Internet Society - Nepal Chapter
APRALO Meeting in August:
- Spotlight: Satish Babu give the first spotlight presentation on his ALS, the Computer Society of India, including its formation, structure and activities: see https://community.icann.org/display/APRALO/APRALO+ALSes+Spotlight.
- Satish provided an update of the Meeting Strategy WG . The issues being considered include whether ICANN should continue with three global meetings a year, or two meetings a year plus another meeting in each region, selection of venues for meetings (including rotation and selection criteria) and suppot arrangements for travel and visas. The WG is due to report to the Board in September.
- Policy Update: Olivier summarized the current issues before ICANN, including ALAC’s involvement in the policies, Participation of ALSs in policy discussions was encouraged
- APRALO’s relationship with APNIC was discussed.
- The meeting agreed that there should be a WG to look at APRALO procedures and their compliance with the revised ALAC Rules of Procedure (RoP)
Action items on everyone (including staff)
- be sure all of you are signed up to the APRALO and other mailing lists
- on the APRALO ALS list, check that the entry for your ALS is correct - and let staff know if anything that needs correcting
- volunteer to talk about your ALS to an APRALO meeting
- consider volunteering for the WG on RoP
- suggest policy topics for webinars
July 2013 Report
ALSs
Two ALSs have been officially decertified:
- Internet Users Network - Tokyo (at their request)
- Internet Society of Pakistan (which had ceased to exist and has been replaced)
Three orgnisations have applied for ALAC membership - which are in the process of being reviewed and will be voted on including
- the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network
- South Pacific Computer Society
- Internet Society - Nepal Chapter
Election Outcomes:
New Vice Chair: Siranush Vardanyan,
New NomCom Rep (replacing Siranush)Satish Babu And our new New ALAC rep (to assume office at the 2013 AGM) Maureen Hillyard. Congratulations again to all - and a reminder to everyone - that we need all of your support.
APRALO Meeting in Durban:
The meeting began with Kuek Yu-Chuang, the newly appointed Vice President for Global Stakeholder Engagement for the Asian Region. He assumes office on 1 August - when he will be based in Singapore. Others in the Singapore office will include staff for compliance and registrars/registries. (He would like to be involved in all of our meetings)
He talked a bit on his background (he is a Senior Director with Yahoo) and then on what he sees as a fundamental tension in his job. On the one hand, it is his job to listen to and understand the needs on the ground of his various constituents but that must fit into ICANN plans and commitments that have already been decided and are in train. The cornerstone of his job will be an APEC strategy which will be launched at the regional IGF in Korea.
Rinalia talked on the planned IGF workshop - an APRALO-ICANN collaboration on IDNs and IDN variants, looking at the many issues involved, including security and stability, and language scripts. Cheryl also provided an update on the regional IGF in Korea.
The meeting agreed that, from now on, we will be devoting at least 5 minutes or more to one or our ALSs giving us all a presentation on that ALS - a bit about its members and its activities. Satish will be the presenter for the August meeting.
We went through the the outcomes from the survey Pavan did after Beijing. The main conclusions included the overuse of ICANN terminology (explain the acronyms if you use them), how the ICANN schedule can be overwhelming - so each meeting needs a bit of explanation, more ALS participation, and praise for the Fellowship program and its orientation to ICANN.
In the issues sessions, the main issues were covered and have largely been dealt with. The one big outstanding issue is a proposal from an Expert Working Group (which Carlton was on) that is proposing a new structure for the collection, handling, verification and dissemination of registrant data. Comment is due mid-August
Action items on everyone (including staff)
- be sure all of you are signed up to the APRALO and other mailing lists
- on the APRALO ALS list, check that the entry for your ALS is correct - and let staff know if anything that needs correcting
- volunteer to talk about your ALS to an APRALO meeting
- Staff - please send out a soft copy of the guide to ALAC to all APRALO ALSs
June 2013 Report
ALSs
The ALAC will be voting in early July on the decertification of two ALSs: the Internet Users Network Tokyo and ISOC Pakistan.
APRALO Meeting Report (25 June 2013)
The new Vice Chair Siranush Vardanyan chaired the meeting in Holly’s absence.
Elections
APRALO Nominees for NomCom
The two nominees for the NonCom from APRALO - Gunela Astbrink from the Internet Society of Australia, and Ali Al Meshad from the Bahrain Internet Society – talked to the meeting about their background and experience.
APRALO Representative to ALAC
The elections for the APRALO representative to the ALAC will be held from 28 June to 5 July. The nominees are Maureen Hillyard and Fouad Bajwa.
Beijing Outcomes
Pavan spoke to responses he has feedback he has received from a survey he has conducted with the ALCs on the Beijing meeting, including steps for better communications between ALSs
Durban Meeting
Discussions in Durban will include updates and ways forward for both the rIGF in Seoul and the IGF in Bali.
Policy Issues
Olivier Crepin-LeBlond summarised the ICANN policy issues that are open for comment, including those where a penholder has been named and those that the ALAC is considering whether or not to provide a response.
NomCom Selection
Cheryl Langdon-Orr provided information about the ‘360’ process where current NomCom members will be interviewed to evaluate current NomCom leadership.
May 2013 Report
ALSs
There are requests for the decertification of two ALSs: the Internet Users Network Tokyo and ISOC Pakistan. The ALAC will vote on decertification of both.
APRALO Meeting Report – (has been separately circulated – the main items are)
- Beijing Meeting
Both the Multi-Stakeholder Forum and the Showcase events were a huge success, with attendees beyond ALAC members to include many others interested in the topics being discussed and Board members meeting ALAC and APRALO – with a huge thanks to Maureen and Rinalia (and ICANN staff)
- Finance:
Olivier (together with ALAC member Tijani Ben Jemaa) attended a briefing on the budget projects for FY14. The APRALO request for funding for a workshop at the IGF has been approved, and our request for funding to participate in the AP regional IGF is under review.
- APRALO Elections: See <https://community.icann.org/x/LJ1wAg>
- Elections for the APRALO Vice Chair will close 7 June
- The timeline for an APRALO representative to ALAC is:
- · Nomination period ends 14 June
- · Acceptance period ends 21 June
- · Elections – 28 June – 5 July
NomCom nominations are due 7 June.
APRALO held a webinar on an APRALO representative to the ALAC – what the representative is expected to do.
- Policy Issues
Olivier reviewed policy issues open for discussion, including ALAC response. APRALO members should review the issues and provide any feedback on the wiki. He particularly mentioned the ATRT2 review which is open for any and all comments and invited APRALO members to comment on this issue.
See https://community.icann.org/display/alacpolicydev/At-Large+Policy+Development+Page
February 2013 Report
NEW ALSs
We are happy to welcome the Armenian Association for the Disabled as a new member of At- Large Community – and APRALO.
APRALO Meeting Report – 26 February
Dev Anand Teelucksingh, Chair of the At-Large new gTLD Review Group
Dev outlined the purpose of the review group – to provide community input (and objections) on proposed new gTLDs. He outlined the process by which ALAC can object. All 5 RALOs must review each of the five gTLD applications/objections and advice ALAC whether it supports or rejects the Review group’s recommendations – BY 5 MARCH. See https://community.icann.org/x/soxwAg for all of the information and please get back to me with your thoughts.
ICANN FY2014 Budget– Olivier Crepin LeBlond
The ICANN finance committee will soon call for submissions on projects. For the coming year, ALAC is most likely to be seeking funding for one main event – an At-Large Summit in London in June 2014, which means it would be ‘unwise’ for ALAC or the RALOs to seek other funding.
Policy Update – Olivier Crepin LeBlond
Olivier reviewed the statements/comments etc being considered (or not) be the ALAC. See https://community.icann.org/display/alacpolicydev/At-Large+Policy+Development+Page
The one issue where there are real differences within ALAC is on the issue of closed gTLDs. The text on the policy page now includes text which sets out both viewpoints, plus comments from others. ALAC is now asking RALOs for their views on this issue – so please at least read about this issue and either comment directly on the page or let me know what your views are.
Beijing Organising Committee Meeting Report.
The Committee held its fourth meeting on 26 February. Outcomes from the meeting, in summary, are:
- Showcase: Will be an APRALO event on Monday 7 April 1700 - 1900. All ALSs in APRALO have been invited and asked to respond on their participation in the event.
- Promotion: Items to be available including pop up banner (with Dot.Asia logo) business cards, pins, pens, fans – using APRALO color red
- Capacity Building: In fact occurring as part of newcomers track, fellows meetings and session in General Assembly. Maureen finalising arrangements with Janice
- General Assembly: To include session on APRALO/ALAC session on processes and procedures by CLO
January 2013 Report
New ALS'es application
1)Armenian Association for the Disabled (pending ALAC vote)
2) ISOC Philippines (approved)
Planning for the Showcase event in Beijing
1) Working with Chinese speaking ALS'es for presentations
2) Edmon and Maureen working on logistics for the showcase meeting
3) Pavan looking to schedule lunches and coffees with the ALS'es during the Beijing meeting.
December 2012 Report:
NEW ALSs
Application from Internet Society – Advice from APRALO to ALAC is that the application be accepted.
Meeting Report – 19 December
Main items of discussion:
· Policy Issues: Olivier reviewed the policy issues outstanding. Those where ALAC will probably not comment include the GNSO PDP manual, the trade mark clearing house, and the IRTP Parts C and D. (ALAC has made comments on the issues already) ALAC will be making a statement on the issue of visas to attend ICANN meetings (arising out of the Toronto experince)We are awaiting comments on the ALAC white paper – there will be a webinar on the issue today
· WCIT update. Olivier provided an overview of WCIT – the issues under discussion, positions taken, implications. The meeting agreed this summary was both interesting and important for ALAC and that Olivier’s briefing on WCIT should be repeated in Beijing.
Items for the next meeting:
· Brainstorming on possible topics for Multi-stakeholder session. Suggestions include WCIT (OLC), outcomes of gTLDs, IDNs
Beijing Organising Committee. The Committee held its second meeting on 12 December. The subcommittees are:
· Sponsorship/promotion: Cheryl, Jack, Edmon
· Showcase: Maureen, Pavan, Edmon
· Capacity Building: Maureen
· General Assembly: Holly, Rinalia
· Local outreach: (including Youth Forum) Jack, Hong
· Multi-stakeholder: Rinalia, Holly, Jack
Discussion included:
· ICANN staff are reviewing what material on ICANN/ALAC/APRALO is available in Chinese.
· Invitations have been sent to the APRALO ALSs.
· The Showcase event should be part of the reception.
Reminder: to those attending ICANN Beijing meeting: Travel arrangements must be made ASAP is you have not already started. ICANN travel has already sent out the necessary information.
Next meeting – the week of 7 January 2013
November 2012 Report
APRALO MONTHLY REPORT: NOVEMBER 2012
NEW ALSs
Application from Internet Society – Philippines Chapter (being considered)
Meeting Report – 27 November
Main items of discussion:
- Policy Issues
The two new issues are the IRTP Part D report that has been released for comment (Alan will be drafting an initial response in the policy workspace) and the Future Directions White Paper – released by ALAC.
- Reports on BAKU IGF
Reports from the Baku IGF have been posted. See: https://community.icann.org/display/APRALO/APRALO+and+AFRALO+Activities+at+the+IGF+in+Baku+Workspace
At Baku, it was agreed that the next Regional A-P IGF will be held in Seoul
Beijing Organising Committee. The Committee held its first meeting just before the monthly APRALO meeting. The membership of the Organising Committee is
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The meeting agred on committees, including for sponsorship (including looking at promotional material), the showcase event, the general assembly, multi-stakeholder/policy, and a youth forum and possibly capacity building. Committee members to have suggested goals with some targets for the next meeting.
Regional Events
- The Pacific hosted two events relevant to APRALO members. PacINET was held in Suva from Nov.22-24. See http://www.picisoc.org for a schedule of events, and a report back on the conference.
- PasifikaNEXUS, with support from the US Department of State , held a youth camp on Internet and Internet issues, in Suva on Nov. 20-21. See youthtechcamp.brightpathfoundation.org.
October 2012 Report
APRALO MONTHLY REPORTS
OCTOBER 2012
New ALSs
Computer Society of India
New Officers (confirmed at the October meeting)
Chair:
Holly Raiche (Internet Society of Australia) to fill vacancy left by resignation of Charles Mok (term runs to 30 June 2013)
Vice chair:
Y J Park (Open Standards and Internet Association (OSIA)) to fill vacancy left by Holly Raiche. Term ends 30 June 2013
Meeting: 18 October 2012
Held in Toronto
Main items of discussion:
- Discussion of the main issues being discussed at the ICANN meeting – see below and meeting reports <https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/At-Large+Toronto+Meeting+Reports>
- Review of planned events for the IGF meeting in Baku (what is planned/who is attending) Reports on event in the next report
- Formation of an Organising Committee for the Beijing ICANN meeting to include Holly, Cheryl, Hong, Edmon, Rinalia, YJ and, from staff, Silvia
- The possibility of an APIGF in 2013
IDN Variant TLD Program. This is the October update:
The ICANN IDN Variant TLD Program is tasked with exploring the issues associated with the potential inclusion of IDN variant TLDs in the DNS root zone.
In Toronto, work in progress on 2 projects were presented by the ICANN IDN Variant TLD Program Team:
(1) Label Generation Ruleset Process for the Root - The development of a procedure to develop and maintain the Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone.
(2) User Experience with active Variants - The study of possible user experience implications of activating two or more IDN variant TLDs.
At-Large Responses to the Projects:
(1) The At-Large IDN Working Group meeting in Toronto focused on issues surrounding a preliminary report on the Label Generation Ruleset Process for the Root. Based on the discussion, a written response has been drafted (see https://community.icann.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=36212771), which will be voted upon by the ALAC and targeted for submission on 27 November 2012. 3 areas of concern were highlighted in the response: (a) Lack of policy expertise specified for the proposed panels that will help balance the need for strict security and stability conservativeness versus the support needed for acceptable IDN implementation from the users' point of view; (b) Lack of expressed accountability and review of process; and (c) Insufficient explanation of how the specific process fits into the wider processes regarding new gTLD and IDN ccTLD.
(2) A draft response to the "Interim Report Examining the User Experience Implications of Active Variant TLDs" is currently being developed for discussion with the At-Large IDN Working Group prior to ALAC consultation and vote. When ready the draft will be posted here: https://community.icann.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=37193862.
Reports from ALSs
Pacific Islands:
The Pacific continues to increase its representation at ICANN. They represented APRALO in the sessions of ALAC (Cook Islands), the GAC (Tonga) and Fellowships (Fiji and Papua New Guinea). The fifth member of our team is the Pacific ICANN rep, originally from Fiji, and based in Brisbane.
Maureen Hilyard was a penholder for the MADT which reported back to ALAC on the status of their revised meeting procedures. She also participated in ccNSO meetings as a potential liaison rep for ALAC; and has joined the FOIWG and the Organising Committee for the Beijing meeting. The Pacific team attended the ISOC meetings representing the Pacific Islands Chapter - PICISOC.
Geographic interests listed in ISO 3166-1 was submitted to the ccNSO. The ALAC statement highlighted the following: a) applicability of the Root Zone Label Generation Rules to IDN ccTLDs; b) confusing similarity assessment based on the perspective of the local IDN user; c) dispute resolution facilitation via provision of informational materials and case studies on best practices for the local actors to consider in their dispute resolution process or encouragement on the use of any neutral dispute resolution facility for IDN ccTLD string contention; and d) consideration of the needs of cross-border language communities in determining language jurisdiction.
Areas of Interest:
- Registrants Rights and Responsibilities (Holly, Cintra)
- Future Structure, Accountability and Transparency of ICANN
- Capacity Building Working Group (Sala)
- WG on Future Challenges
- IDN Policy (Edmon, Rinalia)
- New gTLDs
- Technical Issues
- WHOIS Policy (Holly)
- ALAC Subcommittee on Finance and Budget (CLO?, Holly)
- ALAC Subcommittee on Outreach
- New gTLDs Review Group
- Rules of Procedure Working Group (Maureen, Holly)
- IRT Process
- ICANN Academy Ad-Hoc Working Group
- Outreach (Pavan)
February and March 2012 Report
1) APRALO worked with the ALS'es and got a response regarding the WHOIS review. The report was generated and sent over to the ALAC.
2) A special teleconference entitled Work smarter and harder was set up and it was confirmed that: An inventory/current state of affairs of all the WGs and other groups that 'need to be populated'. There needed to be some centralized input.
3) Reach out has started for the Middle East region with Charles working hard with Olivier to get the current ALS'es to participate more and try to get more ALS'es to join the APRALO structure too.
4) APRALO got together during the Costa Rica ICANN meeting too.
5) Database to collect all events coming up in the coming months in different region is established on the Wiki. Easier for people to talk about events which are near their region and write about them.
6) Translation work in Chinese and Arabic is going to be finalized soon and will be sent out for further outreach for APRALO.
January 2012 Report
- Review of Current ALS Applications - We were asked about the Application from the Internet Society of the Armenian Chapter. I advised the ALAC via chat that the matter was still subject to due diligence and that the Application was received by APRALO on January 19, 2012. I also advised ALAC that the APRALO call would follow the ALAC call. EURALO through Oksana has also expressed their support of this application. [APRALO Chair has advised that Save is conducting the due diligence which will be then sent to us.
- Policy Forums and Developments- Status of the development of the Policies are available on the wiki and you can access each from the links provided for in the Agenda item and bookmark it. [Please feel free to interact on the wiki and paste your comments and questions on the wikis. If you feel that you would like something translated, clarified or explained we can work towards getting people who have expertise on the matter to clarify. I know Holly has organised a Whois briefing for APRALO which I strongly urge APRALO members to attend.If you would like to get involved in any of the Working Groups and are currently not actively engaged in any WGs please let us know how we can facilitate introductions in the area of interest to you.] Aside from these there are Statements which have been drafted that are also up on the Wiki and open for comments etc.
- Budget Requests- Hurrah! Fingers crossed we may get to convene APRALO General Assembly subject to approval by ICANN Finance. This will be no doubt an important first step. Gratitude goes to Charles for putting together our Budget Proposal for this and to the Finance/Budgetary Team who were on the call and advocated and pushed this through. We were informed that the budgetary requests would be categorised into either "High, Medium or Low" Priority and that the General Assembly Proposals were on the "High Priority". There were substantial discussions on resource and financial constraints and challenges with getting requests granted. there was also discussions on the General Assembly cycle etc. I expressed support for the General Assembly as we had actively submitted to the Budget Sub Committee. The issue of Road maps and strategies were brought up which is up on the wiki. I siezed the opportunity to remind the ALAC that we should also consider parallel sustainable options for outreach etc.
- At Large Outreach Working Group - The support to establish this Group was unanimous and enthusiastically received by the ALAC. I raised the issue of the Web based learning and remote learning platforms and highlighted the enormous transportation costs that are barriers and the need to maximise the use of the internet to increase outreach to compliment current Face to Face enagements such as ICANN Meetings, NOG and IGF meetings. I emphasised the RALO penetration rate in terms of the number of accredited ALS structures within the RALO and that penetration rate was below 30%. I had made submissions in the wiki as well, see: https://community.icann.org/display/Improve/Recommendation+4
- ICANN Academy - We have had good meetings to discuss this and for now it is limited to 20 hours face to face learnings. This is important Face to Face Training and the WG has been heavily involved pre-Christmas in discussions involving the training and this includes curriculum development which has been taking place on the etherpad. The Budget proposal has been submitted and factors in real costs. Cheryl advised that the ccNSO may have resource material which can be used in the development of the curriculum. I also requested ALAC Chair Olivier to clarify which specific forum within At Large would look after the web based learning and remote learning so that as a RALO we could make submissions. This is yet to be determined whether it is the At Large Outreach Working Group or ICANN Academy. Olivier has advised to initiate discussions via the mailing list to gather feedback and interactions on the matter. [I also note from the last APRALO call that there were requests made by Hong to have the curriculum placed on the wiki. We are due to have an ICANN Academy call soon and either Hong or I will raise this as Hong has joined the Group
