NPOC Toolkit & Starters Guide

Welcome to the NPOC Toolkit, this will guide you through the basic concepts and links to make your way into the community. As we are aware that the landscape within NPOC and ICANN could be difficult to navigate at the beginning, in this Guide you will find general information about NPOC and the way the Constituency works. As we want to help you to be an active member of the community, you will read about the policy development process and how to participate in it. Also, opportunities and useful resources are listed. 

 

Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any doubts or want to start sharing your thoughts and work together: npoc@xxxxxxx.org

Summary:

Section 1: About NPOC

What does NPOC stand for?

What is NPOC about?

What are the pros of being part of NPOC?

Where is the NPOC inside ICANN?

NPOC in the GNSO structure

What is the ExCom of NPOC?

Which are NPOC´s election procedures?

Section 2: How to do work in NPOC

How to participate in NPOC´s work?

Why participating in the policy development process is important?

How do NPOC, and it’s members, develop policy inside the GNSO?

What are the active Working Groups?

How to join a Working Group?

What are my duties if I join a Working Group?

How much time must I commit?

What is and how to make a Public Comment?

Being part of ExCom Committees

Section 3: Information about ICANN meetings and Opportunities

ICANN Public Meeting

NPOC Mentorship Program

ICANN Fellowship Program

ICANN NextGen

Section 4: Useful resources

NPOC communication channels

ICANN communication channels

ICANN resources

Glossary

Acronyms guide

 

Section 1: About NPOC

 

What does NPOC stand for?

Not-for-Profit Operational Concerns Constituency.

 

What is NPOC about?

NPOC brings together Not-for-profits and non-governmental organizations to participate as a constituency of their own in the development of generic top-level domain names. The “operational” part of NPOC’s name gives a hint: NPOC is about how Not-for-profits use the Domain Name System (DNS) to operate their organization, how they use domain names to achieve their goals. NPOC allows Not-for-profits to defend their interest in the DNS policy development process.

 

 

What are the pros of being part of NPOC?

The Domain Name System (DNS) is part of the core and few protocols that allow the Internet to exist in the way we know it today. But DNS is not just a very powerful technical tool, it is also a major factor on how we as humans and society interact with the Internet. Having a say in the process of how the Internet evolves is crucial to ensure that NGOs can achieve their missions, regardless of what that mission is. On the other hand, being part of NPOC is being part of an international community of Not-for-profits, which also bring a fantastic opportunity to communicate, share, network and find synergies, common causes and much more.

 

Where is the NPOC inside the ICANN structure?

Where is the NPOC inside the ICANN structure?

NPOC is part of the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Groups (NCSG) which represents the interests and concerns of non-commercials users and non-for-profit organizations.

NCSG´s has two different Constituencies inside its structure, like sub-groups, with their mission and scope. One of them is NPOC, and the other is the Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC). While NPOC aims to represent the concerns of not-for-profit and non-governmental organizations who have an Internet domain registered, NCUC seeks to protect and support non-commercial communication and activity on the Internet, including rights such as freedom of expression and privacy.

Since its objectives are different, NGOs can be part of both constituencies, as long as they are NCSG members.

 

Graphic:

 

 

 

NPOC in the GNSO structure

To understand in depth the place of NPOC inside ICANN´s structure, we need to go a step further.

 We said that NPOC -and NCUC- are part of the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Groups (NCSG) which -and here is when it gets complex- is part of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO).

 The Generic Names Supporting Organization debates and recommends policies for generic Top-Level Domains (like .com, .org, .ngo .legal .berlin .google, etc.). The GNSO strives to keep gTLDs operating in a fair, orderly fashion across one global Internet while promoting innovation and competition. It works in a way that the debates are open, and the recommendations are achieved by consensus of its diverse community, always in an open and bottom-up manner, meaning that is always the community which decides what is discussed and what conclusion arrives to.

Sample GNSO issues: When you register a domain name, what services must the registrar provide? If you forget to renew your domain name, and it expires, can you get it back? What happens if someone registers a domain name that is confusingly similar to yours? Resources posted here will help you learn more about the GNSO and its policy development process.

 In order to have their work done, The Generic Names Supporting Organization is divided into two Houses, each of them represents the interest of their members.

The Contracted Parties House (CHP): integrate by the registration industry. Registries (they operate the databases of a top level domain, like the Public Interest Registry, that operates .ngo and .org) and Registrars (usually who sells domain names, like Go Daddy that then sells .ngo and .org along with others like .com and .legal) – which sign a contract with ICANN.

The Non-Contracted Parties House (NCPH): integrate for those who not sign contracts directly with ICANN, but they have a mission and particular interests inside the community, such noncommercial and commercial users of gTLDs (Generic Top Level Domains, like we mentioned before: .com  .org .google).

 NPOC, as you can deduce, is part of the Non-Contracted Parties House. As a result, NPOC´s place at GNSO structure looks like this:

 

Graphic:

 

 

NCA are Nom-Com Appointees are designated by the Nom-Com. For more information on some of this acronyms follow the links:

ALAC: At-large Community

ccNSO: Country Code Names Support Organization

ISP CP: Internet Service Provider

 Note that NPOC members play a vital part in the GNSO’s policymaking process by voting for representatives to the GNSO Council through the NCSG and Working Group members and other positions in ICANN.

 Finally, it is important to mention that the GNSO shares ICANN with other support organizations, Advisory Committees, and other bodies. For instance, the Government Advisory Committee (GAC), and all of them are under the Board of Directors, which are ultimately who legally and formally implements the policy that the GNSO creates after reviewing it.

 

What is the ExCom of NPOC?

It’s the Executive Committee that help the Constituency to do it’s work by organizing the members and managing the administrative issues, like setting calls, meetings, event, membership database, communications, elections and work coordinations inside and outside NPOC with other ICANN bodies. To do that, the ExCom has different Committees, like the Membership Committee that manages the Membership issues by, among other task, reviewing new membership applications. Each Committee has it’s own mission and structures, but all of them have a chair. All committees chairs, including the overall ExCom Chair, Vice-chair and Secretariat are chosen by the NPOC members in an open and transparent election. The ExCom is formed by voluntary and elected NPOC members.

It is not the ExCom duty to develop Policy itself, but to create the best working space possible and handle administrative requirements for the members to develop policy. Since ExComs are members, they might as well work on policy. NPOC has no specific duty in recruiting members nor make the current membership to act. The constituency depends on the individual action of each members, said that, creating a fluent, open, and collaborative group dynamic between members is part of the managerial concerns of the ExCom, and is in the best ultimate interest of all members. As well, as anybody that cluster a group, the more the merrier, the health of the group can be measured by the quality and quantity of work that their members do, as well as their diversity and level of engagement. Improving this is part of the ExCom best practice

In order to understand each position inside the ExCom, here there is a description of them:

            Chair, Vice-chair, Secretariat: The Chair leads the ExCom and has several administratives duty towards the responsibilities and needs that the constituency has. The vice chair assist him in this duty. The Secretariat is there as a nexus with other Excom members and assists every chair and vice chair of the ExCom. It is useful to note that ICANN Staff also provides a Secretary that help the ExCom greatly on administrative things that involves somehow ICANN resources.

Policy Chair: It is his/her duty to organize, keep track and improve the work done by NPOC members.

            Communication Chair: It is the official voice of the constituency, handling emails from the ExCom to the members list, creating and managing web, social media and other content.

             Affiliate  Chair: Deals with the elections and help the Secretariat ,and is in charge of increase newcomers and help member to develop themselves inside NPOC. To this extent, it is in charge of the Onboarding and mentorship program. It also deals with Outreach.

            Note that for more information you could read the Charter, provision 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0, where each Committee is explained further.

 

 

Which are NPOC´s election procedures?

The election of NPOC ExCom takes places once a year in a transparent way  The election process, defined in the Charter in provision 8.0, can be organized in five moments:

1- Information about the timeline elections:  Provided by the Membership Committee, this information must be publish at the email list and at the website at least 60 days before of the upcoming election

2- Nominations for positions: eligible candidates must request formal nomination from the Membership Committee by submitting a completed Request for Nomination form within fifteen (15) calendar days of the official Notice of Election post.

3- Formal acceptance of candidates: after review the Request for Nomination the Membership Committee must notify candidates of formal acceptance of their nominations.

4- Open elections and voting process: actives members are eligible for voting. The vote mechanism will be either via email or online as determined by the Executive Committee. Once the elections if open, actives members have  fifteen (15) calendar days to emit their vote.

5- Elections results announcement: at the close of the voting period, the ExCom will review all vote and announce the selection candidates. Note that select candidates will be elected for one-year terms, but they can be re-elected taking into account that they can not serve for more than five (5) years in any ten (10) year period on a particular committee.

 

Section 2: How to do work in NPOC

 

How to participate in NPOC´s work?

Since NPOC is part of the GNSO, the main work you can do is to participate in the process for developing and reviewing policy for generic top-level domain. You can do this by participating in the discussion email list, doing question and replying to others, doing public comments when called upon or be part of working groups as voting members or observers. NPOC also needs people to help maintain the constituency and do administrative work, mainly handling the membership base, doing policy work coordination, preparing the calls and meeting or doing outreach and inreach to new Not-for-profit that could be interested to join NPOC.

 

Why participating in the policy development process is important?

The Domain Name System is the entrance gate for humans to the Internet. For computers what matters are IP Addresses. Looking after the rules that reign the DNS and shape the future of the Internet is key to having an open and universal Internet that allows everyone to be connected. Being part of the policy developing process is having a say in the DNA of the Internet. The risk of not being there is that without that voice, internet might develop ignoring it and eventually letting it out or hurting it. As the Internet is build in a multistakeholder approach, Not-for-profit are as vulnerable as businesses, users or governments to the development of the Internet.

 

How do NPOC, and its members, develop policy inside the GNSO?

The GNSO develops its policy through a Policy Development Process (PDP). To summarize, the process starts with an issue report, on which a Working Groups (WG) is formed, once the working group has a final report then it goes to the Board for approval. In the process, there are several stages for public comments. Members of NPOC, like many other people inside and outside ICANN, can participate in the PDP process depending on the stage and kind of process, since not every PDP is the same. For instance, you can find Working Groups where the subject at the matter is much broader than just generic top-level domains, so Cross Community Working Groups are formed (CC-WG). In the same spirit, it is important to understand that each community inside ICANN may have its way of working and creating groups, so it is important to be aware of that diversity. For more information, you can go here.

What are the active Working Groups?

As we said before, Working Groups are aimed to address different policies regarding the DNS. All of them are composed of interested community volunteers with various types of interests and expertise. As their members are geographically dispersed around different time zones, note that most working groups have their work done by teleconferences and online resources two to four times per month.

 

 

How to join a Working Group?

After you check the actives Working Groups and you choose one you are interested in, you need to send an email to the GNSO secretariat expressing your interest in joining the group.

Note that if you are new to the community, it is generally easiest to join a working group as it is forming as you will be able to follow the process from the beginning. However, if you are interested in joining a working groups that it is already in progress, you could find all the information available of each working groups, like transcriptions of past meetings and the scheduled, charter and members list in in order to help you catch up with the work.

After that, you will be asked to complete a Statement of Interest (SOI) form, which has the aim of disclosing general information about your interests that might affect how your participation in the working groups. Also, you will be able to see other people SOI in order to understand what factor influence their viewpoint.

If you want to follow a the discussion, but for different reasons you cannot become an active member, you can join a working group as an observer. Being an observer means that you will be added to the discussion mailing list and you will be able to follow the conversation, but you cannot participate in the deliberations.

Note that You can change your status from being an observer to a member at any time; but if you become a member, you will need to fill out the Statement of Internet (SOI) form.

 

What are my duties if a join a Working Group?

In addition to follow the discussion, you may be asked to assist in specific tasks such as researching an issue, managing a survey, or drafting a report. Examples of member responsibilities include, always voluntarily taken:

Develop and draft working-group documents,

Contribute ideas and knowledge to working group discussions,

Act as liaisons between the Working Group and their respective stakeholder groups or constituencies,

Ensure that stakeholder group or constituency statements are developed in an informed and timely way,

Actively and constructively participate in the consensus decision making process

 

How much time must I commit?

Each Working Group has its own schedule and deadlines so there is not a unique answer to this question. While some of them work for more than a year, other work only for a couple or month or even weeks. In addition, some of them meet once a week for teleconferences and others once every other week. Even though no one can force you to take on more work than you choose to, Working Groups address tough issues and require a high level of collaboration. The “Call for Volunteers” announcement will usually indicate the scope of expected service, so read it carefully!

 

What is and how to make a Public Comment?

Public comments are another way of contribution to ICANN work as you are able to expose you position about a specific issue or you can respond to other members comments. Calls for public comments are open for different purposes like operational matters regarding ICANN or as part of a working group process. 

To find out the past, present and future Public Comments so you can read and participate them if they are still open in the The Public Comments page on the ICANN website. You can also  will  find instructions on how to do it there. But don't worry, it’s a very easy process.

Note that you can respond to any comment in your personal capacity. However, in order for the comment to be endorsed as the position of NPOC, the NCSG or other groups, you must first go to their approval process to do so, usually consensus is demanded at some degree.

 

Being part of ExCom Committees

In order to have its work done, NPOC also needs members to contribute to maintain the constituency. As we explain in the previous section, NPOC has a Executive Committee in charge of leading. Each Committee - Policy, Membership and Communication- is integrated by other members who assist the Committee Chair in her/his duties. Being an active participant of one of this Committees is a great opportunity to members not only to help the correct development of NPOC, but also it is a valuable chance to learn from current leaders about NPOC works in order to apply for an ExCom position in the near future.

 

Section 3: ICANN meetings and Opportunities

 

ICANN Meeting Participation

ICANN meetings offer the best opportunity for face-to-face discussions and airing of opinions among knowledgeable people dedicated to the continued stable and secure operation of the Internet through a variety of topical sessions, working groups, and open forums.

ICANN meetings are held three times each year in different regions of the globe to enable attendees from around the world to participate in person in order to contribute to the development and implementation of Internet policies. You can check the meetings calendar and see when and where they are taking place.

ICANN meetings are free and have three formats -A, B and C- according to their meeting strategy. Each meeting differ in durations and agenda:

Meeting A: it's the first meeting of the annual cycle and has a six days duration.

Meeting B: it has a four days duration and it is focused on policy work and outreach. During this meeting, there aren't welcome ceremony, public forum or public board meeting as in meetings A and C.

Meeting C: it has a seven days duration and it is focus on showcasing ICANN’s work to a broader global audience.

One meeting each year -A or C- is also the organization's annual general meeting, during which new Board members take their seats.

The primary language for ICANN meetings is English, but translation, scribing and interpretation into other languages is available for high-demand sessions. Remote participation is offered using several tools such as streaming live audio and video, chatrooms, and online question boxes and it's available for most sessions.

All meetings are free to attend, but registration is required for both, onsite and remote participants. Detailed logistics and information about meeting venue, registration, and remote participation can be found at the dedicated website created for each meeting.

 

 

ICANN offers travel assistance to some members of the community. You can find in the next section information about different programs that bring the opportunity to attend to the meetings.

 

Opportunities for NPOC´s and ICANN´s community

Even though it is possible to do most part of the work during the year by participating on the activities listed before (working groups, public comments, calls), we are aware of the importance to attend some of the meetings in order to be able to grasp better ICANN´s complete ecosystem and to interact face to face with colleagues from all over the world. Therefore, there are some opportunities provided for NPOC’s members and also others aimed to engage community members in general.

 

Here we list some of them for you:

 

NPOC Mentorship Program

NPOC Mentorship Program present two different programs for newcomers, the “Newcomer and Policy Update Call”, which presents the policy issues being debated in the community once every three months and also works as an open space for newcomer to introduce themselves, ask questions and bring other concerns to the debate. And the Mentorship itself, where each ExCom Member have the duty to mentor at least one NPOC Member at the time, they can be more if the mentor agrees. Other NPOC leaders can become Mentors at will, and with enough cause a ExCom can be waived on his mentorship duties. To be part of the Mentorship you have to address the NPOC Membership Chair stating your interest in the program. Mentors have their own unique way to mentor and you may be assigned or changed to one or another depending on the expertise, region, culture, gender, age or other matter that may help in the mentorship experience. Do note that this program is experimental and has not been launched just yet. [Other NPOC program are currently being reviewed as well]

 

 

ICANN Fellowship Program

ICANN Fellowships Program seeks to facilitate the understanding of ICANN ecosystem by providing participants with a well-design training during an ICANN meeting and by giving them opportunities to network with ICANN Community and Staff. The program is intended for individuals currently living in underserved and underrepresented communities around the world and for those who represent diversity of gender, sector, region, experience, and expertise, and/or have established financial need.

During the meeting, fellows are required to attend to mandatory sessions of the program and to actively participate in the meeting. They are are expected to engage with the ICANN Fellowship office, Program Alumni, Newcomer Coaches and ICANN´s community in general.

In addition, participants are able to be chosen for another meeting as returning fellows. In order to accomplish that, they have to apply to another fellowship call and also provided documented support from ICANN community leaders and/or Staff of their engagement in the ICANN ecosystem after their previous experience. Some Fellowship Alumni have become great ICANN leaders, from Board Members and High Level ICANN Staff to GNSO and ccNSO Councilors and GAC Chairs, among others.

ICANN provides a grant of support that covers the cost of economy class airfare, hotel and a stipend.

 

ICANN NextGen

NextGen@ICANN is a program for people between the aged of 18 and 30 years which aims to encouraged youngsters to taking a part in the future growth of global Internet policy. Selected applicants attend to an ICANN meeting and during that time are taught about ICANN´s work and their interact with different community members and with the NextGen@ICANN group. In addition, they are request to present a 5-10 minute project during the meeting.

ICANN provides a grant of support that covers the cost of economy class airfare, hotel and a stipend. Note that in order to be able to apply for the program, applicants must be living and studying in the region of the respective ICANN meeting - for example, if the meeting is in London, applicants must live in Europe.

As a second stage, individuals who have successfully completed the NextGen@ICANN experience can apply for the role of Ambassador, which means that they become a mentor for new NextGen members by help them to understand ICANN community during the current meeting. The aim of this program is to continue engaging previous NextGeners in the ICANN ecosystem and, for that reason, selected participants should demonstrate that the are actives in the Internet Governance landscape in their regions or at the ICANN global work. For this edition, preference is given to those living in the same region as the meeting is being held, but exceptions can be made.

 

 

Section 6: Useful resources

 

NPOC communication channels

NPOC website (www.npoc.org): At NPOC´s webiste you could find general information about the Constituency, such as information about membership, elections and Committees. [Website and domain name under full review, they will be changed]

NPOC Twitter account: @NPOC_ICANN: Here you can follow the latest new about NPOC, information about following meetings and outreach events.

            Interview to Martin Silva, NPOC ViceChair, 2016-2017. Martin explains NPOC missions and he shares some impressions about policy working - (running time: 06.13)

 

ICANN communication channels

            ICANN website (icann.org): at ICANN´s official website you will find all sort of information from latest news and announcements to information about policy and public comments.

            ICANN in social media:

Twitter: @ICANN - official account with general information. There are also accounts in different languages: ICANN_es (Spanish), ICANN_pt (Portuguese), ICANN_fr (French).

On Twitter you could also follow ICANN President and CEO: @icann_president

 

Facebook: you could read about ICANN latest news in your timeline and share it with your friends:  https://www.facebook.com/icannorg

 

YouTube: ICANNs YouTube Channel provides you with the latest video content that ICANN has created and may include content covering any of the topics under ICANN's purview. You could find interactive videos about a topic and also interviews to community members: https://www.youtube.com/user/ICANNnews

 

ICANN resources

ICANN Learn: is a free and open online learning platform for the global Internet community. You could take different courses about ICANN´s ecosystem and the Internet Governance ecosystem. http://learn.icann.org/

 

ICANNWiki: ICANNWiki is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting the Internet community's collaborative development of wiki articles on ICANN and Internet Governance-related topics. The wiki provides neutral, third-party information for ICANN meeting attendees and Internet citizens at large. The project is independent of ICANN bot it has become in a good source of information for the community. During meetings, you have the chance to have you own caricature done: https://icannwiki.org

 

ICANN Beginner's Guides: are booklets intended to help newcomers to a topic quickly grasp the basics. These Guides help de-mystify some of the complexity within ICANN's technical coordination and policy-making mission. You will find guides about participation in ICANN, about the IANA functions, about Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and about domain names in general. The documents are available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arab, Russian, Turkish, and Chinese. You can find them here.

 

Acronyms

Inside ICANN works, there are many - acronyms commonly used by its community. At the beginning, you might feel dizzy about them. This Acro­nym Guide spells out some of the most frequently used terms in order to help you familiarized with them. You can find a very useful list (just in case, we put it already at the end of this document): https://gnso.icann.org/en/acronyms.html