NPOC Trip Assessment 3 DRAFT

ICANN59: Jo’burg on the scale

Getting to be part of the 59^th public meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) with emphasize on the public forum was an opportunity to cherish, courtesy of the Non-Profit  Concern Constituency (NPOC), especially having missed out soon after at the recently concluded 4th Intersessional Meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, last February due to visa-related issues.

For those who attended the ICANN47 in Durban in 2013, the city of Johannesburg, another city in South Africa is on the scale.

Arriving in the early hours of Sunday, June 25 at the Garden Court, Sandon City, the first thing that came to mind was to visualize mentally how the crowd would look like at ICANN59, hence I have to head to the Sandton Convention Centre for registration, soon after. It took less than 10 minutes to complete, mostly if you have pre-registered, it takes much less time.

The process left one amazed as ICANN has its registration points to accommodate estimated 12 or more participants at a row.

After the registration was completed, it is now time to look at the schedules with particular interest on what programmes are there for NPOC and its related sisters in the Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group (NCSG) and Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC).

This is multistakeholder, open doors:

On Monday, June 26, it was time to grace the opening plenary session as ICANN59 doors were officially thrown up to participants from across the world and especially for yours sincerely which saw top on agenda, the Generic Name Supporting Organisation (GNSO) - Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) Outreach and Strategy Meeting under the chairmanship of Tapani Tarvainen and led in session by  NCSG Policy Committee chair, Rafik Dammak; to prepare for the day's schedule and weigh sessions by way of providing some insights on what to expect and where they are happening. His preamble captured it succinctly "today is the first official first day of the ICANN meeting or the policy forum" with first involvement of NCSG being a session as part of the GNSO, which took better part of the day as it ran between 9am till 3pm at the Ballroom 2 (GNSO).

This witnessed several updates from different working groups and meeting with the board among others, consequently he advised all to attend that session, so as to get a snapshot of several discussions and topics from the different working groups.

This also formed a ritual through the days of ICANN59 and must be commended as useful in addition to daily meetings of NPOC and affiliated committees especially the Charter Review working group among others.

This also fulfilled to a large extent the needed interactions and synergy to continue the Charter Review works online with understanding of the perception or thinking of most of the members and need for continuous collaborations.

Crocker to AFRALO:

Very early in the day 1 of ICANN59 was the hosting of of the members of the University of Johannesburg alongside the over 43 members of the At-Large Structures (ALSes) to its General Assembly by  the Africa Regional At-Large Organisation (AFRALO).

In his address to the session, the ICANN chairman, Board of Directors, Dr. Steve Crocker, explained that the development of the Internet has remained opened since its evolution began, stressing that as a long-standing member of the Internet development, described the Internet evolution as a bit complicated and complex especially for the novice.

He noted at the At-Large AFRALO Local Community Engagement held in Bill Gallagher Room, that with the ICANN community there are sets of people who daily contribute to the development of the Internet and how it works from the African region, including the AFRINIC, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group who are always trying to ensure balance. Pointing out that one of the unique aspects of the internet development from onset has remained open unlike the development of telephone. Thus, the openness, he said, has helped the Internet to evolve to the most adoptable need of the people, end-users and society at large.

Winners of Multistakeholder Ethos emerge:

Subsequently unique among others was the unveiling of the two winners of the ICANN’s 2017 Multistakeholder Ethos Awards, Japanese Hiro Hotta and Chilean Patricio Poblete at the Level 4 Foyer.

The awards launched in 2014 at ICANN50 in London, the Multistakeholder Ethos Award recognizes ICANN participants who have invested in consensus-based solutions, acknowledged the importance of ICANN’s multistakeholder model of Internet governance and contributed in a substantive way to the higher interests of ICANN’s organization and community with recipients selected annually by a panel of community members representing the various Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees.

And this year, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) community evaluation panel recognized these two long-time members of the community who have made outstanding contributions to ICANN's multistakeholder model of Internet governance. While Hiro Hotta and Patricio Poblete were selected from a list of 14 nominees as those who best demonstrate the spirit of collaboration, strongly promoting consensus and proven commitment to ICANN's multistakeholder model through decades of active participation and dedication.

The panel stated that each recipient met the award criteria in distinctive ways and recognizes them for the examples they set in supporting and encouraging ICANN's multistakeholder model in their respective regions, therefore have no reservation in awarding both.