Welcome to the At-Large Summit II

What is At-Large?

"At-Large" is the name for the community of individual Internet users who voluntarily participate in the policy development work of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the organization that coordinates the Internet’s global system of identifiers [primarily Domain Names and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses]. Today, more than 160 At-Large Structure (ALS) organizations exist throughout the world. This community selects 10 members of the 15 member committee which makes up the “At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), with the remaining 5 being appointed by the ICANN Nominating Committee.

What is the At-Large Summit?

The ICANN At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) along with the At-Large community will hold a second At-Large Summit (ATLAS II) at the June 2014 ICANN Meeting in London on the theme of “Global Internet: The User Perspective”. ATLAS II will build upon the successful activities of the At-Large community since the first At-Large Summit (ATLAS) was held alongside the ICANN Meeting in Mexico in March 2009 – an event of fundamental importance since it became the foundation stone to the involvement of many of our At-Large Structures (ALSes) in ICANN. In June 2014, the ATLAS II will welcome the representatives of over 160 ALSes around the globe to participate in its events. 

Why?

The purpose of holding the ATLAS II is fourfold:

1)     Debate on the key issues of interest for ICANN, both policy and process, and provide the opinion of the At-Large community physically present in the meeting about those issues;

2)     Strengthen the bottom up structure of the volunteer At-Large community by building capacity and awareness of At-Large policies and processes of the 160+ At-Large Structures;

3)     Further develop the At-Large Community’s capacity for engagement with all members of the ICANN community by increasing its knowledge and understanding of the key issues confronting ICANN and ICANN’s roles and responsibilities and plan for the next stage of the ALAC/At-Large community’s development;

4)     Allow ICANN to fair a key component of its bottom-up multi-stakeholder environment to the rest of the world at a time pivotal to ICANN as an Internet multi-stakeholder organization.

Where?

The location and timing for the ATLAS II will be the June 2014 ICANN Meeting scheduled for 22-26 June 2014 in London. This will be ICANN’s 50^th meeting – a milestone meeting dubbed “ICANN 50”.

The venue is the Hilton London Metropole Hotel. With enough space in the Hotel’s Conference centre, it is a great advantage to showcase the activities of the At-Large community. This will allow maximum interchange between ATLAS II participants and the ICANN community - maximum impact with all meeting participants. With the number of participants to an ICANN meeting forecast to be 1200 to 1600, the figure for ICANN 50 is likely to exceed historical figures.

In addition, the ATLAS II meetings will include sessions in which other members of the ICANN community will be invited to participate. Having the ATLAS II be in the same venue will allow for much greater participation by all members of the ICANN community in At-Large Summit activities and vice-versa.

When?

• Saturday, 21 June 2014 and Sunday, 22 June 2014: Plenary sessions and parallel workshops
• Afternoon of Monday 23 June 2014:  Policy Roundtable, At-Large Fayre and Reception
• Tuesday, 24 June and Wednesday, 25 June 2014: Working Groups and the Regional At-Large Organizations (RALOs), which are the umbrella organizations for the At-Large Structures (ALSes), hold their General Assemblies
• Thursday, 26 June 2014: the final plenary session approves a final Declaration

All ALS representatives will also be encouraged to be active participants in the work and activities at the ICANN Meeting, including other ICANN Advisory Committees and Supporting Organizations.

How are the Meetings Structured?

The Summit Schedule, listed in Appendix A, contains a mix of Plenary and Workshop Meetings on the Saturday and Sunday of the ICANN week. This is when the bulk of the At-Large Structure bottom-up input will take place.  The workshops are meant to stimulate discussion and generate a report under the shepherding of topic experts who will facilitate and stimulate the discussion.

Broad Themes of the break-out working groups are:

1. The future of multistakeholderism

2. The globalization of ICANN

3. Global Internet: The User Perspective

4. ICANN Transparency and Accountability

5. At-Large Community Engagement in ICANN

These themes have been chosen by the ATLAS II Organising Committee based on the preferences of At-Large Structures and the Events Organising Committee, as collected from an At-Large-wide survey.

A core group of aggregators will produce an At-Large Statement collating the reports from all working groups. This Statement will be ratified by the At-Large Advisory Committee and be presented to the ICANN Board. For the first time ever, It will represent the work of 160 At-Large Structures from around the world.

The  “At-Large Fayre”?

A vital part of any volunteer organization is the recognition of the individuals making up that community.

The At-Large Fayre, an expanded version of the At-Large Showcase that has been held at every ICANN Meeting since 2010, is a celebration.

The At-Large Fayre is usually structured around a short set of keynote speeches from the ICANN CEO, the ICANN Chair and an invited prestigious guest. Over the years, keynote speeches have been given by Vint Cerf (Google), Patrick Ryan (Google), Philip Grabensee (Afilias), Prof. Nii Quaynor (Ghana), Prof. Ang Peng Hwa (National Technical University of Singapore), Byron Holland (Canadian Internet Registration Authority) and many more. 

During the ATLAS II, a key focus of the Fayre will be an exhibition of the fabulous work of our At-Large Structures, some of which is literally a world away from the work their volunteer representatives perform at ICANN. This is essentially a small window of opportunity into ICANN opening its skylight and taking its telescope to look outside its walls and see what volunteers do in communities worldwide to promote an open Internet. The At-Large Fayre really is a celebration of diversity, a celebration of how the world’s people, how different they may be back home, can really come together and work on common issues related to the Internet. There is a certain magic to this part of the event.

All of the ALS activities are made possible thanks to the Internet - and an open Internet is made possible, in part, to the At-Large community being active within ICANN and the Internet eco-system.

Our ALSes are incredibly diverse. As a mix of for and not for profit organizations, some ALSes bring computing facilities and Internet services to deprived communities; some support computer literacy programs in developing countries; some bring the Internet to life for senior citizens, thus bridging the digital divide. From supporting the multi-stakeholder model in very challenging political environments, to advising governments on ICT matters; from supporting access to the Internet by disabled people to supporting means for effective community engagement, the At-Large community members work not only on ICANN-related issues but also for the openness of the Internet. The At-Large community is active on a Local, National, Regional and Global level, extending its influence, thought leadership and decision making power worldwide – within administrations; within corporations; within the ranks of decision makers.

The main requirement for an organization to become an At-Large Structure is to have a direct interaction with Internet End Users – in order to act as a bi-directional channel for the flow of information to/from these end users relating to ICANN’s development.

The At-Large Summit at ICANN London 2014 will be both similar and different: similar by the incredible diversity of people coming to join us in person in the room; different by the sheer magnitude of the gathering. Over 160 people from around the world; 5 continents; 72 countries: this is tomorrow’s world meeting face-to-face, enabled by the Internet - All in the middle of an ICANN meeting grouping over 1 500 people.

A historical moment

At this historical moment, a pivotal moment in the future of the Internet, the future of democracy and by extension the future of the world’s peoples, the ATLAS II is a hitherto unequalled opportunity to show the ability of the multi-stakeholder model to actively support, develop, and provide guidance to govern the Internet, independently of geography, politics, race or religion. The ATLAS II is all about people – a direct reflection that the Internet is all about people. 

Call to Action

This Second At-Large Summit (ATLAS II) is historical in a year that is likely to be decisive about the Future of the Internet model. We hope you will be able to join us celebrating its uniqueness.