Dear Milton,<br><br>I did not have time to respond immediately to the concerns you expressed in response to my earlier posting. And certainly did not want it to "freeze people in place" as a result :-)<br><br>I may have mis-expressed myself or led you to read too much in what I tried to explain. Parminder I think gave some of the elements of answer. This is not a radically new process, just an attempt at improving things progressively. <br>
<br>Ginger is doing it exactly the way it is intended and the IGC is likely to provide a very useful contribution by discussing threads.<br><br>I'll try to clarify a bit here. Because I can assure you that the implicit message is not the one you summarize in your mail below. And this is not an attempt at power grab by the MAG members (should go without saying but always better to say it :-).<br>
<br>The fundamental starting points were :<br><ul><li>we are starting this process earlier this year than before : this is good and gives some time to work more progressively</li><li>preserving the capacity of participants to propose and organize workshops on their topics of interest in a relatively unconstrained manner is a critical element of the IGF : this bottom-up Agenda-setting is probably one of the most precious features of this innovative experiment (it is in my view anyway)</li>
<li>at the same time, there is broad consensus on the desire to have fewer events running in parallel, because people are torn and forced to make difficult choices among things that interest them given the short duration of the meeting <br>
</li><li>finally, some issues have probably reached a point of "ripeness" where it is useful to avoid having several workshops on the same theme, organized by different actors pushing only their own agenda, and to try and encourage more direct interaction to move the issue forward; isn't it Hamadoun Touré who likes to say : "from friction comes light" and I think I remember you are often the one advocating "real debate" to sort out positions :-) </li>
</ul><br>That is the starting point. Hence the proposal to call for expressions of interest on themes rather than full-fledged workshop proposals at that stage (they will naturally come later). It has the benefit of sensing the level of interest on various themes but also allows people who do not intend to organize a workshop themselves to indicate that they think a specific topic should be addressed. This is what I did last year by putting an early placeholder in favor of a workshop on "dimensions of cybersecurity" while indicating that I did not intend to organize it myself. <br>
<br>Furthermore, it allows a preliminary debate on the formulation of workshop titles. The discussion on this list on the theme "role of governments in IG" is a perfect example. Instead of having two workshops in parallel, one organized by governments to explain whay they should have more say and the other one by the IGC to explain why CS should have more say, wouldn't it be better to have a single one on the "role of the different stakeholders" ? <br>
<br>The IGF is a unique space for dialogue (and/or debate) among people with different viewpoints. It should not result in small groups of like-minded people agreeing among themselves in parallel rooms. The "silo" effect is as bad in IGF as it is in ICANN. Rather than forcing people into "MAG-defined groups", it is just an attempt at facilitating early interaction among people with common issues of interest or concern. And yes, they may have "conflicting views or interests"; but isn't this what the IGF should be about too ?<br>
<br>However, this should obviously not limit the possibility for a group of like-minded people who believe a certain angle on a given issue should be given more visibility to gather at the IGF and present their viewpoint to the community. Flexibility and diversity is key here and the guiding principle in chosing formats and composition of workshops should be what kind of outcomes can be expected. <br>
<br>All this is about balance and quality of outcomes. The IGF is progressively structuring and this is only a small step to help it produce better results. <br><br>In a nutshell, the role of the MAG will not be - and should not be - the one you fear. The MAG is and should remain a facilitator. Ideally, the result of this first call will provide a list of themes and interested actors, allowing proponents to see who else is interested in a given issue, and facilitating them getting together. It is also expected to provide a diversity of formulations for the various issues and choosing the proper formulation is often a first step towards better mutual understanding. <br>
<br>I hope this alleviates somewhat your concerns. But I thank you nonetheless for expressing them : it is a good reminder that the best intentions can : 1) be mis-interpreted if they are not correctly explained and 2) present dangers not anticipated if a new procedure is mis-used. A useful cautionary call. <br>
<br>Sincere thanks to Ginger for her efforts to create thematic threads that help structure discussion. <br><br>Hope this helps.<br><br>Best<br><br>Bertrand<br> <br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 3:25 PM, Milton L Mueller <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mueller@syr.edu">mueller@syr.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div vlink="purple" link="blue" lang="ES">
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial">Ginger, you're doing a great job of keeping track of the
workshop discussions and of compiling the responses. Thanks for that.
</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial">My problem at this stage is that I (and, I suspect, many
others) are basically frozen in place by Bertrand's suggestion (statement?) that
the method of workshop planning and development will be completely different
this year. I am surprised that there has been no response to my expressed
concerns about this, and until there is some clarification or discussion of
those basic parameters, I think it is unwise to invest time in developing
workshops. Indeed, I am not even sure I would plan to attend the IGF if
certain worst-case scenarios play out. </font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial">We have been told, in effect, "don't develop a detailed,
coherent program for a workshop and don't line up any people, because whatever
idea you have is going to be treated as a general "theme" and then
</font></span><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial">thrown into a huge pot and </font></span><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial">re-sorted into
MAG-defined groups." And those groups may be a bunch of people who hardly know
each other with different, sometimes conflicting agendas. If I am not correctly
apprehending the meaning of those changes please correct me. In the
meantime, I await an appropriate response. </font></span></div>
<p><font size="2">Milton Mueller<br>Professor, Syracuse University School of
Information Studies<br>XS4All Professor, Delft University of
Technology<br>------------------------------<br>Internet Governance
Project:<br><a href="http://internetgovernance.org/" target="_blank">http://internetgovernance.org</a><br></font></p>
<div> </div><br>
<blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px;">
<div dir="ltr" align="left" lang="en-us">
<hr>
<font size="2" face="Tahoma"><b>From:</b> Ginger Paque [mailto:<a href="mailto:gpaque@gmail.com" target="_blank">gpaque@gmail.com</a>]
<br><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, March 22, 2009 2:21 PM<br><b>To:</b>
<a href="mailto:governance@lists.cpsr.org" target="_blank">governance@lists.cpsr.org</a><br><b>Subject:</b> [governance] Workshop on Remote
Participation<br></font><br></div><div><div></div><div class="h5">
<div></div>
<div dir="rtl">
<p dir="ltr"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-US">Please post your interest and ideas
concerning this workshop on this thread.</span></font></p>
<p dir="ltr"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-US"> </span></font></p>
<p dir="ltr"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="EN-US">Remote Participation from both the policy
(inclusion) and application (practical) perspectives
(Ginger)</span></font><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"></span></font></p>
<p dir="ltr"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"> </span></font></p>
<p dir="ltr"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">Ginger</span></font><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt;" lang="EN-US"> </span></font><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"></span></font></p>
<p dir="ltr"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">Ms. Virginia (Ginger)
Paque</span></font></p>
<p dir="ltr"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">DiploFoundation</span></font><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US">Coordinator IGCBP
09</span></font></p>
<p dir="ltr"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt;" lang="EN-US"> </span></font><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"></span></font></p>
<p dir="ltr"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.diplomacy.edu/ig" target="_blank">www.diplomacy.edu/ig</a></span></font></p>
<p dir="ltr"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"><a href="mailto:VirginiaP@diplomacy.edu" target="_blank">VirginiaP@diplomacy.edu</a></span></font><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-US"></span></font></p>
<p dir="ltr"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 12pt;" lang="EN-US"> </span></font></p></div></div></div></blockquote></div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>____________________<br>Bertrand de La Chapelle<br>Délégué Spécial pour la Société de l'Information / Special Envoy for the Information Society<br>Ministère des Affaires Etrangères et Européennes/ French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs<br>
Tel : +33 (0)6 11 88 33 32<br><br>"Le plus beau métier des hommes, c'est d'unir les hommes" Antoine de Saint Exupéry<br>("there is no greater mission for humans than uniting humans")<br>