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<p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in">Dear All,<br>
<br>
Let me provide some
"off the record" reflections on my recent NomCom
experiences. These are my recollections, and should an Appeals
Committee be appointed, I'll check emails to verify the details
and
cooperate in any way necessary. But my hope in preparing this is
that
the activation of the Appeals Committee will be found unnecessary,
and that we can focus on more productive efforts such as the <a
href="http://www.igcaucus.org/digressit/archives/34">Human
Rights on the Internet document</a>.<br>
<br>
For background, I've been
on IGC since shortly after its inception, read thousands of
emails, and responded perhaps a hundred or so times over
the years. But I've thought of myself as a bit of a lurker when
compared to the many who are more fully engaged. Feeling a tad
guilty, when calls for NomCom volunteers have arisen, I've
submitted
my name, albeit on the second "come on guys" call from the
coordinator. Once before my name was picked, for an Appeals
Committee. I never heard a word from that experience other than an
eventual “Thank you for your participation” as there were no
appeals.
<br>
<br>
Prior to this IGC NomCom, my experience with nominating
committees was limited to a Parents Association at my children's
grade school. It was a newly formed Association and with the
expiration of my term as the initial co-president, I needed to
fill
several seats - President, Vic-President, Treasurer, and
Secretary.
We'd started the Association two years prior and filling those
seats
required a half hour of pleading with the 50 or so parents at the
general meeting before several arose to take on the
responsibilities.
Quite different for the recent NomCom.<br>
<br>
In this instance I was
selected as a reserve in June 2011, and advanced to
the NomCom in July when some those picked declined the
appointment. I'd
expected it to be a learning experience, which it was and
continues
to be. <br>
<br>
Early on there was a note from the chair to the effect
that, as activities at the MAG were in some disarray, “Let's wait
until we're needed.” I acquiesced and awaited further direction.
That came on January 3 with the following from Izumi:</p>
<pre class="western" style="margin-left: 0.79in; margin-right: 0.79in">Dear Jeremy and all,
Dear respected members of NomCom of the Civil Society Internet Governance Forum:
Antonio Medina Gómez , Carlos Watson, Jacqueline Morris, Julián
Casasbuenas G., Shaila Mistry and Thomas Lowenhaupt.
You are the very important part of the CS IGC.
In December, the UN Under Secretary in charge of IGF called for the
formation of the MAG and invited the submission for the nomination...</pre>
<p>
A day later Jacqueline sent a draft "call for nominations"
letter to which I submitted comments. Several days later she sent
it
out incorporating the recommended changes. </p>
<p>Over the first week or so I made several inquiries of the
chair regarding policy and process and received some response. As
has now become apparent, for
unknown reasons Jacqueline became increasingly unable to perform
the duties for
which she had volunteered. </p>
<p>Her inability only became apparent as we approached the deadline
for submission of the names. On January 25 Jacqueline forwarded to
the NomCom members all the nominations she had received. Effort
was
put to initiate a conversation about the nominees including a
Doodle (an
organizing tool doodle.com) and a suggested list of possible
nominees. With little activity on the list, I submitted to the
NomCom
a group of candidate names that I thought were qualified and
representative. </p>
<p>Jacqueline's ability to participate diminished further and as the
deadline approach (I presume) she gathered and reviewed the
information available to her and met her commitment to the IGC by
submitting the names of candidates, all of which I believed met
the selection criteria and would represent the IGC well at MAG. </p>
<p>Shortly thereafter Jacqueline totally dropped out of the picture
and, with a little time on my hands, I volunteered to put a final
NomCom report together. (I have not heard what precluded
Jacqueline's
participation, but one January email mentioned health troubles.)</p>
<p>After submitting the NomCom report the missing APC nominations
came to light. Also, an extension of the submission deadline by
IGF
provided a possible 10 days additional for review. So, with the
surfacing of the APC nominations and sparks beginning to fly, the
active members of the NomCom sought a resolution by using the IGF
extension as additional review time.</p>
<p>At first we thought we would be able to reopen the process and
review the APC nominees, and we thought we'd allow others to
submit
applications as well. </p>
<p>At some point it seems the APC lost faith in our ability
to resolve the situation (understandably) and submitted their
nominees directly. At that point we decided to just go with the
original nominees, and to suggest that the IGC support the also
qualified APC
nominees. We realized that this passed on more latitude to IGF
decision makers than we would like, but it seemed the most
acceptable option. As well, we made some preliminary
recommendations on
avoiding a repetition. </p>
<p>To my knowledge the process faltered due to a
convergence of timing, process, health, and knowledge/experience
issues. I doubt they would recur, but the recommendations we made
might be a
first step in taking a look at the situation.</p>
<p>This "Further Thoughts" was written with extreme reluctance as
I'm certain Jacqueline
entered this effort with all good intents. Things fell apart and
I'm
certain there's no one more sorry than she. (I wish here well.) I
started out saying this
was “off the record” as I wish there was a more private, humane
way to review what has happened. But apparently there's not. <br>
</p>
<p>I think a review of process rather than an appeal is appropriate.
But if an Appeal is desired, I will help out, as I'm sure will the
other committee members. <br>
</p>
<p>However, I think we should move on and put our energy into
efforts such as enhancing the Human Rights document.<br>
</p>
<p>Best,</p>
<p>Tom Lowenhaupt<br>
</p>
<p>P.S. If people have additional questions I will do my best to
answer them off-line. <br>
</p>
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