[governance] oversight, & the need for netizen feedback processes

[Ronda Hauben]

  On Tue, 25 Oct 2005, Wolfgang Kleinwächter wrote:

> "netizens which need the "core ressources" likle
> "citizens" need air and water

yes.

what has been missing from the discussions is how to involve the users
in the issues of internet governance, i.e. how netizens who are interested 
can learn what is happening and participate at least via online 
discussion.

This could mean, for example, building into any proposals of civil society 
that there be the mandatory online forums for any structures that are
set up which facilitate ways that netizens can participate in online
discussion of what is being explored in any off line situation.

I had hoped to see civil society committed to spreading knowledge of what 
is happening and finding a way to welcome participation and involvement 
from those who can't attend the face to face meetings, via the Net.

Instead it seems netizens are dependent on newspaper reports about what
is happening, rather than having an open forum or newsgroup process they 
can become part of.

One of the criticisms we heard at the 1998 meeting in Geneva leading
to the creation of ICANN was that self management means that the vendor
is being asked to manage himself. (I think there were service providers
complaining that if they had a problem with those who were in charge
of distributing IP numbers, they had to go to the entity who was causing
the problem for redress. That is there was no system of oversight to
go to outside of the entity that was in charge of the function itself.)

My research about the history of the development of the Internet has
demonstrated to me that having means of feedback that functioned was a
crucial aspect of the Internet's development. That meant encouraging
participation by netizens and providing for it to have an effect on the 
decisions being made.

cheers

ronda

http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
governance mailing list
governance at lists.cpsr.org
https://ssl.cpsr.org/mailman/listinfo/governance