[governance] coordinating the IGC

Sat Apr 22 05:41:20 EDT 2006

Thanks Avri,

You have my full backing, support and help, where needed. 

Wolfgang

________________________________

Von: governance-bounces at lists.cpsr.org im Auftrag von Avri Doria
Gesendet: Sa 22.04.2006 00:33
An: Internet Governance Caucus
Betreff: [governance] coordinating the IGC

Hi,

Several people, both publicly and privately, have suggested that I 
volunteer myself for the task of coordinating the IGC.  And by and 
large I have kept quiet, or argued why it was impossible, wherever 
such recommendations were made.  At this point I figure I owe some 
sort of public response.

My first reaction is to be thankful that some of the participants in 
this caucus view me with that kind of trust.  I appreciate it, even 
if the task being discussed is somewhat daunting.   I have thought 
about this a lot and have concluded that I am willing to take the 
chance and try to do the job, though I believe following in the 
footsteps of Adam and Jeanette would be a challenge.

Before taking on this task, though, I wanted to make some things 
clear and discuss some of the organizational ideas I have for the 
IGC.   And I want to make sure that no one in the caucus objects to 
my taking the role or objects to my approach.  I.e. I am looking for 
consensus before proceeding.

1. Possible caveats

- As I have indicated before on this list, I occasionally do some 
paid consulting for the IGF secretariat.  Since this consulting is 
one of my paying jobs, I am not eager to give this up.  I have 
checked with the secretariat and since the IGC chair is a voluntary 
position they don't see a problem as long as everything is done 
transparently.  But you the participants in the IGC have to decide 
whether these periodic contracts are a problem.

- As I have also indicated, I have a seat on the GSNO council.  While 
that is not in conflict with the role of IGC coordinator, it might 
have an affect of some participant's view of my eligibility for the 
role.  Again as participants in the IGC you have to decide whether 
this is an issue.

- I am a dues paying, card carrying (well at least i have the cards, 
i think) member of ISOC, CPSR, ACLU and Amnesty International.  
Something in that list for most everyone to disapprove of.

2. Possible Plans:

- I tend to think that we, the IGC, need to regroup and do a certain 
amount of reorganization to finish the transition from a WSIS 
oriented group to an IGF+ oriented group. (Note: eventually I think 
this caucus has a role with any Internet governance organization, but 
at this point I think we need to focus on the founding of the IGF)

- One of the things I would like to do if chosen/accepted is work 
with the caucus to write a charter for the IGC going forward.  I 
don't expect that we can come up with a closed, buttoned up document, 
but it should be possible for us to put together a statement of 
principles, basic action areas and basic practices.

- In terms of my term length, while doing it until Athens is long 
enough, I would like to suggest a term of a year. I will explain more 
below.  I do see it as a reorganization period appointment.

- I think the IGC should have co-cooridnators.  Mostly to share the 
work, but also to make sure there is someone who can handle issues 
when a possible conflict of interest occurs.   Or is available if 
someone takes a vacation.

- I think that each of co-coordinator should have a two year term 
except for my initial one year term during the reorganization 
process, with staggered terms (i.e one term 06-08, one 07-09).  I 
think it is good to have rotation of people in the chair role, but we 
should try to avoid getting in the situation again where we lose both 
chairs at the same time.  I.e. we should have a well formed method 
for continuity.

- My suggestion would be to put together a nomcom after the charter 
is created to pick a co-coordinator for a two year term (the even 
year term).  I would hope we could have the basic working charter in 
about a month and a co-coordinator within about 2 months - this way 
we would be in good shape for the work needed to prepare for the 
Athens meeting by mid June or the beginning of July.

- Before my one year term ends, someone new could be chosen for the 
next two year term (the odd year term).  While this could be done in 
Athens, I would not recommend it:
   - not enough people go to any single meeting
   - we will probably be too busy dealing with substance at that point.
   - i believe the best time to think about what to do next in terms 
of picking the next co-coordinator would be after the Athens 
meeting.  But with meeting burn out and holidays, I would be 
surprised if it got done before the beginning of 2007.  So I suggest 
we plan it that way.

- Someone suggested that we have a nomcom in position for a long term 
period to make all the choices for that period, for example a year.  
While this idea has some merit, I think this needs to be considered 
with caution.  Partly becasue one would be excluded from other roles 
for as long as they were on the nomcom, and partly because picking a 
nomcom for a specific purpose is not all that difficult.  I certainly 
do _not_ think that the current nomcom should be pressed into service 
since they only volunteered for a single choice.  Also we need to 
review the experience of the nomcom and deal with any pending issues 
and decide whether this is the way we want to proceed in the future.  
There may be other suggestions that would be worth considering.

- Another thing I would like to do during a term is experiment with 
new collaborative working methods and decision methods to see if we 
could find an easier way to come to closure on proposals and comments/
contributions.  This has often been one of the flash points in the 
caucus and needs to be resolved if the IGC going to be a fully 
functional contributor to the IGF and other governance efforts into 
the future.  I believe that if we have a good organizational process 
and can come up with consensus documents, we can have a decent effect 
on the IGF.

So, as I said at the beginning of this note, I am willing, but only 
if no one objects.  And I am certainly willing to discuss any of the 
things in this note - I know that I sometimes write in a manner that 
is not clear to all readers. Or that what I wrote may be completely 
wrong headed.  But, if there is general support of this proposal and 
there are no major objections to me taking the role, then i would be 
honored to take on the task for a year starting in May.  I figure we 
can use the rest of this month to discuss it and find out if there 
are objections.

thanks

a.

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