[governance] COMMENTS SOUGHT: draft letter to ISOC on selection of T&A nominees for CSTD WG on EC

[William Drake]

Hi Parminder

snipping...

On Mar 16, 2013, at 12:35 PM, parminder <parminder at itforchange.net> wrote:

>> but instead we're dealing with self-defined tribes.  Conflating the 'technical' and the 'academic' communities into one category just triples down on the problem.  This is utter nonsense
> 
> I dont see it as nonsense. Both groups represent some kind of 'expertise' and not constituency representation, and thus it is very logical to put them together.

So your answer to academics being disenfranchised by being lumped with the TC is to disenfranchise the TC?  So the topography would be just governments, business and CS, only they'd have defined constituency representation roles...I don't agree since there's a substantial independent constituency being represented by the TC, one that's bigger than the IGC.  But a bit more important than our respective views are the facts on the ground;  the TC  is recognized in the topography and that's not going to change because some CS folks don't like it.  Given that reality, there's no logical basis for them to deemed the representative of academics as well.  There are academics who are properly in the TC because of their areas of disciplinary expertise and outlook, and there are academics who don't see themselves that way and feel they are CS.  

Relatedly, I also disagree with Anriette's suggestion that non-technical academics be viewed as a separate stakeholder group.  Sure, it'd be nice for us to have our own little sandbox to build and demand our very own seats at the table, and hiving us off from CS could mean an increase in progressive voices etc.  But we don't represent our students, colleagues, or institutions when we participate in these processes…we're individuals who can represent the networks we share views with etc.  My concern is that individual CS people often get unduly short shrift relative to CSO staff in some settings, but that's another conversation.

> So, should then CS refrain from saying anything about or to the governments, the ICANN plus community, ISOC, and the private sector. Then what is the work we are left with - to fight among ourselves?

Well, there's something to be said for sticking with what you're good at…but of course not, it just depends on context.  It's one thing when other SGs are making decisions that affect everyone, e.g. TC bodies that set policies, and another they're positioned as parallel peers in a process.  We might think it odd for the business community to write to us expressing concern about how the IGC operates, no?   If there's to be a push for different approaches in the TC's self-governance, it'd be better coming from within the TC than from us.  Of course, experience suggests that's not easy in practice, but the principal remains valid.
> 
> If we cannot send a simple transparency seeking query to ISOC, and seek clarifications about how they include or exclude nominations to be sent on behalf 'tech/acad community' - -  which is a public role entrusted to them my a public authority - simply becuase we need to be friendly with ISOC, it is really very problematic.

My suggestion would be to not do a bilateral adversarial inquiry, but instead to try to launch a broader collegial discussion about the processes followed by the three nongovernmental SGs and ways to enhance our coordination where desirable.  I don't know whether we could entice anyone into that at this point, but if there's bandwidth it could be worth a try.

Best

Bill
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