[governance] Towards a Renewed Purpose and Vision for IGC, Co-coordinators 2015/2016

[Mawaki Chango]

Dear All,

 Thank you again from both of us for all the strongly positive messages of
congratulation and support.

We have noticed the baptism of fire you have reserved for us, and take it
as your contribution to helping us get some tough skin for the ride.


We are very grateful for the good will that has been shown in order to
allow us to settle in with "a bit of peace on IGC". We hope especially that
we can, all working together, maybe not only achieve "a bit of peace" but
make it perpetual peace while still vigorously debating creative responses
to the Internet challenges as well as innovative ideas for its best
possible evolution.


Our joint vision is that by the end of our term (hopefully well before)
there is an IGC Renaissance, so to speak, with new and more cooperative
atmosphere in the Caucus and a track record of relevant
outputs/contributions to Internet policy processes. We are looking forward
to the continuation of input to this list and to the co-creation of
resources relevant to Internet governance, to Internet policy, and to any
other Internet issues that present themselves, paying particular attention
to the varied viewpoints of civil society.


The value of this caucus lies in the wealth of experience and the very wide
range of perspective and opinion held by its members. In order for their
values to be realized, those perspectives and opinions need to be
expressed. The way we see our function as co-coordinators is that we should
protect and facilitate that freedom of expression, *as unobtrusively as
possible,* indeed enable as diverse expression as possible, so that the
perspectives and opinions can become fairly negotiated and robust inputs to
the issues we confront together in Internet governance. In the same time
such freedom would be self-defeating if it only leads to incapacitating us
to forge a common purpose or at least to make collaborative, actionable and
incremental valuable contributions to those issues and for the evolution of
the Internet.


As much as we co-coordinators would like to keep this space focused on
material contribution to actual policy processes and decisions, we are not
in the business of policing posts to this list, much less the members'
opinions. It is the responsibility of each one of us to exercise judgment
in order to avoid language and posts that may lead to unproductive
engagements or even poison the atmosphere. As to any post/material whose
relevance to IGC may not be self-evident, it is a desirable thing (albeit
not mandatory) that the poster succinctly provides some rationale for
helping the reader make that connection. If they don't, anyone who feels
the need may ask for that. If such exchange were to occur, we urge all the
parties to try and keep it in as impersonal terms as possible. If anyone
feels strongly about making a point, let us keep it to the point,
precisely, not take it to the person whose ideas they think they have to
counter.


Wishing for the above does not make it a reality, we realize that, and
people will most probably post opinions or comments that won't make
everyone comfortable. But this does not have to lead to a tit for tat
reaction. If anyone feels like some material posted or opinion expressed
advances a political agenda they are opposed to and feels compelled to
react to that, instead of reacting to the person who posted the material,
why not take the minimalist approach to just post in turn a material that
present the opposite view they support?


There are potentially many positive goals for all the energy and wealth of
experience on this list. Let us focus our energy mainly on drafting and
discussing outputs and making useful contributions toward addressing issues
of Internet policy, Internet governance, Internet usage and the social as
well as societal impact of the Internet. We wish this note to be the most
obtrusive communication we will have to make to the list during our term.
We remain available to work off-list and bring sides together, if need be.
In the end, the continuous relevance of IGC is not just two
co-coordinators' job; it is in our hands to all of us.


Thank you for giving us a chance to help make this happen.


Deirdre Williams and Mawaki Chango
IGC Co-coordinators
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