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

[Grace Githaiga]

The very best to you Mawaki and Deidre.

From: kichango at gmail.com
Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2014 19:18:13 +0000
To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org
Subject: [governance] Towards a Renewed Purpose and Vision for IGC, Co-coordinators 2015/2016

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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