[Membership-affairs] Welcome to the Noncommercial Users Constituency of ICANN

[William Drake]

Hi

Once we get new members through the door, we need some mechanisms to help them look around and find a way to connect, a slot—i.e. Inreach.  Anyone have any thoughts on that?

I do think it'd be helpful if they could at least engage in the normal social networky first step of establishing a page, planting the flag, at new website equivalent of http://ncuc.org/profiles/members/.

Bill

Begin forwarded message:

> From: XXXX
> Subject: RE: Welcome to the Noncommercial Users Constituency of ICANN
> Date: July 4, 2013 4:16:21 PM GMT+02:00
> To: William Drake <william.drake at uzh.ch>
> 
> Dear Bill,
> Thank you for your welcome, i am very excited about my future involvement. I am busy reconfiguring my schedule so that i can devote some time to exploring discussions, working groups etc to see which ones i feel i can contribute to or simply learn more from.
> Kind Regards
> XXX
> 
> From: william.drake at uzh.ch
> Date: Thu, 4 Jul 2013 14:53:13 +0200
> Subject: Welcome to the Noncommercial Users Constituency of ICANN
> 
> Hello, 
> 
> As the elected Chair for 2013, I would like to personally welcome you to the Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC).  We’re very happy to have you on board as a new member!  NCUC has a diverse global membership comprising about 90 organizations and 210 individuals in 70 countries across all five  ICANN-recognized geographic regions. Our members work in fields like civil liberties and human rights, Internet freedom, consumer protection, education, research, development, and many other areas of public policy advocacy.  The NCUC advocates positions on domain name-related policies that reflect these sorts of interests and values and seek to protect and support noncommercial communication and activity on the Internet.  
> 
> Since 1999, NCUC has provided a home for civil society organizations and individuals who want to follow or participate in the work of ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO).   The GNSO is the body in which business and civil society stakeholders are represented in ICANN to develop consensus policies for governing generic top level domain (gTLD) names like .com, .org and .info.  NCUC is one of two constituencies within the GNSO’s Noncommercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG), and we have real voting power in ICANN's bottom-up, multistakeholder policymaking processes.
> 
> Examples of our activities include:
> Mobilize civil society actors to participate in ICANN, including its working groups and other processes;
> Send members to ICANN’s three meetings per year around the world, which are free of charge and open to all interested parties;
> Elect representatives to the GNSO Council, which coordinates the policy development process for gTLDs;
> Appoint representatives to ICANN’s Nominating Committee, which appoints members of the Board of Directors and other ICANN bodies;
> Develop and advocate policy positions;
> Collaborate and interact with other stakeholders in ICANN on matters of common concern, including businesses, governments, and others; and
> Organize conferences and events exploring global Internet governance issues.
> Examples of our issues include:
> 
> Protecting Noncommercial Uses and Users
> -- We seek to ensure that commercial interests do not override the interests of nonprofits and ordinary users  
> 
> Diversity and Consumer Choice
> -- We support a competitive domain name industry that offers Internet users innovation, quality options and affordable prices
> 
> Human Rights
> -- We promote an approach to domain name policy that is consistent with internationally recognized human rights
> 
> Freedom of Expression
> -- We challenge efforts to abuse the core of the Internet by censoring expression and regulating content
> 
> Privacy
> -- We oppose effort to use domain registration records for indiscriminate surveillance
> 
> Access to Knowledge
> -- We advocate for protection of the global public sphere against the excessive application of intellectual property restrictions
> 
> Development
> -- We work for policies that promote socio-economic growth and development in all areas of the world
> 
> Multilingual Internet
> -- We support standards and practices that allow all cultures and linguistic groups to be represented in the domain name space
> 
> Global Internet Governance
> -- We strive to make governance institutions accountable, promote multistakeholder participation, and resist intergovernmental control
> 
> How You Can Participate:
> 
> In the first instance, we engage one another through mailing lists, virtual meeting rooms and in GNSO working groups.  Our mailing list and online meetings are archived, recorded and publicly available, in keeping with our shared principles of openness and transparency, and to ensure the widest possible scope and forums for participation by all members.
> 
> As an all-volunteer network of activists, NCUC welcomes you get involved at whatever level of activity suits your interests and circumstances.  The menu you can choose from includes options like: 
> Participate in discussions on our general member email list, ncuc-discuss;
> Get involved in NCUC’s internal organizational management by joining a task-oriented team, serving as our representative in a NCSG committee, or standing for election to our region-based Executive Committee;
> Volunteer to participate in GNSO working groups and drafting teams, which work primarily online;
> Participate remotely or in person in ICANN’s 3 meetings per year around the world;
> Stand for election as a NCSG representative to the GNSO Council in order to directly participate in the global policy process;
> and more….
> It’s entirely up to you to choose how much to get involved.  So take some time to get acquainted with NCUC, NCSG, the GNSO and ICANN (yes, there are a lot of acronyms!), explore the relevant websites and other materials, and find the level of engagement that’s right for you.
> 
> The next ICANN meeting will take place in Durban, South Africa, from 13-18 July 2013.  NCUC will hold its Constituency Day Meeting on Tuesday 16 April 2013, 9:00-12:30pm local time, and we are also organizing a high-profile public workshop on the controversies surrounding “Closed” gTLDs.   Excellent Remote Participation opportunities are available via ICANN’s conference website.
> 
> If you have any questions, feel free to contact me; the Coordinator of our Membership Affairs Team, Rafik Dammak, rafik.dammak at gmail.com; or your regional representative on our Executive Committee.
> 
> Thanks again for joining NCUC, I look forward to communicating with more going forward.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Bill
> 
> 
> **********************************************************
> William J. Drake
> International Fellow & Lecturer
>   Media Change & Innovation Division, IPMZ
>   University of Zurich, Switzerland
> Chair, Noncommercial Users Constituency, 
>   ICANN, www.ncuc.org
> william.drake at uzh.ch  
> www.williamdrake.org
> ***********************************************************

**********************************************************
William J. Drake
International Fellow & Lecturer
  Media Change & Innovation Division, IPMZ
  University of Zurich, Switzerland
Chair, Noncommercial Users Constituency, 
  ICANN, www.ncuc.org
william.drake at uzh.ch  
www.williamdrake.org
***********************************************************

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