[ncdnhc-discuss] Outreach

[DannyYounger at cs.com]

Dear members,

I have received the following request from a participant to the ALSC Forum:

In a couple of weeks I leave my current job in an internet cafe, which 
allowed me free access to the net and the opportunity to learn about ICANN.  
I expect now to have a maximum of 3 (three) hours access per week instead of 
an average of 3 (three) hours access a day, because I will have to pay for 
it.  Even then I am one of the privileged few.  If you are willing to pass on 
matters of concern in ICANN to me, I can guarantee that fifty people in 
Zambia will have that information forwarded to them.  Marginalised does not 
equal Disinterested as has been implied on this forum.  Sorry to have picked 
on you, but it had to be someone.  If it is one cross too many to bear, 
please pass this request on to another who shares our concerns.

Thanks in Advance
Malele


As we consider the recommendations advanced by the At-Large Study Committee, 
I would ask all of you to reflect upon Malele's comments.   There are many 
stakeholders in this world that do not enjoy the many advantages that we 
often take for granted, and we in the General Assembly (as advocates for 
inclusiveness and greater representation) have a moral obligation to commit 
ourselves to actualizing outreach and global awareness.

I am reminded of the recommendations of Working Group E:

The goal should be to create materials that address particular needs of those 
who are prepared to receive and use the information.   

1.  Simplicity will facilitate the widest possible distribution across the 
very diverse population to be reached. Simplicity will make it easier to 
translate materials into different languages as well as to distribute them 
via various means of communication.  Simplicity will also facilitate the 
processes of distributing information quickly and making it easily understood 
and absorbed.  

2.  Customization of information material to local community needs will 
improve the effectiveness of           outreach. Customization can include 
translation into native languages, integration of information into           
familiar settings (e.g., web pages, local newsletters), etc.  

3.  Central control of the content of information materials will reduce the 
likelihood of intended messages being distorted as they are distributed to 
different audiences and via different modes of communication.

4.  Outreach materials will be ignored if the content is not reliable and 
accurate.


As we are all aware, our Names Council has never acted upon the 
recommendations of Working Group E, neither do they wish (as indicated by 
their Interim Review Task Force Report) to spend any DNSO funds to facilitate 
the translation of ICANN documents...  but we in the Assembly cannot ignore 
such a heartfelt plea.  We have an obligation, a duty, to "pick up the cross" 
and to do that which must be done.  It is time to end the lip-service given 
to outreach and to become pro-active.

I am therefore enacting the following:

1.  The establishment of a permanent General Assembly Outreach committee.  To 
chair this committee, I am appointing Eric Dierker (if he will accept), 
because Eric has long-demonstrated a steadfast commitment to worldwide 
outreach.

2.  The Outreach Committee will be asked to convene an Editorial Board that 
will be responsible for aggregating Assembly views and matters of concern in 
ICANN into a regularly published digest.  

3.  The Outreach Committee will secure volunteers that will translate the 
output of the Editorial Board, and key ICANN documents, into a variety of 
languages.  

4.  The Outreach Committee will designate a webmaster. 

5.  To facilitate this outreach I will donate my own website, icannworld.org 
for the exclusive use of the Outreach Committee (which will redesign the site 
as they see fit).


We can make this work.  We have the talent.  We have the motivation.  We 
understand our duty.  

I look forward to your participation in this project, and wish to personally 
thank Malele for exhibiting such a strong commitment to the ICANN process.



Danny Younger
Chair, General Assembly of the DNSO