new NCUC - Ning website

[Robin Gross]

Thanks, Bill.  Specific responses to your questions below.

On Jul 5, 2009, at 1:15 AM, William Drake wrote:

> Hi Robin,
>
> Nice site, thanks for putting it together, I didn't realize we were
> doing this.  Three quick questions:
>
> 1. What's the envisioned relationship between this and what you
> call the "legacy" site at  http://ncuc.syr.edu?

We are phasing out the "legacy" site and migrating everything to the
Ning platform - which will make it much easier for us to work
collaboratively and share information efficiently and participate in
numerous conversations at once.

> Are you planning on migrating the material from the latter and
> making this the "official" site linked to from http://
> gnso.icann.org/non-commercial?

Yes and yes.

> In which case I assume we'd want to configure things so one doesn't
> have to be a member and log in to see list of members and other
> information, as now?

The Ning site is being configured so anyone can see who the NCUC
members are, but not their personal information.

> Or are you thinking we'd keep the syr site for general public info
> and just use this one for our internal coordination?

The Ning site is both for internal collaboration and for the general
public.   We can add pages to the Ning site that can be viewed by
anyone in the public, or can remain visible to only those within the
constituency.

>
> 2. Assuming the GNSO restructuring happens within the next few
> months, my understanding has been that NCUC per se goes away and
> its members will hopefully launch more specialized constituencies.
> If so, then the new site would seem to have a rather short shelf
> life, which could raise questions about the utility of putting in a
> lot time building it.  Or would we then migrate the new material
> into the NCSG site?
The members in NCUC should "spin out" into various new constituencies
(for example a "free expression constituency" or a "techie-academic
constituency") depending upon one's interest.  It doesn't make sense
to keep NCUC going in the long-term and also NCSG - they are both
"noncommercial users" broadly defined.   So NCUC members should think
about how they would like to organize in the coming months.

It should not be too difficult to re-name the site NCSG should that
be the appropriate approach so I wouldn't let the pending migration
issue keep us from building any longer.  Waiting for this transition
to happen to build infrastructure is getting us killed because ICANN/
IPR crowd says we aren't doing anything and don't deserve support/
council seats, so it is a chicken and egg problem.  We just have to
build it.

>
> 3. Which raises a broader question I've never thought about...what
> happens with SG sites once they're born?  While in practical terms
> current NCUC members will constitute the lion's share of the SG in
> the near-term, alongside perhaps a cyber-censorship constituency,
> in formal terms we are not the SG.  So who will build and manage
> the NCSG site?  Is the expectation that once constituencies are
> formed, SG elections are held, and governance arrangements
> established the new groupings will each launch new sites wherever
> they want to be managed as they want?  Or is ICANN expecting to
> have some sort of hand in this...?

I don't think anyone in the GNSO has thought all of these questions
through and I certainly can't speak for the GNSO in saying how it
will all unfold.  These are very good questions for the various
working groups who have been tasked with working through these
details of the transition.  Noncommercial users should expect to play
a primary role in the management of their site and will probably have
to remind ICANN staff of that.  Let me see what I can find out before
speculating here.

Thanks,
Robin


>
> Probably there are simple answers here, I've just never heard
> anyone say what is supposed to happen...
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bill
>
>
>
> On Jul 4, 2009, at 7:09 PM, Robin Gross wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> NCUC is setting up a new website so we can encourage more robust
>> discussion and information sharing among our members.
>>
>> I'd like to ask each member to please sign-in and set up a member-
>> page at our new website:
>>   http://icann-ncuc.ning.com/main/authorization/signUp
>> The site is still under-development, so if you have any
>> suggestions for improvement, please let me or Brenden know.  (And
>> huge thanks to Brenden for the work in creating this site so far!)
>>
>> This new website will be the main place where members can develop
>> policy positions and strategy for advocating them.  So please join
>> the site today  -- and encourage other interested people to join.
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> Best,
>> Robin
>>
>>
>> IP JUSTICE
>> Robin Gross, Executive Director
>> 1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA  94117  USA
>> p: +1-415-553-6261    f: +1-415-462-6451
>> w: http://www.ipjustice.org     e: robin at ipjustice.org
>>
>>
>>
>
> ***********************************************************
> William J. Drake
> Senior Associate
> Centre for International Governance
> Graduate Institute of International and
>   Development Studies
> Geneva, Switzerland
> william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch
> www.graduateinstitute.ch/cig/drake.html
> ***********************************************************
>




IP JUSTICE
Robin Gross, Executive Director
1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA  94117  USA
p: +1-415-553-6261    f: +1-415-462-6451
w: http://www.ipjustice.org     e: robin at ipjustice.org



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