NCSG Policy Committee statement on IOC/RCRC proposal

[Andrew A. Adams]

> We already have a vocal and knowledgeable subgroup of academics in
> NCUC/NCSG and on our GNSO Council. Knowledge and experience are quite
> useful of course, and to boot, it is as a result of SG elections,
> right?

Academics who work in a particular field are often good candidates for such
roles because both their level of expertise and the relative flexibility of
their circumstances allow them to devote significant resources to such roles.

> I venture to say however, from my long experience in developing
> countries and, more recently on boards of NGOs, that NGOs prefer by
> far to be represented by NGO officers than by academics... like I'm
> sure academia would prefer to be represented by academics than by NGO
> officers.

But here is where the misunderstanding about an "academic" constituency comes
in. We (KK, Milton, myself, amongst a number of other academics active on
this list) do no participate as "representatives of academia". We are
involved because we are subject experts in information/computer law, internet
governance, information ethics and other related subjects. We are here not to
represent universities or our fellow academics in their needs. As I said, if
universities felt the need to be so represented then an (NPO) HE
institutional constituency could be created, or their representatives could
simply join NCSG directly or NCSG&NCUC (they are, after all non-commercial
organisational users). If such a constituency were created I'm sure a number
of the academics here would add that constituency to their memberships (as
allowed by the SG charter, a point we fought hard to get included) but not
replacing their NCUC membership with it. In that case I, and I suspect all
the other academics here, would see it as a separate role to help advise the
HE reps on matters using our dual expertise in matters HE and in the subject
matter. Our individual memberships of NCSG&NCUC would continue, based as they
are on our expertise and interest in the general subject matter.

I have rarely seen any of the academics here raise questions of the specific
needs of HE institutions and certainly not as anything other than one of many
competing interests (albeit one with which we are very familiar). Many
academics also participate in various other NGOs in the same way they
participate in ICANN. Our expertise can be highly useful and we do not usuall
represent our institutions in such matters but act as independent academics.
I certainly see my role here to provide honest informed and balanced input to
the debate, not to represent HE as a sector - other people are paid to do
that. I am paid to question perceived wisdom and contribute to society
through my research, teaching and engagement with other actors in society,
not to represent my institution or academia at large.

See my sig below for one of my non-HE institutional affiliations (an NGO in
fact).

--
Professor Andrew A Adams                      aaa at meiji.ac.jp
Chair, ACM SIGCAS http://www.sigcas.org/
	(Special Interest Group on Computers and Society)
Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan       http://www.a-cubed.info/