[NCUC-DISCUSS] Candidate statement of Bill Drake

Sun Nov 30 15:59:47 CET 2014

1. Why do you want to serve on the EC?

I’d like to serve a third and final year as chair in order to continue working with the EC and the larger membership to take NCUC to higher levels of internal engagement and coherence and external credibility and effectiveness in the GNSO & ICANN environments. I addressed this question in some detail when I stood for election in 2013 and 2012, and what I said then still largely applies.  
http://lists.ncuc.org/pipermail/ncuc-discuss/2013-December/015752.html <http://lists.ncuc.org/pipermail/ncuc-discuss/2013-December/015752.html> 
http://lists.ncuc.org/pipermail/ncuc-discuss/2012-November/010875.html <http://lists.ncuc.org/pipermail/ncuc-discuss/2012-November/010875.html> 

Given the constraints inherent in being a network of volunteers and functioning in the ICANNspehere, I think we’ve traveled a reasonably good distance over the past couple years in expanding our membership, improving our structures and processes, and enhancing our standing with the larger community and the organizational leadership.  But clearly there’s much more that could be done, and I am hopeful that we can achieve some of it with a new EC and increased energy among the general membership.  The recent expressions of interest in working to broaden member engagement, particularly on the part of new folks, and our new Travel Support Policy lead me to think that we could continue to widen the circle of people attending meetings, engaging in NCSG policy work, and moving into elected and appointed positions at the constituency and stakeholder group levels.  Bringing more “new blood” into the system is definitely a priority for the year.

2. Provide a brief biography of recent experience, associations, and affiliations relevant to serving on the Executive Committee. Describe the relevance of your personal and professional experience to serve on the NCUC Executive Committee, and identify any conflicts of interests you might have.

I have no conflicts of interest. 

In no particular order, some of my NCUC & ICANN activities over the past year have included:
Secured budgetary allocations from ICANN to support a new EC retreat in Singapore, a policy conference in Singapore, NCUC participation at the Istanbul IGF, print publications (e.g. our brochure), joint activities with other ICANN groupings, etc. http://lists.ncuc.org/pipermail/ncuc-discuss/2014-May/016318.html <http://lists.ncuc.org/pipermail/ncuc-discuss/2014-May/016318.html> 
Raised external funds to support our travel and related costs.
Lead organized our conference at the March 2014 Singapore meeting, ICANN and Global Internet Governance:The Road to São Paulo, and Beyond.  The full-day conference was attended by a packed house of @ 120-150 people, was viewed as very successful, and proved helpful in strengthening NCUC’s relations and standing with other parts of the community and with staff. http://www.ncuc.org/singapore2014/ <http://www.ncuc.org/singapore2014/> 
Lead organized and moderated two successful NCUC workshops at the Istanbul IGF and participated in many other activities there, including the NCSG workshop and a joint full-day pre-conference on the NETmundial at which we released an e-book I edited: Beyond NETmundial: The Roadmap for Institutional Improvements to the Global Internet Governance Ecosystem. http://www.ncuc.org/events/other-meetings/ <http://www.ncuc.org/events/other-meetings/>   http://sched.co/1r7K8s3 <http://sched.co/1r7K8s3> 
Organized and moderated out Constituency Day gatherings during ICANN meetings, which included some very productive dialogues with e.g. the US government, the Council of Europe, the GAC leadership, senior staff, etc. https://community.icann.org/display/gnsocouncilmeetings/NCUC+Singapore+Constituency+Day+Meeting+25+March+2014 <https://community.icann.org/display/gnsocouncilmeetings/NCUC+Singapore+Constituency+Day+Meeting+25+March+2014> https://community.icann.org/display/gnsocouncilmeetings/NCUC+London+Meeting+2014-06-24 <https://community.icann.org/display/gnsocouncilmeetings/NCUC+London+Meeting+2014-06-24> https://community.icann.org/display/gnsocouncilmeetings/NCUC+Los+Angeles+Meeting+2014-10-14 <https://community.icann.org/display/gnsocouncilmeetings/NCUC+Los+Angeles+Meeting+2014-10-14> 
Organized with staff support outreach events at the London and Los Angeles meetings geared toward civil society actors not involved in ICANN.  Also spoke to the Fellows program at each ICANN meeting and conducted outreach to potential new members in various other contexts.  http://london50.icann.org/en/schedule/fri-civil-society-ig <http://london50.icann.org/en/schedule/fri-civil-society-ig>   http://la51.icann.org/en/schedule/sat-civil-society-ngo <http://la51.icann.org/en/schedule/sat-civil-society-ngo> 
Worked with the EC to develop a new Travel Support Policy that will use our raised funds to enable up to two active members to participate in each ICANN meeting.  A call for proposals for the Singapore meeting is forthcoming.  http://www.ncuc.org/governance/travel-policy/ <http://www.ncuc.org/governance/travel-policy/> 
Worked on recruitment and coordinated the appointment of NCUC representatives to NCSG and ICANN groupings, e.g. http://lists.ncuc.org/pipermail/ncuc-ec/2013-December/001026.html <http://lists.ncuc.org/pipermail/ncuc-ec/2013-December/001026.html>    http://lists.ncuc.org/pipermail/ncuc-ec/2014-January/001062.html <http://lists.ncuc.org/pipermail/ncuc-ec/2014-January/001062.html> 
Attended and actively represented NCUC in the monthly SO-AC-SG-C chairs’ meetings with Fadi and senior staff, and participated in joint public statements on improving the design of the accountability process.   I also have been working in the chairs dialogue process to move forward an initiative on the community-wide challenges of in-reach and participant engagement. https://community.icann.org/pages/viewpage.action?spaceKey=soaceabout&title=Event+Calendar <https://community.icann.org/pages/viewpage.action?spaceKey=soaceabout&title=Event+Calendar> 
Attended almost all of NCSG’s monthly policy meetings.
Represented NCUC in the Cross Community Working Group on Internet Governance, to which the NCSG PC has just appointed me the NCSG representative.  https://community.icann.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=43984275 <https://community.icann.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=43984275> 
Represented NCUC in the planning of the 2015 NonContracted Parties House meeting in Washington D.C.
Served as an expert advisor to Fadi’s Panel on Global Internet Cooperation and Governance Mechanisms, participated in the NETmundial and the NETmundial Initiative, etc.
Did a fair amount of unexciting NCUC and ICANN administrative stuff that nobody would want to read about.

3. The EC performs several functional responsibilities for the Constituency.  What  level of time commitment can you bring to your EC role on a weekly and overall basis?  Describe any concerns or limitations on your ability to attend online meetings of the Executive Committee and ICANN Meetings in person. 

I average about two working days per week on NCUC and related ICANN activities, more when needed (e.g. prior to ICANN meetings).

I organized and chaired EC meetings in January, March and September.  I attempted to organize two others but alas unanticipated low turnout failed to produce a quorum so they became informal gatherings.
 http://www.ncuc.org/governance/ec-meetings/

4. Communication with the membership is critical. How would you keep members apprised of your EC-related activities?

I have sent a lot of email to ncuc-discuss at lists.ncuc.org, ncuc-ec at lists.ncuc.org, and e-team at lists.ncuc.org updating people on developments and trying to keep things moving forward.

I have worked with e-team colleagues and Maryam to keep our e-platforms (lists and website) in shape.

5. How do you foresee NCUC’s function, scale, or role changing in the future? What areas of ICANN policy, if any, need more attention and why?  

ICANN is the only Internet governance body I know of in which civil society is fragmented into multiple silos, and this has not served our public interest advocacy work terribly well.   Back in 2009 when the NCSG construct was being debated, NCUC argued that we should be allowed to have an integrated stakeholder group just like the registries and registrars, with member-driven interest groups organized to address particular issues.  But the ICANN board refused and forced upon us an unnecessarily difficult constituency/stakeholder group structure  (which apparently is working even less well on the commercial side of the House).  There are reasons to believe it could be productive to raise our concerns anew in the coming year.  If instead it becomes clear that nothing can be done, I will make a third attempt to assemble people who are willing to work on revising the constituency bylaws.

Among the issues most needing our active engagement in the coming year are the IANA transition, accountability, privacy, and getting something going on human rights.  

 ***********************************************
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 (direct), wjdrake at gmail.com (lists),
  www.williamdrake.org
***********************************************

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