[NCUC-DISCUSS] Nominations and Election for NCUC Exec Committee North America Rep

[Michael Karanicolas]

Hi all,

Thanks again for the nomination. I am attaching a short candidacy statement
below.

Best,

Michael



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

I think it’s vitally important to have a strong voice for civil society at
ICANN. Although I still consider myself a relative newcomer, my time here
has shown me the challenges inherent in advocating for policy positions
that serve the interests of non-commercial users, particularly where these
positions are opposed by well-funded and organised lobbyists. While
commercial stakeholders will always have the edge in terms of resources,
the NCUC represents a constituency which is vastly larger, meaning that
fundamentally our success or failure in advancing policy positions that
support freedom of expression and fundamental rights comes down to
organisation, outreach and mobilisation. Simply put, we need to be
effective at spreading the word for why what we are doing matters, and
expanding our base of engagement and support from those whose interests we
represent. As a veteran advocate and campaigner, I hope to be able to
contribute in this regard.

*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.*

Presently, I am employed as Senior Legal Officer for the Centre for Law and
Democracy (CLD), a Canadian-based international NGO whose mandate is to
promote foundational rights for democracy. My work at CLD includes a strong
focus on digital rights and transparency, the two major issues which
brought me to ICANN.



I have been involved with ICANN since mid-2015. In that time my main avenue
of engagement has been through the Workstream 2 Transparency Subgroup,
which I am Co-Rapporteur of. I’ve also recently become more engaged in the
Rights Protection Mechanisms Working Group. I have attended the last two
ICANNs, and plan to be in Johannesburg in June as well.



I have no conflicts to report.

*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.*

My job involves a broad range of responsibilities, from training
journalists in emerging democracies to redrafting broadcast regulations.
Because Internet governance represents a subset of my overall work area,
ICANN’s time commitments can sometimes pose a challenge, though I am
confident of being able to  contribute as needed.

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

I think that outreach and communications are among the most important
functions of the EC, and I look forward to working to improve the
readability and accessibility of our messaging, particularly to those who
may not be readily familiar with ICANN’s alphabet soup of committees,
groups and processes.

*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?*

Openness and transparency are natural areas of focus for me, so I look
forward to examining how we manage our communications and finding ways to
make information about what we do more readily available.


The other priority, as I mentioned in my last answer, should be improving
the accessibility of ICANN’s processes, particularly to new or prospective
members, who may otherwise find themselves deterred by the complexity of
ICANN’s workings.

On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 4:38 PM, Matthew Shears <matthew at intpolicy.com>
wrote:

> Hi
>
> I'd like to nominate Michael Karanikolas for the EC NA rep position.
> Michael's leadership and commitment in the transition WS2 transparency
> work, as well as his outreach work for NCUC, position him well for this
> important role on the NCUC EC.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Matthew
>
> On 25/04/2017 03:50, farzaneh badii wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
> The representative of North America on NCUC Executive Committee has
> resigned from the position due to other professional and academic
> engagements.
>
> According to our interpretation of the NCUC  bylaws (VII-E) we need to
> hold an election in case of resignation of EC members  "If the remaining
> term of the resigning EC representative(s) is greater than six (6) months,
> a new election shall be organized."
>
> Since that is the case, we would like to issue a call for nominations and
> then hold an election for this position. please nominate yourself or others
> for this position until 30th April 2017. Those nominated, should accept or
> reject the nomination until 30th April and submit their statement of
> interest and why they want to run for this position by the 30th April.  The
> election will take place 1st and second of May. The result will be out by
> 3rd May. Please note that we will use the list of members with the
> checked-in status from the previous NCUC election and will not carry out a
> check-in for this urgent election.
>
> Please note that the North America Representative should be based in North
> America.
>
>
> Executive Committee Reps are responsible for:
>
> 1.  Recruiting new members from their regions
>
> 2.            Working with members from their region to help them
> understand the ICANN structure and participate in the Constituency and
> ICANN processes.
>
> 3.            Voting on the EC on the matters listed in section IV.F
> below. All EC votes called by the Chair must be responded to in ten days.
> Regional representatives who fail to vote within that time limit four times
> in a row are considered to have resigned their office as per VII.B.2 below
>
> 4.            Ensure that members from their region are made aware of and
> respond to calls for comments by members of the Policy Committee on Working
> Group and other Council and other ICANN policy
>
> development activities. Regional Representatives must provide a reply to
> all such requests from the Policy Committee.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
> Farzaneh
>
>
> <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> Virus-free.
> www.avg.com
> <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient>
> <#m_9174297982998303045_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ncuc-discuss mailing listNcuc-discuss at lists.ncuc.orghttp://lists.ncuc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ncuc-discuss
>
>
> --
> Matthew Shearsmatthew at intpolicy.com+447712472987 <+44%207712%20472987>Skype:mshears
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ncuc-discuss mailing list
> Ncuc-discuss at lists.ncuc.org
> http://lists.ncuc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ncuc-discuss
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ncuc.org/pipermail/ncuc-discuss/attachments/20170430/49be78ae/attachment.html>