[council] Preparations for Cairo: Study session on new TLD registries

["Andrew McLaughlin" <mclaughlin@pobox.com>]

To the Names Council:

We've begun to plan the agenda for the ICANN Cairo meetings.  Details are
being posted at <http://www.icann.org/cairo2000/cairo-details.htm>.

The preliminary agenda for the ICANN Public Forum
<http://www.icann.org/cairo2000/cairo-details.htm#agenda> includes
discussion of the following topics:

     - At Large Membership and elections
     - Considerations and policies relating to creation of new top-level
domain name registries
     - ccTLD delegation and administration policies
     - ICANN budget for 2000-2001 fiscal year

I want to initiate a discussion with the Names Council with respect to the
second item:  considerations and policies relating to the creation of new
TLD registries.  I've already exchanged a few notes with Jonathan Weinberg
on the same question, and would like to include him on this discussion.

The Board's notion is to hold a "study session" on the question of new TLDs
as part of the ICANN Public Forum on March 9.  The study session would
consist of several hours to be set aside for presentations and discussion,
including structured presentations by people of differing views with
opportunities for the Board and other attendees to ask questions and make
comments.  The basic idea is education:  to provide a forum in which a
broader audience can learn more about the merits of the debate, and about
the status of the DNSO's consensus-building process.   Because the session
will be webcast, we hope to raise general public awareness of the issue of
new TLDs, and to create a useful multimedia archive of the various arguments
for and against.  Also, it will allow the attending Board and Names Council
members to get better educated and to review and contribute toward the
consensus-building process.

Because the question of new TLDs is squarely within the scope of the DNSO's
current activities, we want to structure the study session in collaboration
with the Names Council and Working Group C.  Jonathan Weinberg has expressed
to me his general support for the idea of a public study session on new
TLDs, and his willingness to help structure a useful and balanced set of
presentations.

To get the discussion started, perhaps Jonathan might give us his thoughts
on how the session should be structured (and who might be good presenters).

--Andrew