Re: [ga] Re: http://www.dnso.org/icannatlarge/2002.ICANNATLARGE-Panel-vote.html

["Richard Henderson" <richardhenderson@ntlworld.com>]

Well I'm a candidate and I'm a complete outsider! And I've persuaded a good
number of "outsiders" to join up at icannatlarge.com via their grassroots
contact with me at The Internet Challenge - just ordinary end-users who
believe that the general public should have greater representation in the
way the Internet (and specifically) the DNS is run.

Besides, the elections you're referring to are merely "elections to help
prepare for elections". It's just the election of a working party to support
the membership in its own initiatives around the world, encouraging growth
and working out the way to proceed to longer term elections. After all these
are elections for a three-month tenure!

The bottom line is it's not about status but about function. I don't mind at
all if other people get elected to do the work that needs doing. I won't
lose any sleep. As an outsider, as a family man with a whole life beyond
ICANN, I look in on so many of these forums and what do I see? Infighting,
petty arguments, power struggles... all rich man's stuff... little
empires...

What really matters is a sane co-operative development of a resource for the
whole world, AND ESPECIALLY for the poorest and least privileged. Those
involved in ICANN should see it as a kind of stewardship, and they should
insist on openness and the representation of the vast majority of the people
in the world who use the internet.

Icannatlarge.com is not for those who are already in power (and Danny sounds
a good warning if that is what it was to become) : it is for those who
haven't even got a computer yet, and those who have a single webpage, and
those who have no webpages but value the internet and everything it offers.

Icannatlarge.com is a much-needed balance to the corporate constituencies
and vested interests... in the vacuum ICANN has created by deciding to
remove public representation at Board level, icaanatlarge.com offers an
honest co-operative focus for ordinary people. It's small... who knows, it
may grow bigger. It's marginal... but so are most people in the world. I
personally think it is a very interesting concept, and with a bit of
imagination "outsiders" may find they can network and organise and find a
voice - no, probably lots of voices.

The most important reason why icannatlarge.com is immediately useful is as a
signal to the power-groups INSIDE ICANN that there is a whole world of
ordinary people who are THERE, under-represented but THERE... and NOT going
away.

It's a really good feeling, to believe in a bit of idealism, to put the
focus on facilitation, on listening instead of telling, and to help instead
of trying to dominate. At this stage, who gets elected is less important
than what gets organised. It's more about helping each other, bouncing ideas
off each other, sharing skills... to be quite honest, if someone desperately
wanted to get elected because of a desire for power and influence, it would
be a bit embarrassing, because it would be so out of step with the bottom-up
co-operative impulse which at present is alive in this nascent group!

Richard Henderson

----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>
To: <dannyyounger@cs.com>
Cc: <ga@dnso.org>; ICANN At Large Forum <forum@atlargestudy.org>; Joop
Teernstra <terastra@terabytz.co.nz>
Sent: Monday, April 22, 2002 5:06 PM
Subject: Re: [ga] Re:
http://www.dnso.org/icannatlarge/2002.ICANNATLARGE-Panel-vote.html


> Danny and all assembly member, stakeholders or interested parties,
>
>   Unfortunately I have not received my E-Mail ballot.  I wonder when
> those will be sent out?
>
> DannyYounger@cs.com wrote:
>
> > Now that the DNSO Secretariat has provided a website address to monitor
the
> > activities at icannatlarge.com, perhaps the DNSO could also provide a
forum
> > for the candidates that are standing for election -- so far all that I
have
> > noted are candidate statements with absolutely no debate whatsoever...
the
> > classic "beauty contest".
> >
> > Whomever is the most "popular" candidate, by dint of prior activities
within
> > the ICANN Supporting Organizations will surely get the nod, even though
the
> > the very first principle enumerated by the former Membership Advisory
> > Committeee (MAC) stated:  At-large membership should primarily represent
> > those individuals and organizations that are *not* represented by the
> > Supporting Organizations.
> >
> > Will the At-Large ever become the home for those that are not
represented
> > within the SOs, or will it become nothing more than a new playground for
> > those that already participate via the SO structures?   Are we doing
nothing
> > more than shuffling the deckchairs?
> >
> > An election process devoid of all debate does not portend well for the
future
> > of this icannatlarge.com organization...
> > --
> > This message was passed to you via the ga@dnso.org list.
> > Send mail to majordomo@dnso.org to unsubscribe
> > ("unsubscribe ga" in the body of the message).
> > Archives at http://www.dnso.org/archives.html
>
> Regards,
> --
> Jeffrey A. Williams
> Spokesman for INEGroup - (Over 121k members/stakeholdes strong!)
> CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
> Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
> E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
> Contact Number:  972-244-3801 or 214-244-4827
> Address: 5 East Kirkwood Blvd. Grapevine Texas 75208
>
>
>

--
This message was passed to you via the ga-full@dnso.org list.
Send mail to majordomo@dnso.org to unsubscribe
("unsubscribe ga-full" in the body of the message).
Archives at http://www.dnso.org/archives.html