[ga] NAIS Workshop Announcement

[Rob Courtney <rob@cdt.org>]

Members of the General Assembly,

Attached please find a formal announcement of NAIS's Melbourne 
workshop. For those who will be in Melbourne, I hope to see you 
there! And for all others, there will be a real-time audio stream 
and, later, a permanent archive of the goings-on.

Please help distribute this!

r

* * *

(Please distribute widely)

THE FUTURE OF THE AT-LARGE MEMBERSHIP &
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN ICANN

A Workshop Hosted By

THE NGO & ACADEMIC ICANN STUDY (NAIS)

Friday, March 9, 2001, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Bellarine Room 2, Melbourne Exhibition & Convention Center

Additional Information & Webcast at <http://www.naisproject.org/>

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

PANEL 1: RE-EXAMINING THE ROLE OF THE "PUBLIC" IN ICANN

MODERATOR: STEFAAN VERHULST, OXFORD UNIVERSITY
INVITED PARTICIPANTS:
	- KIMBERLEY HEITMAN, CHAIR, ELECTRONIC FRONTIERS AUSTRALIA
	- ANDREW MCLAUGHLIN, CHIEF POLICY OFFICER, ICANN

The U.S. Government statement of policy (the White Paper), which 
called for the creation of the private, non-profit corporation that 
is now ICANN, said the following:

"The development of sound, fair, and widely accepted policies for the 
management of the DNS will depend on input from the broad and growing 
community of Internet users.  Management structures should reflect 
the functional and geographic diversity of the Internet and its 
users."

But three years later, with ICANN now making decisions critical to 
the future of the Internet, no clear consensus has immerged in the 
ICANN community on how to define the "broad and growing community of 
Internet users," on the proper balance in ICANN's governance between 
the public voice and the voice of more specific stakeholder 
communities, or on the potential of the public to contribute to 
ICANN's mission.

In this panel, members of the NAIS project will explore these 
questions with panelists and with members of the audience.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

PANEL #2:  MECHANISMS FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN ICANN

MODERATOR: ALAN DAVIDSON, CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY & TECHNOLOGY
INVITED PARTICIPANTS:
	- IVAN MOURA CAMPOS, AT-LARGE DIRECTOR, ICANN
	- DAVID STEELE, ATTORNEY WITH CHRISTIE, PARKER & HALE, AND 
MEMBER OF THE BOSTON WORKING GROUP
	- THERESA SWINEHART, ASSOCIATE COUNSEL, WORLDCOM

The ICANN community is now evaluating its first At-Large election 
experience, through which individual Internet users worldwide 
selected five At-Large members of the ICANN Board of Directors in 
Fall 2000. As a part of this evaluation, the community must ask 
itself:  Is directly electing members of the ICANN Board the most 
appropriate means for the broad community of Internet users to 
participate in ICANN's governance, or should alternatives be 
considered?

While broader questions regarding the basic purpose, concept and 
definition of the At-Large membership will be considered in Panel #1, 
this panel will focus on more practical questions of structure and 
process - evaluating various institutional forms and mechanisms for 
providing the broad community of Internet users with opportunities to 
participate in selecting ICANN directors and setting ICANN policy.

In this panel again, NAIS team members will discuss these questions 
with invited participants and members of the audience.

***

FOR MORE INFORMATION about the workshop or about the NAIS project, 
please visit the NAIS Web site at http://www.naisproject.org/ , or 
e-mail Rob Courtney at rob@cdt.org.
-- 

Rob Courtney
Policy Analyst
Center for Democracy & Technology
1634 Eye Street NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
202 637 9800
fax 202 637 0968
rob@cdt.org
pgp id: 0xAD7123FB
http://www.cdt.org/
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