[wg-c] Funding for NGOs in Cairo (was: Chosing Initial Testbed)

[Harold Feld <hfeld@mediaaccess.org>]

Jamie wrote:
>   There were quite a few.  ACM, CPT, CPT, Digital Bridges and Common
>Cause were among the US NGOs.  There were others too from Korea and
>Latin America.   The Markle Foundation has a fund to support NGO travel

>to these meetings.  And, the NC constituency has its own mailing lists
>too.

Credit should be given where credit is due.  Ford Foundation contributed
a
lot of money, and Ford and Markle jointly created the travel fund and
gave the contribution to the Saltzman Foundation to ensure continued
public
representation at ICANN.  Markle deserves credit for getting earlier
and funding the election study, but Ford has also been making
significant
contributions.

I suspect we will see more involvement from foundations like Markle,
Ford,
McCarthur, etc. as the policy implications of standards setting and
technical
coordination become increasingly important.  Mark Cooper at CFA is fond
of
saying that policy can drive technology just as technology drives
policy.
A statement that pisses some engineers off no end.

Harold