[wg-d] WG Principles

["Bret A. Fausett" <baf@fausett.com>]

One of the mandates of this Working Group is to "Prepare Working Group 
and Public Consultation Procedures."  To that end and to get the 
conversation started, I thought I would circulate the following list of 
principles that I believe the DNSO's internal operating procedures on 
Working Groups should follow. 

I'm sure this is not complete, but I thought if we could agree on some 
fundamental principles, then drafting proposed rules would be much 
easier. 

        -- Bret

                           D R A F T
                         2 August 1999

The DNSO's Working Group process should...

Organization

o  	Provide for the ability of the Names Council to propose 
   	a Working Group and fill that Working Group with persons 
   	interested in and capable of accomplishing the proposed work;
   
o  	Provide for the ability of the General Assembly to self-
   	organize a Working Group and follow the same procedures and 
   	achieve the same results as Names Council organized groups;
   
Statement of the Work to be Done

o  	Provide for the ability of the entity creating the Working 
   	Group to define the work to be done; BUT ALSO, 

o  	Provide the Working Group with the flexibility to re-define or 
   	modify the work assignment as it meets and receives input from
   	the community;
   
o	  Provide a place and time for the Working Group's mandate 
	   to be publicly posted and commented upon;
	  
The Work

o   Provide appropriate fora for discussion and debate;

o   Provide leadership to moderate and steer the debate;

o	  Provide a mechanism to draft any recommendations or reports;

o  	Provide a mechanism for publishing and publicizing the work,
	   including interim work, of the Working Group and seeking
	   additional input;
	
o	  Provide appropriate amounts of time for input and comment;

o	  Provide a mechanism for public comment, and if necessary or 
	   advisable, open real-time hearings on the issues under 
	   discussion;

o 	 Provide a mechanism for reviewing public comments and
	   revising draft reports;
	
o	  Ensure that all notices, drafts, comments and other documents
	   generated by the Working Group are maintained, archived, and 
	   publicly available;

Reports

o	  Provide a mechanism for determining whether "consensus" exists
    on a proposed report, and if not, ensuring that all serious 
    points of view are included in the final report;
  	
o	  Provide a standard format for proposed reports that includes a 
	   statement of the issue, an objective analysis of the problem 
	   posed for the working group and the competing considerations, 
	   a detailed statement of why the Working Group has arrived at 
	   the submitted conclusion, and an overview of the comments received.
  	
Transmittal

o 	 Provide a mechanism for forwarding completed reports to the 
	   Names Council;
	
o	  Provide a way for the Names Council to ask additional questions 
	   of the Working Group and for the Working Group to respond.