[wg-e] WG-E part 3

[Kilnam Chon <chon@cosmos.kaist.ac.kr>]

WG-E members,

here is the original Part 3 draft report for your reference to compare with
the harmonized document by chuck.

chon
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                                                           2000.5.22
1. Title

   ICANN DNSO WG-E Global Outreach and Awareness
   Part 3: Outreach

2. Objective

ICANN and DNSO need to outreach globally in order for these organizations
to be viable.  Geographical diversity as well as cultural diversity
needs to be emphasized, too.

3. Case Studies

There are several outreach efforts being undertaken now at ICANN such as

    ICANN At-Large Membership Drive
    APTLD Internet Seminar Tour
    Regional Meetings

(1) ICANN At-Large Membership Drive

ICANN has been working on the at-large membership from its inception, starting
with Membership Advisory Committee.  Recently, ICANN decided to have the
at-large members as well as the related taskforce and committees.  One of the
role the at-large members play is to elect ICANN Board Directors from the
at-large membership body.  There are currently over 15,000 members, and
ICANN expects to have 20,000 ~ 30,000 when it closes the membership drive
at the end of July 2000.  Many are from the developed countries, in particular
from North America.  It is important to have good geographical diversity
as well as cultural diversity.  Particular efforts are needed among developing
and emerging countries as well as non-English speaking counries.  Some of
the notable efforts are in Asia where the membership drive with regional
meetings are taking place.  Similar efforts are needed in other parts of
the world including central and south Asia, Latin America, Africa and
Middle East.

(2) APTLD Internet Seminar Tour

APTLD with APIA started Internet Seminar Tour in Asia in 1999, and visited
five countries to give seminars on the Internet governance as well as Y2K.
Some of these countries formed committees and groups to work on the Internet
governance and participation to ICANN activities.  Three African countries
were also visited in late 1999.

APTLD in 2000 visited two countries so far, and plan to visit 6 more countries
with APNIC in 2000.  The major issue to address in 2000 is ICANN participation
through the at-large membership and others.  

Typical arrangement is for APTLD to pay the airfare, and the speaker to
donate his time.  The local arrangement is done by the local host.  Asia-Pacific
plan to visit as many countries in Asia-Pacific as possible to outreach
in early days of ICANN.

(3) Regional Meetings

Many countries and regions are holding various meetings; workshops, tutorials,
seminars, conferences and so on.  This is true throughout all regions of the
world; North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.  
Regional Internet organizations such as regional ccTLD groups, and regional
Internet registries(RIR) as well as national organizations play the major
roles.  Some cross fertilization is taking place such as exchanges of
personnel and information materials such as among RIRs, between Asia and
Africa, and between Asia and Europe.

4. Recommendation

We are heading for 30,000 at-large members among 60 or more countries by 
July 2000, which is good starting point for outreach effort.  The next
phase needs good geographical diversity and cultural diversity as well as
effort to retain the at-large members.  We need to consider the following
issues;

(1) Regional offices

It is important to have regional offices to have refined outreach.  These
may be based on the geographical regions and/or cultural/language regions.
We may start from the exising regional organizations such as regional ccTLD
group secretariats, registrars and ISPs, and RIRs.  

(2) Seminar Tour

The seminar tours initiated by APTLD may be expanded to other regions to
have extensive outreach.  Seminar materials may be shared and jointly
developed if necessary.

(3) Regional  Meetings

It is important to share the experience and information materials among
regional and national meeting organizers, starting from listing the meetings.
Know-how and technology trasnfer between regions and countries are also
very important and effective.

5. Remarks

Support to geographical and/or cultural regions where ICANN activities are
not well informed such as Central and South Asia, Middle East, and some
parts of Africa is urgently needed.  This includes personnel support,
funding support, and information material support.