We have put that document out in a radically different public comment period to allow for as much community discussion and collaboration as possible.

The comment period uses Jive software which allows for simple interaction and discussion between community members. It is an experiment we are running from now until 24 September. You can view everyone’s responses, clearly broken down into different areas, and if you register post your own thoughts and responses. As well as vote in polls, write blog posts, and so on.

The AC/SO summary drew out six main issues as well as seven suggested solutions to fix those issues. The top two issues were frustration and exhaustion at the huge volume of work, and the lack of visibility of the impact of volunteer input on decision-making.

The top three suggested solutions were: prioritization of the workload; better scoping of issues at the start of policy processes; and improving accessibility to issues by providing summaries.

Now we need you as the community to flesh out these broad points into specific ideas and suggestions.

The discussion space will be shut down after 30 days as the experiment closes and a report will then be written covering what happened as well as the feasibility of using Jive or similar software for future community discussions.

So if you want to make your voice heard not only about how ICANN can improve but the ways in which those improvement discussions are held, then please login on today and start interacting.

You can log-on to the collaborative space at: https://jive.dev.icann.org/community/acso.

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Améliorations institutionnelles

Les rôles et les responsabilités des comités consultatifs (AC), des organisations de soutien (SO), du personnel chargé des politiques et du Conseil d’administration dans le cadre des processus de l’ICANN : la situation actuelle et les évolutions possibles

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Ce thème sera examiné dans le contexte actuel de l’ICANN en tant qu’organisation et notamment : les pratiques actuelles et leur contribution à la transparence et à la responsabilisation ; les revues indépendantes continues des AC et SO et les réorganisations à venir ; la consultation sur l’amélioration de la confiance institutionnelle (IIC) qui a suivi la revue semestrielle de l’accord de projet conjoint (JPA) entre l’ICANN et le gouvernement des Etats-Unis ; et la revue actuelle du JPA qui est en cours.

Les présidents de chacun des AC et des SO souhaiteraient noter que la discussion sur les systèmes actuellement en place n’implique PAS de critique implicite que ce soit de la communauté ou du personnel. Le but de la discussion est d’identifier les domaines susceptibles d’être améliorés.

Plutôt, la conférence de Sydney offre une occasion unique de jeter un coup d’œil sur certains des aspects pratiques de l’effort continu de l’ICANN visant à améliorer la confiance institutionnelle.

Les thèmes actuels de la communauté que la conversation devrait effleurer comprennent :

• Les revues indépendantes continues des différentes parties du modèle de l’ICANN
• La consultation et les recommandations relatives à l’amélioration de la confiance institutionnelle
• La fin de l’accord de projet conjoint avec le gouvernement des Etats-Unis en septembre

Les questions spécifiques qui seront examinées comprennent :

1. Les rôles et les responsabilités des AC, des SO et du personnel chargé des politiques :
a. Quels devraient être ces rôles ?
b. Quelle est le bon équilibre entre l’activité bénévole et l’activité du personnel chargé des politiques ?
c. L’équilibre actuel est-il correct ou devrait-il être modifié ?
d. L’équilibre actuel conduit-il à un épuisement des bénévoles ?
e. Un changement d’équilibre diminuerait-il le degré de réalisation ascendante privée de politiques ?

2. Le personnel chargé des politiques en tant qu’intermédiaire du Conseil d’administration :
a. Toutes les communications entre les SO devraient-elles être modérées par le personnel chargé des politiques?
b. Devrait-il y avoir une communication directe entre les Conseils et le Conseil d’administration ?

3. Communication du Conseil d’administration avec les comités consultatifs :
a. Tous les AC devraient-ils avoir les mêmes droits en termes de recommandations et de réponse à leurs problèmes de la part du Conseil d’administration ?

4. Transparence des communications :
a. Les communications du personnel au Conseil d’administration devraient-elles être confidentielles ?
b. Les communications concernant les activités des AC ou des SO devraient-elles être confidentielles?
c. Quelles autres communications ont besoin d’être gardées confidentielles ?
d. Quel serait l’effet si la plupart des communications entre le personnel et le Conseil d’administration étaient rendues accessibles à l’examen de la part de la communauté ?

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Mejoras Institucionales

Los roles y responsabilidades de los Comités Asesores (ACs), Organizaciones Auxiliares (SOs), Personal de Políticas y Junta Directiva, en los procesos de la Corporación para la Asignación de Números y Nombres en Internet (ICANN): situación actual y evoluciones posibles.

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Este tema será explorado dentro del contexto actual donde la Corporación para la Asignación de Números y Nombres en Internet (ICANN) es una organización, en particular: las prácticas actuales y su contribución a la transparencia y rendición de cuentas; continuas revisiones independientes de los Comités Asesores (ACs) y Organizaciones Auxiliares (SOs) y posterior reorganización; consulta sobre la Mejora de la Confianza Institucional (IIC) que siguió a la revisión intermedia del Acuerdo de Proyecto Conjunto (JPA) de la Corporación para la Asignación de Números y Nombres en Internet (ICANN) con el gobierno de los EE.UU.; y la revisión actual del Acuerdo de Proyecto Conjunto (JPA) que se está llevando a cabo.

Los Presidentes de cada uno de los Comités Asesores (ACs) y Organizaciones Auxiliares (SOs) desean señalar que el discutir sobre los sistemas que actualmente están en lugar NO implica ninguna crítica implícita, ni de la comunidad ni del personal. El objetivo del debate es identificar áreas de mejora.

A este respecto, la reunión de Sídney ofrece una oportunidad única para echar un vistazo a algunos de los aspectos prácticos de los continuos esfuerzos internos de la Corporación para la Asignación de Números y Nombres en Internet (ICANN) para mejorar la confianza en la institución.

Los tema actuales de la comunidad que se esperan abordar, incluyen:
• Las continuas revisiones independientes de las diferentes partes del modelo de la Corporación para la Asignación de Números y Nombres en Internet (ICANN).
• La consulta y recomendaciones sobre la mejora de la confianza institucional.
• La finalización del Acuerdo de Proyecto Conjunto (JPA) con el gobierno de los EE.UU., en el mes de septiembre.

Las preguntas específicas que serán exploradas, incluyen:

1. Roles y responsabilidades de los Comités Asesores (ACs), Organizaciones Auxiliares (SOs) y personal de Políticas:

a. ¿Cuáles deberían ser estos roles?
b. ¿Cuál es el equilibrio adecuado entre las actividades voluntarias y la actividad del personal de políticas?
c. El equilibrio actual, ¿es el correcto o debe ser alterado?
d. El equilibrio actual, ¿conlleva al agotamiento de voluntarios?
e. La alteración del equilibrio, ¿disminuiría el grado de elaboración privada de políticas de abajo hacia arriba?

2. El personal de Políticas como intermediario de la Junta Directiva:

a. ¿Deberían todas las comunicaciones entre las Organizaciones Auxiliares (SOs) ser moderadas por el personal de Políticas?
b. ¿Debe existir una comunicación directa entre los Consejos y la Junta Directiva?

3. Comunicación de la Junta Directiva con los Comités Asesores:

a. ¿Deberían todos los Comités Asesores (ACs) tener los mismos derechos en términos de recomendaciones y respuesta de la Junta Directiva a sus problemáticas?

4. Transparencia de las comunicaciones:

a. ¿Deberían las comunicaciones del personal a la Junta Directiva ser confidenciales?
b. ¿Deberían las comunicaciones relacionadas con las actividades de los Comités Asesores (ACs) y Organizaciones Auxiliares (SOs) ser confidenciales?
c. ¿Qué otras comunicaciones necesitan seguir siendo confidenciales?
d. ¿Cuál sería el efecto de liberar la mayoría de las comunicaciones entre el personal y la Junta Directiva para revisión de la comunidad?

The idea was to find a formula for open communication that was more than a repeat of existing open microphone sessions. The chairs also wanted to create a forum that could break through the silos of discussion and communication in which ACs and SOs often operate. And, lastly, they wanted the opportunity to discuss topics of mutual interest and importance, and to have those topics suggested by ACSO members.

Click here to jump to the meeting agenda

Each time, feedback has been taken from the community and the session adjusted to reflect that. For Sydney, the decision has been taken to reduce the time taken on Monday to just one session of 90 minutes and to concentrate on a single topic (albeit with multiple arms).

The colored cards used by the audience to express agreement, disagreement and either neutrality or uncertainty are back by popular demand, and a whiteboard will be introduced so that the discussions that take place can be captured and something tangible produced as a result of the conversation.

The ACs and SOs will again be represented by anywhere between one and four representatives and the session will be moderated again by Patrick Sharry. More details on the precise format will be run through at the start of the session.

For the dedicated ACSO session webpage, please visit: http://syd.icann.org/acso

AGENDA

The ACSO session will have as its focus the following topic:

Institutional Improvements

The roles and responsibilities of ACs, SOs, Policy Staff and Board in ICANN’s processes: current situation and possible evolutions

This topic will be explored within the current context of where ICANN is an organization, particularly: current practices and their contribution to transparency and accountability; ongoing independent reviews of the ACs and SOs and the subsequent reorganizations; the Improving Institutional Confidence (IIC) consultation that followed the midterm review of ICANN’s Joint Project Agreement (JPA) with the US government; and the current review of the JPA that is underway.

The Chairs of each of the ACs and SOs would like to note that discussing the current systems in place does NOT imply any implicit criticism of either the community or the staff. The aim of the discussion it to identify areas of improvement.

Instead, the Sydney meeting provides a unique opportunity to take at look at some of the practical aspects of ICANN’s continuing internal effort to improve institution confidence.

Current community topics that the conversation is expected to touch upon include:

• The ongoing independent reviews of the different parts of the ICANN model
• The Improving Institutional Confidence consultation and recommendations
• The conclusion of the Joint Project Agreement with the US government in September

Specific questions that will be explored include:

1. Roles and responsibilities of the ACs, SOs and Policy staff:

a. What should these roles be? 
b. What is the right balance between volunteer activity and policy staff activity?
c. Is the current balance correct or should it be altered?
d. Does the current balance lead to volunteer exhaustion?
e. Would shifting the balance diminish the degree of private bottom-up policy making?

2. Policy staff as Board intermediary:

a. Should all communications between the SOs be moderated by Policy staff?
b. Should there be direct communication between the Councils and the Board?

3. Board communication with Advisory Committees:

a. Should all ACs have the same rights in terms of recommendations and response by the Board to their issues?

4. Transparency of communications:

a. Should staff communications to the Board be confidential? 
b. Should communications regarding AC or SO activities be confidential?
c. Which other communications need to remain confidential?
d. What would be the effect of making most communications between staff and the Board open to community review?

The meeting will be held in two 90-minute sessions, separated by a 30-minute break, and with a 30-minute feedback period at the end. There will be two broad discussion topics of common interest, with specific sub-questions. They are:

14:00-15:30 — EXPANDING THE NAME SPACE
- What is the impact of the new gTLD and IDN Fast Track processes on the market structure of the Domain Name Space and ICANN’s processes?
- How should geographic names be handled and is there a blurring of “cc” and “g” spaces ?
- What should be the cost and the pricing structure for new TLDs (both application fee and ongoing fees)?

Sessions will be public and transcribed, but they are not a public forum. Opinion will however be sought during the discussion through the use of coloured cards to represent whether people agree or disagree with a particular comment or proposal put forward. A feedback period will follow at 17:30 where members of the community will be invited to comment on any of the topics discussed in the previous two sessions.

Please note that the session and its format remain experimental in an effort to improve discussion and interaction between Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees. As such, not only do we expect to learn from the session in Mexico but we will be seeking feedback from the SOs and ACs themselves after the meeting is over in order to identify improvements for ICANN’s next meeting in Sydney in June.