Share your views with the At-Large Study Committee in Stockholm

DATE: Tuesday, June 5

TIME: 08:30 - 12:30

PLACE: Stockholm International Fairs, Room K22

If you are interested in improving ICANN and helping the general Internet community, please participate in the At- Large Study Committee's Stockholm meeting. The meeting will be chaired by ALSC Chair, Carl Bildt, Internet advisor and former Prime Minister of Sweden, and will feature two sets of panelists representing a range of experiences and views.

Two primary issues will be addressed by the audience and panelists:

1. Criteria for At-Large membership, including who wants to be involved in ICANN (but isn't), who should be involved in ICANN (now and in the future), and whether membership should come with any requirements or fees (how to encourage, and fund efforts of, informed and committed members); and
2. Role and structure of At-Large membership, including what should be the function of an At-Large membership, and how an At-Large member should be involved in ICANN – from providing input through the existing ICANN structure, to creating a new At-Large decision-making structure - from electing no Directors, to electing them all.

Several panelists have conducted studies or written papers that examine roles, requirements, processes, and structures relating to individuals' involvement in ICANN and other international organizations. These documents, and additional information recommended for your review prior to the meeting, are available on our website.

All interested individuals are encouraged to participate in this meeting. If you will need translation assistance, or you would like to volunteer to be a translator at this meeting, please send an email to dmichel@atlargestudy.org and we will try to accommodate you. If you are unable to be there in person, please send your thoughts/questions to us in an email via our on-line forum or send them to comments@atlargestudy.org .

We look forward to hearing from you!

The At-Large Study Committee

08:30 Introductions and update on current state of the ALSC's "thinking"

08:40 Criteria for At-Large membership

A panel-led discussion about the potential ways of defining and implementing At-Large membership - from the "open to anyone who's interested" model, to specific membership criteria and fees.  Discussions will address who wants to be involved in ICANN (but isn't), who should be involved in ICANN (now and in the future), and whether membership should come with any requirements or fees (how to encourage, and fund efforts of, informed and committed members)?

Panelists will briefly discuss their work and experience, and help meeting participants address relevant questions, such as:  How should an At-Large member be defined, and what are positive and negative repercussions of proposed definitions?  Should membership come with some responsibilities, such as knowledge of ICANN's mission, or participation in discussions and decision-making, or voting for representatives? Should there be any membership requirements or fees (and if so should the fees be scaled)? Would requirements and fees encourage only the committed and informed to participate?  What are individuals' rights as Internet users and how are those rights protected through At-Large membership and representation schemes for those who are At-Large members?

Panel:  Marilyn Cade (USA); Ndeye Maimouna Diop (Senegal, ICT and ccTLD team member); Hans Klein (USA, CPSR); Alan Levin (South Africa, AfriDNS, AfrICANN); Don Simon (USA, NAIS researcher); Alexander Svensson (Germany, Icann Channel Europe); Mao Wei (China)

10:00 Break

10:15 Role and structure of At-Large membership

A panel-led discussion about what should be the function of an At-Large membership, and how an At-Large member should be involved in ICANN – from providing input through the existing ICANN structure, to creating a new At-Large decision-making structure - from electing no Directors, to electing them all.

Panelists will discuss their work and experience and help meeting participants address relevant questions, such as:  Should individual users simply share their views with ICANN's Board/Supporting Organizations (SO's) via emails and on-line forums, or should they be involved in some formally structured, systematic way in ICANN's decision-making process?  Should ICANN's Board and SO's be changed to accommodate At-Large member participation, and if so, how? Are new processes and structures within ICANN needed for At-Large member involvement, such as an "At-Large membership Council/SO?  Should a country or region-level or other kind of structure be created to facilitate user involvement?  Should At-Large members be encouraged to form platforms, constituencies or parties representing particular points of view (instead of the regional focus of past elections)? Should individual users' involvement be limited to electing At-Large Directors, and if so how many should be elected, and how?  What lessons have been learned from last year's direct election of At-Large Directors, and from At-Large processes/structures (inside and outside ICANN)?  There are countless other ways to involve users and for them to play a role in ICANN decision-making -- which ones do you think are best, and why?

Panel:  Christian Ahlert (Germany, NAIS, former MITF member); Raul Echeberria (Uruguay, former At-large candidate); Hans Petter Holen (ASO Address Council); David Johnson (USA); Wolfgang Kleinwaechter (Denmark, AMCR); Toshimaru Ogura (Japan, JCA-NET)

11:45 General Discussion

12:20 Closing Remarks