Schedule conflict between ALAC and Board public forums

["Edward Hasbrouck" <edward@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Today a change to Friday's schedule was posted on the ICANN Web site:

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http://www.icann.org/meetings/vancouver/#ScheduleandAgenda

Friday, 2 December 2005 - please note that the times for this day's agenda 
has been revised 

ALAC Meeting (12:30 -15:00) Fraser
A public meeting on At-Large (individual Internet users) organizing and 
policy activities 

Public Forum (13:30-17:30) Grand Ballroom A,B,C

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I'm puzzled as to why the ALAC public forum and the Board public forum 
have been re-scheduled simultaneously but separately: These two meetings 
overlap from 13:30-15:00.

This prevents anyone (including members of the Board who might be 
interested in at-large opinion) from observing both public forums.

This is clearly detrimental to the ability of at-large stakeholders to 
participate fully or have their views heard, since these are *the* two 
opportunities for direct at-large input to the bodies through which they 
are represented (ALAC and the Board).

*No* other constiuency has a meeting, much less its forum for stakeholder 
input, simultaneously with any Board meeting or public forum.

Perhaps this is an innocent error, but it is hard to avoid wondering if   
this *might* be intended to reduce the attention paid to the at-large 
forum, by sidelining it to a "ghetto" while the "real" business is 
conducted before the Board.

As an at-large stakeholder and as a journalist wishing to observe and 
report fully on both the ALAC and Board public forums, I ask that ALAC 
request that the schedule be changed to eliminate the overlap.

Sincerely,

Edward Hasbrouck


----------------
Edward Hasbrouck
<edward@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<http://hasbrouck.org>
+1-415-824-0214