Re: [alac] ALAC structure and strategy

[Bret Fausett <bfausett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Just catching up on several items in advance of our call this afternoon.

Annette Muehlberg wrote:

> 1. The board discussed the question of possible conflicts of interests. I think we as ALAC members should give a good example and make a conflict of interest disclosure.
>  
This makes a lot of sense. Here is ICANN's Conflicts of Interest policy:

http://www.icann.org/committees/coi/coi-policy-04mar99.htm

We ought to have at least the same set of rules for the ALAC, with our 
conflicts committee to which we send our annual disclosure reports.

> 3. Talking about money: It is surprising to me, that neither the ALAC team itself nor the connected staff member has clear information on what the budget is. The budget should be run/organized by ALAC and not by the staff. The ALAC has to make a plan on what activities it is planning to achieve. Sometimes it helps to travel less and instead produce more information material and organize events.
> ALAC needs: 
> - a strategic plan (consisting of two parts: goal and action, that is, describing the overall goal of serving endusers interests and the concrete activities for 1 year)
> - financial plan
> - budget transparency 
>  
This makes a lot of sense. I wonder whether we should ask to take 
control of our own budget and administer it ourselves. I believe the 
GNSO administers its own budget.

> 4. How to develop a strategic plan for ALAC?
> The existing strategic plan of ICANN is only of limited help for that.
> And I did not see a paper by the GAC on a public policy strategy, but I will 
> ask them to be sure about that.
>
> If we see the internet as public good to serve the endusers interests, we should develop a list of criteria which has to be fulfilled. Then we can test all the (business) proposals against these values (like: accessability, costs, chance to identify oneself with a new TLD, easy use etc.). The values defined should fit in a concept of connecting the world and sharing knowledge.
>  
Good point. We ought to keep our core values narrowly defined to those 
things within ICANN's mission, but it would be very helpful to have a 
common vision and an agreed set of principles.

> 5. Outreach: Information and Fun – a toolkit for non-ICANNics
> To develop a >toolkit< ALAC could link up with other groups in the area of open source, creative commons, wikipedia translations.
>  
This is terrific. As I see it, outreach is our number 1 priority right 
now. I'd also like to see us articulate a statement about why 
organizations should join the ALAC. What's the value proposition? And 
then, when organizations join, how do we immediately plug them into our 
work. That's where the toolkit comes in.

I'd also like to see us implement some of Sebastian's ideas that he 
presented in Luxembourg.

Bret

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