[gnso-idn-wg] RE: Potential IDN WG related meeting on Sunday 25th at 9am in Lisbon

["Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Subbiah,

Thanks for your email regarding the lack of notice of meetings on the
weekend of Saturday 24 and Sunday 25.

The published dates for the ICANN meetings are indeed from Monday to
Friday (26-30 March 07).

For the past couple of years, the GNSO and the GAC tend to hold working
group meetings on the weekend preceding the ICANN meeting, as there is
never enough time during the main plenary sessions to cover all the
material.

The GNSO Council has again arranged for a meeting room to be available
for use by GNSO groups on Saturday and Sunday.   Each GNSO Committee,
task force or working group is welcome to schedule some meeting time
with the GNSO Secretariat.  Information about the meeting schedule is
usually discussed within the GNSO Council meetings, and updated
schedules are posted to the GNSO Council mailing list:

E.g
http://www.gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg03319.html


 The new gTLD committee has scheduled several meetings, and has
allocated time to consider the reports from the IDN and Reserved Names
Working Groups.  The intent is not to debate the merits of the various
inputs, but to understand the nature of the reports and the degree to
which there is some emerging consensus around particular suggestions.
This is certainly not a replacement for the deliberations that have been
occuring within the working group.

It is an oversight that the relatively new working groups have not been
informed of the possibility/likelihood of meetings being scheduled on
the weekend.   I note that the chairs of the other working groups are
GNSO Council members, and generally have participated in other GNSO task
force or committee work on the weekend so would have been aware of past
practice.  Unfortunately Ram Mohan may not have been aware of the
possibility of weekend meetings, and hence he was not able to convey
this to the IDN working group.  I will ask the staff to make such
material more readily available on the main page of the GNSO website at
http://www.gnso.icann.org in future, and ensure that all working groups
are kept abreast of the GNSO Schedule of meetings.


In terms of the main meeting schedule, time will be scheduled during the
GNSO Public forum for each working group to presently publicly their
input on Wednesday, and for the public to respond.  The GNSO Council
will meet following the public forum and will discuss next steps and
conclusions that can be drawn from the working groups.

The Council meeting agenda has been published at:
http://www.gnso.icann.org/meetings/agenda-28mar07.shtml

In terms of scheduling the sessions between the new gTLD committee and
the IDN working group - the gNSO Secretariat will investigate options -
but it is still likely to occur on the Sunday - given a packed agenda
for GNSO Council members that are members of the new gTLD committee.   
See:
http://www.gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg03319.html
Members of the IDN working group will be free as individuals to
highlight issues for consideration by the GNSO Council during the GNSO
Public Forum.



There is far more flexibility to schedule an additional IDN working
group meeting sometime later in the week, if so desired by the working
group.   For example often groups attempt to schedule a meeting prior to
the GNSO public forum to agree the best way to present progress so far.
This can be done through consulting with the GNSO Secretariat.  Groups
may also wish to schedule a meeting after a public forum to consider the
public input received.


Regards,
Bruce Tonkin




> -----Original Message-----
> From: subbiah [mailto:subbiah@xxxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: Wednesday, 21 March 2007 3:04 AM
> To: gnso-idn-wg@xxxxxxxxx; GNSO.SECRETARIAT@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; 
> Bruce Tonkin
> Subject: Potential IDN WG related meeting on Sunday 25th at 
> 9am in Lisbon
> 
> 
> Ram (IDN WG chair) and Bruce (GNSO Council Chair),
> 
> It has just come to my and others attention that a meeting of 
> some sort 
> is being planned for 9am on Sunday the 25th at Lisbon where 
> the work of 
> the IDN WG is being presented to the GNSO Council. As far as 
> I can tell 
> this event has not yet been publicized on the icann.org 
> meeting web-site 
> schedule/agenda. Neither has such information, to date, as 
> far as I know 
> been sent to anyone on this IDN WG working group mailing list. 
> Nevertheless, it appears that some select members of the IDN WG have 
> been aware of this for some time.
> 
> If this meeting is really true and is designed for input from 
> the IDN WG 
> work, then it is important that all and any IDN WG 
> contributor should be 
> able to participate.
> 
> Speaking for myself and a number of others on this list, people have 
> already made travel plans for Lisbon based on  the published  
> available 
> information and will be arriving too late for the 9am 
> meeting. Many plan 
> to arrive in time for the official Monday morning start. And 
> it is too 
> late for many to make travel changes.
> 
> I would think given the public commitments you have made recently to 
> allow more equitable access and participation in IDN WG 
> efforts from the 
> community, it would be in that spirit to reschedule this meeting to 
> Monday or later during the official time.
> 
> I think there is time to do this and demonstrate the general 
> commitment 
> you have made previously.
> 
> I and assume others here on the IDN WG ( many of whom are 
> probably only 
> finding out about this for the first time about this from 
> this email by 
> me)  look for a favorable and fair response.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Subbiah
>