Re: [soac-newgtldapsup-wg] JAS WG - just a thought...

[Andrew Mack <amack@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

All,

Enjoying the chance to participate with you all and think we're off to a strong 
start... though we clearly have a lot to do.  
To the points so far:

1) While reducing fees per se may not be within the group's purview as an 
"objective", Tony's point about reducing fees really did seem to hit home for a 
lot 
of WG members.  And while I get that the $185k number can't be just wished away 
-- Richard's point -- I also think that per the DAG this was an "average cost". 
 If not all applicants are equal, then one size shouldn't fit all and some 
applicants in an averaged system could/should pay less.  

2) To the question of funding, I agree that auctions are unlikely to be a 
consistent source of funding and are certainly unknowable in the short term.  
That said, Tony and Avri are right about the donors -- large amounts of donor 
financing are not just lying around unallocated.  My guess based on some work 
we've done with a World Bank administered Trust Fund is that the set up time 
(admin + getting payments in) would be a minimum of two years.  So again, 
donors are worth looking at but not quick.  

3) To who exactly we are trying to help as our "audience" (who might get 
support), I would agree there are clearly areas with more limited resources 
(LDCs, etc.) and as Olof suggests, they can be a starting point.  There are 
also ethnic/regional communities that might not be able to move forward without 
assistance (a .Hausa, or a .Zulu or .Roma perhaps).  There are 
linguistic/script communities (like Amharic).  However, when we move into the 
realm of philanthropy I think it becomes pretty messy pretty quick (e.g. who 
speaks for "human rights"?).  I suggest we try to keep with the other 
communities, as this will likely be enough work.

4) Maybe this is basic, but part of putting this in action is determining how 
much support would be needed.  Do we have any sense?  If a subsidy is 
appropriate (or lower price to be averaged out), do we have any sense of how 
much that amount might be?  How much would basic application support cost?  

Cheers, Andrew

 
Andrew A. Mack 
Principal
AMGlobal Consulting
+1-202-256-1077  
amack@xxxxxxxxxxxx  
www.amglobal.com




________________________________
From: Richard Tindal <richardtindal@xxxxxx>
To: Olof Nordling <olof.nordling@xxxxxxxxx>; soac-newgtldapsup-wg@xxxxxxxxx; 
Anthony Harris <anthonyrharris@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Mon, May 3, 2010 10:14:37 AM
Subject: Re: [soac-newgtldapsup-wg] JAS WG - just a thought...

Tony/  All,

Let me start by saying how glad I am this WG is now up and running.   I look 
forward to us finding ways to assist certain applicants in obtaining and 
operating TLDs.

Per the referenced 'Cost Considerations' paper (below)  the $185K evaluation 
fee is a fairly detailed estimate of the costs of setting up and administering 
the various policies and processes needed to take applications from submission 
stage to root entry stage.    

The $185K is an average based on costs divided by 500 applications.  As most 
costs are fixed,  the real cost per application will go down if there are 
substantially more than 500 applications and will go up if there are 
substantially less than 500 applications.     As the paper states, when the 
first round is complete, ICANN will assess actual costs and,  if there is a 
surplus from the $185K:   "ICANN will engage the community in how that excess 
is to be used".       A subsidization/ refund for certain applicants is one 
possible use of any surplus.

Tony - From your comments on the first call I can't tell if you're proposing 
that:

A.    the $185K is inaccurate (much too high) and should be reduced for all 
applicants;  or

B.    we should try to pre-determine which applications will be cheaper to 
process and charge them less than $185K at the time of application submission.

Can you clarify?

Many thanks

Richard






On May 3, 2010, at 6:54 AM, Olof Nordling wrote:


>Tony and all,
>Indeed, those interested can find it here: 
>http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/cost-considerations-23oct08-en.pdf 
>All the best
>Olof 
>
>________________________________________
>From: Anthony Harris [anthonyrharris@xxxxxxxxx]
>Sent: Saturday, May 01, 2010 10:02 PM
>To: Olof Nordling
>Cc: soac-newgtldapsup-wg@xxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: [soac-newgtldapsup-wg] JAS WG - just a thought...
>
>Dear Olof,
>
>For our next call, it might be useful for many, if you could
>point the WG to a document from the days of DAG 1,
>wherein ICANN staff explained the rationale that went
>into setting the application fee. Perhaps some WG
>participants may not have read it, or indeed if they
>have it's been a long time...This would be useful
>material to add to our discussions.
>
>Thanks
>
>Tony
>
>On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 11:57 AM, Olof Nordling <olof.nordling@xxxxxxxxx> 
>wrote:
>
>Dear all,
>>
>
>>
>Pondering how I could assist at this point, I started to look for
>>
>potentially informative background information – see a sample below. Yes, it
>>
>was inspired by Tony’s mentioning of GKP – I just had to look that up for a
>>
>start.
>>
>
>>
>Do you find it useful to put such links (without trying to catch all –that
>>
>would become unwieldy) in the Wiki?
>>
>
>>
>All the best
>>
>
>>
>Olof
>>
>
>>
>------------------------
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>Support organizations/programs
>>
>
>>
>Special Programs and Funds for LDCs at http://www.unohrlls.org/en/ldc/178/
>>
>
>>
>UN and civil society/NGOs cooperation regarding LDC at
>>
>http://www.unohrlls.org/en/partnerships/related/53/
>>
>
>>
>GKP, Global Knowledge Partnership at
>>
>http://www.globalknowledgepartnership.org/index.cfm
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>Which applicants may need support?
>>
>
>>
>Based on country origin?
>>
>
>>
>LDC (Least Developed Countries) at
>>
>http://www.unohrlls.org/en/ldc/related/62/
>>
>
>>
>LDC criteria at http://www.unohrlls.org/en/ldc/related/59/
>>
>
>>
>LLDC (Landlocked Developing Countries) at
>>
>http://www.unohrlls.org/en/lldc/39/
>>
>
>>
>LLDC description at http://www.unohrlls.org/en/lldc/31/
>>
>
>>
>SIDS (Small Island Developing States) at http://www.unohrlls.org/en/sids/44/
>>
>
>>
>SIDS description at http://www.unohrlls.org/en/sids/43/
>>
>
>>
>Based on legal form?
>>
>
>>
>Non-profit organizations - structure overview at
>>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-profit_organizations
>>
>
>>
>Non-governmental organizations - structure overview at
>>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGO
>>
>
>>
>Based on orientation, goals?
>>
>
>>
>Philanthropy, public interest......
>>
>
>>
>
>>