Re: [soac-newgtldapsup-wg] JAS WG - Draft agenda for next call

[Andrew Mack <amack@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Evan,

Apologies for not sending this earlier to the group.  Busy morning


Carlos and I had a great talk yesterday as part of 
our effort to
give some frame to discussions on who might use/need support and what 
forms
that support might take.  
 
Obvious choices for groups receiving support 
fell for us
into two baskets:  

a)Ethnic and linguistic groups – the Quechua-speaking
community, the Hausa community, members of the Zulus community etc. – 
that
have a sense of community identity

b)Communities of interest that are non-profit in
nature – NGOs, churches, associations  
 
Candidates in group a) seemed more 
straightforward, as the
groups are fairly self-defined and the rationale behind a gTLD is would in most 
cases
be relatively non-controversial.  In some
cases these groups might transition to strong business models, but 
support
seemed to make sense to get them through the application process and 
perhaps
beyond.
 
Candidates in group b) might be more 
challenging, as ICANN
has shown some reticence in past when it comes to supporting groups with 
political
or religious preferences.  
 
Criteria for group a) would seem easier to 
identify:
·         Location
·         Goals
·         Level of community support
·         Sustainability model
Additional criteria might be needed for group b) if support
were requested around how representative the group was of their
community, long term viability of the organization, etc.
 
We noted that many religious institutions and 
some large
NGOs could pay the cost if they chose, so support would appear 
inappropriate in
these cases as the WG discussion has focused on applicants really 
“needing”
support.
 
ICANN might also wish to consider some outreach 
specifically
around the idea of gTLDs in traditionally under-represented markets.  As 
Carlos, Baudouin and others have noted,
many possible applicants in Emerging Markets might not have enough 
knowledge of
the process to apply, even if there was interest.  We discussed the idea of 
creating a pre-qualification workshop and templates that would help potentially 
interested
applicants determine real suitability (and help ICANN avoid having to 
evaluate under-qualified
proposals). 
 
In terms of the kinds of support, we identified a few areas
for consideration, among them:
·         Legal/documentation – providing support to cover
legal costs or process docs
·         Translation – as this functions as a
disadvantage to many in the non-English speaking world
·         Training – in areas like building a
sustainability plan, marketing, and operations
·         Fees – either reduced fees/subsidies or some
sort of phasing in of fees (pay in tranches)
 
These were the four big areas for support, but 
there are
likely more.  Some of these areas -- such as translation -- would seem to be 
easily actionable with limited cost.

 
What does everyone think?
Andrew and Carlos

PS -- Evan/Avri I will be need to be out on Monday, so Carlos will lead from 
our side.  Cheers, A

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




________________________________
From: Evan Leibovitch <evan@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Olof Nordling <olof.nordling@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "soac-newgtldapsup-wg@xxxxxxxxx" <soac-newgtldapsup-wg@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Fri, May 14, 2010 9:05:14 AM
Subject: Re: [soac-newgtldapsup-wg] JAS WG - Draft agenda for next call




On 14 May 2010 07:56, Olof Nordling <olof.nordling@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

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>Dear all,
>Please find a draft agenda for Monday’s JAS WG call
>below.

It looks good, except that I haven't seen much discussion on WT1 or WT2. So 
there won't be much of an update on Monday unless some initial discussions 
start happening.

Would the leaders of the two teams like to start something? Toss out an initial 
idea of what the issues are and perhaps and opening position. To assist people 
in following, start the Subject with
"WT1" -- Review of the existing application fee structure
"WT2" – Who should qualify for subsidies and where to find the subsidy money

We will certainly have some discussion on the call but it will go easier if 
there is some preliminary discussion on this list first.

Thanks!

- Evan