[Netreach-L] Candidates needed for Leadership Positions at ICANN

[P. Wingfield-Stratford]

To Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond
 From Peter Wingfield-Stratford
peterws at tobeistodo.demon.co.uk

Ref Participation in ICANN

I have browsed the ICANN Website, followed a Discussion on improving 
participation.

Interesting : I have something to say too.
Sadly ICANN dont seem to have any mechanism to add debate to a posted 
topic or to an item in a topic. ICANN is a Closed little world.

The ICANN is supposed to be about Communication,

Yet ICANN doesnt seem enabled to empower people to Communicate.

Re On Line Discussion of ICANN busines.

Of Course ICANN needs On-Line Discussion, just see the content of debate 
on this..

ICANN doesnt seem aware of the power of Computer-Mediated Conferencing. 
What is that one might hear back ???

Netreach had several systems that individual members ran on the Dialup 
of those days to give users a debating space that allowed separate 
topics and sub-topics to be added to the stack of content. These were 
examples of Computer-Mediated Conferencing..

NetReachers will recall EIES, which was a real Computer-Mediated 
Conference system, run over the "Internet" out of MIT but only in Text..

I ran MIST in Oxford for 10 years until the hardware was becoming a 
trifle flaky and also the use of Dial-up Conferencing had apparently 
become overtaken by the use of simple E-Mail and the Internet.

My MIST system was a sub-set of the routines developed for EIES, which 
ran on multi-user mainframe computers under UNIX. MIST operated a very 
featured system of real CMC on a single-user PC machine. It had 
incredible flexibility and potential for tailoring the features, also an 
excellent security framework. Users could use Alias, real names or keep 
their stuff anonymous. Conferences had moderators, a structure enabling 
management of debate, participants and the possibility to make 
questionaires and voting. There was a hugely configurable Database with 
searching built-in which gave great versatility and security in storing 
data. All these are things needed if ICANN were seeking to enable 
On-Line debate. I even have a version of MIST that operates over the 
Internet, but single-user only.

MIST was used to connect my Server in Oxford with PC computers in the 
jungle in South America via the INMARSAT Satellite network directly from 
my Barn in Oxford. It was able to be configured quite simply to do that. 
Nowadays such software could be operated readily by Mobile phones from 
anywhere in the globe. People would of course nowadays expect software 
that delivered HTML pages just like the usual systems of the Internet 
and multiple users and security - all the other stuff we expect in 
2010..

The Communitree Conference system was the first of this family of 
Conferencing software, for Apple. Lynn Hurn ran one for years also
in Brontlys in Wales.

There were other CMC systems but they fell out of favour because of 
changing standards, demise of Videotext, Service Provider charges and 
restrictions. Windows had a lot to answer for in how the firm cut out so 
many good software innovators.

NetReach had the Prestel Videotext Conference system which ran in 
demonstration conditions on a ship, HMS President on the Thames opposite 
the Law Courts.

It is surely not difficult now to create or to buy-in a pukka 
Computer-Mediated conferencing system having some or all of the features 
required for Debate by ICANN delivered in a modern way via the Internet. 
The problem is only that no-one seems to remember the power these 
systems had and how useful they could be. We have all become obsessed by 
tacky commercial systems of E-Mail stacks which seem like discussion, 
Blogs full of trivia, Social networks and so forth. These all lack vital 
features of a real powerful CMC Conference software. Anyone can start 
chats now, no-one can track what they discuss and apart from Wikipedia, 
does it matter. All the participants of such E-Mail stacks live in their 
little worlds. Thats not real debate. The cause of the difficulty is 
they are not true CMC.

I have all the source code for MIST routines, that is the interactive 
framework of interpreter-language scripts out of which the MIST 
appearance and the Conference structure was created out of the 
underlying MIST interpreter and database delivery system. Nowadays we 
dont need the underlying delivery system as we can re-create the CMC 
directly by software development in an Internet-savvy Programming system 
like Java.

If ICANN wants to do something useful they MUST enable public 
participation at least in their Topic database. They need buttons to add 
comment and an editor or monitor to mediate debate. They need someone to 
issue Press releases onto the Search-engines to publicise the debates.

I would happily assist there, but really the issue is ICANN needs a 
proper CMC and to show people how to use it and to use it to have 
debates and involve the feedback from external non-ICANN participants.

NetReachers for Ever !

NB Did you see the debate on how Google et all are driving all humankind 
into a clone-situation of self-feeding interests and consumerism on BBC 
TV late  1st March. ?

In message <4B8ACE15.5060107 at gih.com>, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond 
<ocl at gih.com> writes
>Hi everyone,
>
>please distribute this note to your local communities.
>There's a real number of opportunities there to make a significant
>difference! Apologies for cross-posting.
>Thanks,
>
>Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond
>ICANN Nominating Committee 2010
>
>--- cut here ---
>
>Call for Candidates for Leadership Positions at ICANN
>
>To reach another person on the Internet you have to type an address into
>your computer - a name or a number. That address has to be unique so
>computers know where to find each other. The Internet Corporation for
>Assigned Named and Numbers, ICANN, coordinates these unique
>identifiers
>across the world. Without that coordination we wouldn't have one global
>Internet.
>
>ICANN was formed in 1998. It is a not-for-profit partnership of people
>from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable
>and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops policy on the
>Internet?s unique identifiers.
>
>ICANN doesn?t control content on the Internet. It cannot stop spam and
>it doesn?t deal with access to the Internet. But through its
>coordination role of the Internet?s naming system, it does have an
>important impact on the expansion and evolution of the Internet.
>
>More information about ICANN on:
>http://www.icann.org/en/participate/what-icann-do.html
>
>We're looking for candidates!
>
>ICANN's Nominating Committee is looking for volunteers to fill several
>ICANN leadership positions
>and is accepting applications. The closing date is April 2, 2010.
>
>Positions to be filled this year:
>
>* Three members of the Board of Directors of ICANN
>* Two At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) representatives (one each
>from
>the European and North American regions)
>* One member of the Council of the Generic Names Supporting
>Organization
>(GNSO)
>* One member of the Council of the Country-Code Names Supporting
>Organization (ccNSO)
>
>Successful applicants will take their seats at the conclusion of the
>2010 AGM, (5-10 December, Latin America.)
>
>For information on how to apply or to recommend someone, see
>< http://nomcom.icann.org/ >
>
>If you have any enquiry, please do not hesitate to email
>nomcom2010 at icann.org
>
>--
>Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond, PhD
>http://www.gih.com/ocl.html
>_______________________________________________
>Netreach-L mailing list
>Netreach-L at gih.co.uk
>http://salsa.gih.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/netreach-l

-- 
P. Wingfield-Stratford