NPOC Comment Re: Member Admission Process and Member Databases

[Sam Lanfranco]

NCSG colleagues,

Following last week's exchanges about how we handle membership 
applications and manage the membership databases NPOC offered to explore 
the those issues that could be addressed within the Charters of NCSG, 
NCUC and NPOC, and come back with some comments and suggestions. Here 
are the comments and suggestions, as a contribution to doing two simple 
things better. For the record, I am primary author of the comments.

  Sam L.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*NPOC Comments on Improving the Handling of Membership Applications and 
the Management of the Membership Database:*

NPOC will open discussion on several issues in this comment, and suggest 
ways forward to greater clarity in the membership application process, 
and ways forward on the simple technical issue of maintaining NCSG, NCUC 
and NPOC membership data bases.

Revising and improving how we handle the membership application process 
and membership databases are technical issues within the existing 
charters of NCSG, NCUC and NPOC and need to be kept separate from other 
membership issues that are charter related. This comment deals with the 
application process and the membership databases.

Briefly reviewing the membership process, applicants apply for 
membership in the NCSG stakeholders group, and may (are urged to) apply 
for membership in one of the two constituency groups (NCUC and NPOC). 
Within the membership guidelines any non-commercial person or 
organization can also apply to the NCUC constituency group, but only 
not-for-profit organizations can apply to the NPOC constituency group.

*The membership application process:*

If one reviews the membership information and application processes on 
ICANN, NCSG, NCUC and NPOC it is clear that a constituent interested in 
membership can be left a bit confused. There is a need for a single 
common application form, located at one or more websites, with a common 
return to relevant membership committees, initially for NCSG 
consideration and NCUC/NPOC information, and subsequently for NCUC/NPOC 
consideration.

There is also a need for more clarity about the membership options, and 
for fields within the common form that allow an applicant to at that 
time request (or not request) subsequent consideration for NCUC or NPOC 
membership. This is a well-defined task that could be addressed by a 
small ad hoc committee made up of ICANN staff and NCSG, NCUC and NPOC 
members. Such committee would not address membership issues that are 
Charter issues but could identify and report such issues back to NCSG.

*Maintaining the membership database:*

NCSG, NCUC and NPOC are part of ICANN and should be using Internet best 
practices for maintaining usable and up to date membership information. 
There are existing Internet best practices that can be drawn on to 
achieve those objectives.

First, from a technical standpoint, from a user standpoint, and as 
reflected in the expressed views of Internet savvy NCSG members, there 
should be one master NCSG database with fields indicating NCUC and NPOC 
membership. This would allow those with approval the ability to access 
one or more of the NCSG, NCUC and NPOC views of the database.

The majority of the fields in the membership database should be 
populated directly by field information from the membership application 
form. NCSG, NCUC, and NPOC may wish additional fields, either embedded 
in the overall NCSG database or added as custom fields to an extracted 
subset of membership data, possibly for special events or initiatives. 
The master NCSG database will always serve as the membership list of 
record.

There are a number of issues with regard to the management of the 
membership database that require some discussion so that NCSG can take a 
position on them. They include:

1.Dialogue between the effort to construct the proper fields for the 
membership application and the field information desired by NCSG, NCUC 
and NPOC.
2.Where should the membership database be hosted? Should it be on an 
ICANN server or elsewhere?
3.Who should have what levels of access to the membership database?
4.Should members have password protected access to their own profiles in 
order to update information (especially important for organizations)?
5.Should profile access by via the ICANN dashboard?

There may be other issues with regard to the membership application and 
the membership database that reside within the terms of reference of the 
respective NCSG, NCUC and NPOC charters. Some may come out in the 
dialogue on the issues and tasks listed in this NPOC comment.

After a NCSG dialogue on these database issues it may be appropriate to 
strike a small ad hoc team to work up a concrete proposal to make 
recommendations to address the issues

Sam Lanfranco,
Chair, NPOC Policy Committee
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ncsg.is/pipermail/ncsg-discuss/attachments/20140926/18b62755/attachment.htm>