A Proposal to Merge NCSG, NCUC and NPOC for More Efficiency in ICANN=?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=99s_?=DNS Work

[Stephanie E Perrin]

First, I would like to thank Sam for his thoughtful and thorough post 
which started this discussion.  It is long overdue, in my opinion.

As Sam indicated, our history show that we have had quite a bit of 
friction and fruitless arguing over the arrival of NPOC and the 
readjustment of the former NCUC and the new NCSG to include the new 
constituency.  NPOC itself has gone through a fair bit of soul searching 
as it developed its new Charter.  I am personally very happy that the 
current management team, Joan Kerr, Bruna Santos, and I have got along 
very amicably and cooperated, particularly during this last difficult 
year.  I think it has helped engender the trust and thoughtful 
discussion that might actually allow us to talk about the pros and cons 
of this "merger".

As Raymond pointed out, however, NCSG as the overall body which elects 6 
councillors to the GNSO, already exists.  Any councillor represents 
NCSG, not his or her chosen constituency.

I had intended to advance on this discussion during my tenure as NCSG  
Chair, but circumstances have not favored the introduction of such 
discussions. However, we are now facing a dramatic re-imagining of how 
ICANN is going to do business, and potential travel restrictions for a 
long time to come.  It is a great time to talk about different ways of 
being a successful stakeholder group, and perhaps developing different 
roles for some of our elected leaders, rather than simply repeating 
administrative functions.  This is particularly important, given the 
scarcity of volunteers actively working on policy issues.  I will put 
together a google document with pros and cons, as Dorothy suggested, and 
post it to the list.

Thanks to Raph for digging out more correct numbers, I will check the 
membership lists and get back to you all with the precise numbers.

Stephanie Perrin

NCSG Chair


On 2020-07-11 10:49 a.m., Raphael Beauregard-Lacroix wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Just for the record, all in all ncsg is in the 800 members range, 
> including orgs and individual members. But I see that we need to 
> update certain public-facing pages in that regard. It's been noted and 
> will be acted upon as far as NCSG is concerned.
>
> I'm also looking forward to a plan regarding Sam's proposal, that 
> aligns identified issues and their proposed solution. Like many others 
> I'm not against a merger, on the contrary rather. But it would 
> necessarily be a long process, and it must be one carried forward by a 
> group of dedicated members and not by the ECs as ECs (and maybe not 
> even by EC members as individuals, depending on charter language). Not 
> only is this a charter requirement like James pointed out, but it is 
> also a long-term legitimacy requirement.
>
> And it must be a process that will aim to solve concrete issues we are 
> facing. For example: if we have a problem with allocation of travel 
> support, a big merger in itself will not solve this, but changes to 
> the travel support policy of SG and Cs will.
>
> Have a nice weekend,
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 11, 2020, 10:02 James Gannon <lists at icann.guru> wrote:
>
>     In the last election we had 240 voters. Of which I would estimate
>     15% are actually involved in any work.
>
>     Sent from my iPhone
>
>>     On 11 Jul 2020, at 14:53, Sam Lanfranco <lanfran at yorku.ca
>>     <mailto:lanfran at yorku.ca>> wrote:
>>
>>     
>>     Dorothy, et. al.,
>>
>>     I could be way off on membership. Better indicators are active
>>     participation and voter turnout.
>>     The ICANNWiki pages for NCSG, NCUC are one or two years out of
>>     date. NCSC claims 500 members
>>     The NPOC ICANNWiki page is up to data and links to a list of 100
>>     members.
>>
>>     Not counting those who are just NCSG members we are in the 600
>>     claimed member range.
>>     Without diminishing the heroic work of NCSG/NCUC/NPOC volunteers,
>>     that still leaves us a
>>     weak leg on the ICANN multistakeholder stool.
>>
>>     Sam
>>
>>         ---- Original Message ----
>>         *From*: dorothy g <dgdorothydg at GMAIL.COM
>>         <mailto:dgdorothydg at GMAIL.COM>>
>>         *To*: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>>         <mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
>>         *Sent*: Sat, Jul 11, 2020, 9:29 AM
>>         *Subject*: Re: A Proposal to Merge NCSG, NCUC and NPOC for
>>         More Efficiency in ICANN’s DNS Work
>>
>>         I agree.  If someone could help us with a table of pros and cons
>>         I was also surprised that the total membership is only around
>>         300?
>>
>>
>>
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