Public Participation Committee (PPC) Minutes 3 November 2010

PPC Attendees: Jean-Jacques Subrenat – Chair; Thomas Narten; Gonzalo Navarro; Vanda Scartezini; Katim Touray; and Kuo-Wei Wu

Other Board Attendees: Rod Beckstrom; Peter Dengate Thrush

Staff Attendees: David Olive – Vice President, Policy Development Support; Samantha Eisner, Janice Douma Lange, Christina Rodriguez, Nick Tomasso, and Filiz Yilmaz


The following is a summary of discussion, action taken and actions identified:

  1. Approval of Minutes: All voting members in attendance approved the minutes of the prior PPC meeting.

  2. Introduction to New Senior Director: The CEO introduced Filiz Yilmaz, the new Senior Director of Participation and Engagement.

  3. Emerging Technologies and website updating: The CEO provided a brief presentation on the need for ICANN to move to new Web 2.0 technologies and follow the lead of the community in moving to more collaborative tools, such as the At Large Advisory Committee's migration to the public wiki. The CEO and PPC also discussed the need for the ICANN website to be updated and allow for collaboration on community-created content, while maintaining the authoritative nature of ICANN-produced information, as well as the need to leverage social networking tools. The PPC noted that the updating of the website, as the main place for first contact with the organization, needs to be a top-level priority, and asked for continued updates on the ongoing process within ICANN to update the website.

    • Actions:

      • Staff to provide note to PPC regarding how new social media and Web 2.0 tools can be used to involve community in policy formation.

      • Staff to provide a proposal regarding work to update the ICANN website, including initial plans for updating and an indication of the work necessary to complete the process, including proposed mechanisms to use the website to increase public participation. The website update should have a clear delineation of the right combination of authority and public involvement for the purposes of public participation in policy participation.

  4. Meetings of the Next Decade: After an introduction from staff, the PPC discussed the proposed final report on the Meetings of the Next Decade consultation, including discussion on proposals relating to hub cities and remote participation tools and outreach to newcomers to ICANN. The PPC discussed the need for the report to be clearer in recommendations for PPC consideration and to provide clearer organization of the issues under larger headings. In addition, the PPC discussed the need to advance this work beyond the results of the survey and engage the community in brainstorming of ideas, such a s meeting review committee and others, that should be brought to the surface prior to submitting proposed final recommendations to the PPC or the Board. The PPC also discussed the need to consider other means of public engagement than meetings.

    • Actions:

      • Staff to provide specific suggestions for consideration regarding future meetings, such as formulation of options for recommendations for PPC consideration. The recommendations should be more straightforward than previously presented.

  5. PPC Public Session in Cartagena: The PPC discussed a proposed agenda for a session with the public in Cartagena, including a report on the previous work of the PPC and seeking community suggestion and comment on PPC work, including the meeting consultation.

    • Actions:

      • Staff to revise agenda to conform to PPC comments geared towards engaging the community in substantive discussion at the session with the public.

  6. Public Comment Process: The PPC began a discussion regarding the need to reform ICANN's public comment process to make it more meaningful.

    • Actions:

      • Staff to formulate a concise problem statement regarding ICANN's public comment processes, to lead to a thought out proposal for modification.

  7. Remote Participation Coordination: The PPC briefly discussed the possibility of coordination with other organizations on remote participation issues.

    • Actions:

      • Staff to follow up with contacts with other organizations to begin discussions regarding coordination on remote participation.