Last year, we hosted the first APAC Space in a web conference format. The aim of the new format was to encourage sustained interaction among the community and facilitate active community participation regarding ICANN-related discussions.
Since then, we have organized six APAC Space web conferences, which have resulted in regular participation from our community members. Each web conference provided community members the opportunity to learn about and discuss ICANN-related policy issues. It also allowed us to build a network among ourselves, and get to know leaders from the ICANN community.
In May 2017, we conducted the first APAC Space Survey to get the community’s feedback on which topics they were most interested in. The results suggested a rotation of topics including ongoing policy development processes (PDPs), reviews, and discussions on current issues that have an impact on the domain name system (DNS), the DNS industry, and ICANN.
Another important outcome of the survey discussions was the formation of APAC Space subgroups, which takes the community-led APAC Space to the next level. Community members could self-organize a subgroup based on their common interest topics. The subgroups enable community members with subject matter knowledge to have an in-depth discussion on the topic. At the same time, they can also help other community members better understand complex issues with their knowledge. Such community-led initiatives can help our community become more confident about getting involved in ICANN’s work.
These subgroups can also share their discussions with the wider APAC community. For instance, the first subgroup that was formed, the APAC Space Data Privacy & Protection subgroup (led by Kuo-Wei Wu and Holly Raiche), introduced the topic to the APAC community in the recent APAC Space web conference held on July 2017. The subgroup proved to be effective, as there was a vibrant and lively discussion among the participants.
We would like to thank you for growing together with us, and for playing a part in evolving the APAC Space. We hope that the APAC Space will continue to be a regional platform or “practice ground” for you to get together, so as to facilitate your participation in global ICANN discussions.
To engage with us and participate in APAC Space discussions, subscribe to discuss@apacspace.asia or email apachub@icann.org.
This is the 1st installment of our 3-part APAC Regional Office 4th Anniversary Series. Look out for our 2nd & 3rd installments soon.