[Advisors] CIRA elections -- member slate
James Van Leeuwen
jvl at ventus.ca
Tue, 21 Aug 2012 17:16:12 -0600
A sound strategy Michael, please excuse my impatience.
I am presently working on a digital strategy for a First Nation =
community in Alberta, which has no formal physical addressing for its =
homes, businesses or other properties.
I now fully appreciate how seriously this hinders accessibility within =
the community for interests from outside the community.=20
I had my own difficulties finding my way around, but then I happened =
across a service crew from the gas utility operator trying to find their =
way around the community.=20
After two and half hours, they were still unable to locate the property =
where they were supposed to be completing a hookup.=20
This is clearly detrimental for emergency services, commercial services =
and any other kinds of services delivered into the community by way of =
the community's ad hoc road network (there is no network structure plan, =
and no designated street names).=20
It is a serious impediment to realizing the full economic and social =
utility of the community's road network.
The community has no choice but to build and maintain it its own road =
network, because it is prohibitively expensive to pay someone else to do =
it.=20
In the process, they have created employment for community members.
There is little if any 'road engineering' per se, but at least their =
road network is openly accessible.
The gas crew and I were free to access any location within the community =
using our own vehicles, and without having to engage (or enrich) the =
owner/manager of the roads.=20
There was no traffic shaping, other than preventing heavy vehicles from =
accessing some of the softer roads.=20
Lack of street names and addresses were the principal obstacle to my =
productivity, which is intended to support the community in creating =
value for itself.=20
Community networks, net neutrality and addressing are all critically =
important to realizing the full economic and social utility of both road =
networks and broadband networks.=20
This is the strategic context from which I am working, and I feel it is =
important for key stakeholders like CIRA to be doing the same.=20
Improving the economic and social utility of .ca domain names is what =
best serves CIRA's own interests.
I find this easier to recognize and promote from within the broader =
context of optimizing the economic and social utility of networks.=20
JvL
On 2012-08-19, at 5:05 AM, "michael gurstein" <gurstein@gmail.com> =
wrote:
> I agree James but I would guess that they would see this as getting =
involved
> in "advocacy" which, given their current position would be rather a =
leap...
> My sense is that for example, having them support research or more =
extensive
> stakeholder forums (as they have begun to do) is way of potentially =
sidling
> them into the broader issues.
>=20
> M
>=20
> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Van Leeuwen [mailto:jvl@ventus.ca]=20
> Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 10:15 AM
> To: michael gurstein
> Cc: 'Marita Moll'; 'Garth Graham'; 'TC Advisors'
> Subject: Re: [Advisors] CIRA elections -- member slate
>=20
> Neglected to add that the most concrete steps CIRA could take would be =
to
> adopt advocacy positions in favour of net neutrality and community
> broadband, given their importance to realizing the full economic and =
social
> utility of .ca domains.=20
>=20
> An address facilitates economic and social engagement.
>=20
> Net neutrality and community broadband do the same.
>=20
> JvL
>=20
>=20
>=20
>=20
> On 2012-08-17, at 1:47 AM, James Van Leeuwen <jvl@ventus.ca> wrote:
>=20
>> I agree with Marita... the opportunity is to shape Kevin's position, =
not
> endorse or condemn it.
>>=20
>> Give him what he's asking for (ammunition) and send him into battle.
>>=20
>>=20
>> This means concisely articulating TC's interests and objectives, and =
how
> CIRA could help to advance them.
>>=20
>> Pitching net neutrality in an economic development context offers the =
best
> leverage against opposing forces.
>>=20
>> CIRA can contribute to the problem (persisting disparities and =
growing
> opportunity costs) or the solution (community broadband).
>>=20
>> JvL
>>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>>=20
>> On 2012-08-17, at 1:15 AM, "michael gurstein" <gurstein@gmail.com> =
wrote:
>>=20
>>> While I agree that many of the younger folks in this space don't =
have=20
>>> a community networking experience I think that there is also a breed=20=
>>> of younger advocates who aren't completely immersed in seeing the =
net=20
>>> as exclusively a biz opportunity. While there may be a (limited)=20
>>> overlap in interests between open source/civil liberty etc. folks =
and=20
>>> folks concerned with digital inclusion for example I think it would=20=
>>> be a good idea to test out Kevin's position on the latter issues=20
>>> since for example one of the strongest recent advocates for "net=20
>>> neutrality" in the US is Ron Paul and his libertarian supporters.
>>>=20
>>> I think the litmus test should be however, what sort of a role he=20
>>> sees for CIRA. At the moment CIRA (like ICANN and a lot of such=20
>>> Internet tax
>>> harvesters) have more money than they know what to do with. In the=20=
>>> case of CIRA the mandate has been understood extremely narrowly as=20=
>>> being to promote first the technical well being and more recently =
the=20
>>> commercial well-being of the Net. This is by no means the norm and=20=
>>> other national governance bodies--I mentioned NZ, UK, and BR are=20
>>> acting in a rather more pro-active way in supporting social well=20
>>> being in a digital environment. (Bringing this to broader attention=20=
>>> is the underlying purpose of the IGF Workshop I pointed to earlier.)
>>>=20
>>> I think at a minimum we should expect Kevin to indicate what =
position=20
>>> he would advocate with respect to this issue.
>>>=20
>>> Best,
>>>=20
>>> MG
>>>=20
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: advisors-admin@tc.ca [mailto:advisors-admin@tc.ca] On Behalf =
Of=20
>>> Marita Moll
>>> Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 8:14 PM
>>> To: Garth Graham
>>> Cc: TC Advisors
>>> Subject: Re: [Advisors] CIRA elections -- member slate
>>>=20
>>> Keep in mind that we are talking about a young new breed of Internet=20=
>>> advocate who hasn't been around the pillar and post of community=20
>>> networking policy for all these many years. I think this is an=20
>>> opportunity to educate and build new alliances. God knows we don't =
have
> a lot to lean on.
>>>=20
>>> And thanks for the quote from CIF. I think I used it last year and=20=
>>> forgot. I will suggest he turn this back on them. CIF itself has=20=
>>> provided the rationale. But how does this pan out in the actual day =
to=20
>>> day work of CIRA and the CIRA board. That is the question I am =
trying=20
>>> to find some way of addressing
>>>=20
>>> Marita
>>>=20
>>> On 8/16/2012 12:31 PM, Garth Graham wrote:
>>>> On 2012-08-15, at 8:58 AM, Marita Moll wrote:
>>>>=20
>>>>> Tell me what you think about supporting him. Perhaps there are=20
>>>>> some
>>> things we would like to see added to this platform in return.
>>>>>=20
>>>>=20
>>>>>> Original Message --------
>>>>>> Subject: Re: Thanks for sending some support
>>>>>> Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2012 11:36:03 -0700
>>>>>> From: Kevin McArthur<kevin@stormtide.ca>
>>>>>> To: Marita Moll<mmoll@ca.inter.net>
>>>>>>=20
>>>>>> Yep, I'd be happy to. How did you see CIRA engaging on this? ..=20=
>>>>>> Can you
>>> help me understand what steps you were hoping to see CIRA take=20
>>> towards community driven broadband? When I talk about it as part of=20=
>>> my campaign, I'd like to be really clear on some concrete steps CIRA=20=
>>> can take towards facilitating and supporting this type of =
development.
>>>>>>=20
>>>> Because of the dominance of a "market-based approach" to "telecom"=20=
>>>> policy
>>> in Canada, the relationship of the Internet's future to questions of=20=
>>> social development policy has been eliminated from public policy=20
>>> discussion in Canada. Lots of people are fully aware that they risk=20=
>>> seriously pissing people off by making that point. McArthur's =
"hard"=20
>>> question raises a red flag for me. As a "public interest" candidate=20=
>>> can/should he answer it himself and is he just fishing to see what =
we=20
>>> say? Or is he making the point that our interests aren't=20
>>> sufficiently "registration" oriented to get us elected in that
> constituency?
>>>>=20
>>>> By saying as follows, CIRA itself seems to be a bit more open to =
"our"
>>> issues and concerns than he is:
>>>>=20
>>>>> The CIF process also revealed an emerging consensus that there is =
a=20
>>>>> need for a public forum where all stakeholders can help explore =
and=20
>>>>> articulate the public interest in the future development and use =
of=20
>>>>> the Internet in Canada - by considering its impacts; discussing =
the=20
>>>>> opportunities and challenges they present; identifying issues=20
>>>>> requiring action by stakeholders in government, the private =
sector,=20
>>>>> and civil society, and raising awareness of these issues among=20
>>>>> decision-makers and the general public in Canada and=20
>>>>> internationally."
>>>>> =
http://cira.ca/assets/Documents/Publications/wp-InternetCIF-CanadaF
>>>>> ut
>>>>> ure.pdf
>>>>>=20
>>>> I'd be more convinced if he answered along the lines of Mike's
>>> "mechanisms" workshop at IGF.
>>>>=20
>>>> Your question re Heather is important, because she's been able to=20=
>>>> foster
>>> discussions of the Internet's future in Canada more effectively than=20=
>>> we have. CIRA's forum initiative is important. Without getting to=20=
>>> the table at CIRA, TC lacks an important element that is implicit in=20=
>>> our ICANN/ALAC/NARALO responsibilities to the Canadian constituency=20=
>>> we claim we represent.
>>>>=20
>>>> GG
>>>>=20
>>>>=20
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>=20
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Advisors mailing list
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>>> http://victoria.tc.ca/mailman/listinfo/advisors
>>=20
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>=20