Objectives & Principles

The guiding principles behind the provision of services is as follows:

1. A more standardized approach

   The ICANN community is global and needs to have the tools to participate in the work of ICANN effectively and efficiently.  Services required to facilitate a global Internet event are not the same services required for a monthly community working call.  Remote participants should be able to easily understand the services to expect for each type of session and easily access them. On the links to the right you will find more details about the various remote participation services offered at typical ICANN meetings, as well as the rationale behind the way services are provisioned.

2. Equalized experience

   Both high and low bandwidth options are available, so that those with limited connections have an equal opportunity to participate remotely using low-bandwidth streaming audio feed (for those sessions that support streaming audio). Additionally, at all ICANN meetings, a remote participation manager facilitates the audio and, if available, video experience to include remote participants in all aspects of the session, as if they were in the physical room.

3. Choice of Operating System

   Services and tools are available on variety of devices and platforms, and do not require additional installations or support.  Where possible, open source products and systems are utilized.

4. Monitoring Services during Sessions

   A key part of ensuring the remote participation experience works well is ensuring that services are monitored – from both a technical and operational perspective.  In room staff will be connected to the chat room for meetings with chat facilities so that remote participants can identify problems they experience (for example, that audio volume is too low for certain speakers on audio streams).

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Standard Services

From the submenus to the right, select the service you are most interested in.

Adobe Connect

An Adobe Connect 'virtual room' is linked to each  physical room at an ICANN meeting; this link to enter the virtual meeting room can be found on each session page.

Adobe Connect rooms at an ICANN meeting will have the same names as the physical rooms at the conference site. Where some community groups have established AC sessions that they use on a regular basis and want to use for their ICANN meeting session, those Adobe Connect rooms will be linked to the agenda page in place of the ICANN meeting conference room.

ICANN Staff has created a presentation to show remote participants how to utilize Adobe Connect as a remote participation tool at each ICANN meeting - simply follow this link: Adobe Connect - How To Interact as a Participant in Adobe Connect 5.14.pdf

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Video Streaming

Streaming video is available as standard for the largest general sessions at an ICANN meeting, such as the Opening Session, Public Forum, and the Public Board meeting. When provided, it will be indicated on the remote participation session details in the ICANN meeting schedule. Streaming video can be viewed through the Adobe Connect virtual room and a hosted broadcast site, for those meetings where it is available.

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Scribing

Live scribing in English will be available for sessions in the main meeting room only and will be seen in the Adobe Connect virtual room. To the extent that it is technically possible to deliver, a low-bandwidth simultaneous text-based scribe feed will be indicated on session agenda pages and on the remote participation schedule as 'Scribe Feed'.

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Audio Streaming (listen-only)

Audio streaming is available in both a higher-bandwidth 64kbps stream and a lower-bandwidth 16kbps stream, as shown in the remote participation session details in the meeting schedule. Where a session features interpretation, audio streaming will be available in all languages available to in-room participants.

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Chat

Adobe Connect has a chat room for all participants to interact in one virtual space. All chat rooms are attended by a member of staff to ensure face-to-face participants hear remote participants' views and questions. It is important to note that the chat is a part of the public record and will be recorded as such.

Behavior in Chat Rooms

Please be advised that comments made in chat rooms are subject to the Expected Standards of Behavior which are documented in the Accountability and Transparency Frameworks and Principles adopted by the Board of ICANN on 15th February 2008. These may be found at http://www.icann.org/en/accountability/frameworks-principles/community.htm#f.

Chat room participants who behave in a manner that is clearly in breach of these standards may be removed from the chat room without warning, depending upon the seriousness of the breach, as perceived by those staff attending the chat room.

If you are excluded or asked to desist in making certain comments and believe the treatment you received was unreasonable, you are entitled to ask the Ombudsman of ICANN to review the matter. You may find more information about the Ombudsman at http://www.icann.org/ombudsman/.

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'Remote Interventions' During Attended Chat Sessions

In some sessions,  real-time questions and comments may be submitted by remote participants for reading out to the room. Questions or comments submitted – known as 'remote interventions' – will be read out by the member of staff attending the chat room.

If not enough time is available for all interventions (Remote and In-Person) to be made orally, upon request these questions can be forwarded to the relevant person and published after receipt to the record of the meeting as required. 

Remote Intervention Guidelines

In order to ensure that the maximum numbers of remote participants are able to have their views expressed in a session, please be aware of the following:

1. Remote and in-room interventions are treated equally. This means, for example, that just as in-room comments or questions are generally preceded by the person stating their name and affiliation, the same is expected of remote interventions.
2. If you are in a session which does not have a form to use to submit questions, you'll want to enter your question or comment in the chat room for the session. Please precede it with "Question" or "Statement". Don't forget to include your name and affiliation.
3. If a time limit is imposed on interventions made in person, those same limits are applicable to Remote interventions.

All comments and questions, both in-person and remote follow the ICANN EXPECTED STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOR. Remote or in-room questions or comments in breach of these guidelines will not be read out and that person will be called to order.

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Special Services

Audio (bidirectional)

For some sessions, a telephonic conference bridge will be connected through the public address system in the room, allowing remote participants to listen to anything said in the room through a microphone, and allowing anything said by remote participants on the conference bridge to be heard by the in-room participants.

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Video Presentations

Where a presenter is not physically present at the conference, Skype, Facetime, or Google Hangouts will be used to connect the presenter to the in-room audio system with a bidirectional connection, and video will be projected onscreen. This is a special, limited availability service.

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Records and Recordings

Video

Video recordings will be available the same day the session ends as a part of Adobe Connect session recordings. After the meeting concludes, recordings may be made available independently of AC recordings on ICANN's hosted video channels.

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Audio

All audio recordings will be posted within 24-48 hours of the sessions conclusion, in every language that was available during the session.

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Transcriptions

When noted as a service to be provided in the session agenda, transcripts will be posted within seven days of the end of the session. If that session had interpretation, transcripts will be available in English only.

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Improvements and Feedback

There have been many improvements to remote participant services over the years and will continue to review services on a regular basis as our global community grows.  ICANN is very interested in your thoughts and hope you'll take the time to share your remote participation experience by sending any comments to engagement@icann.org.

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