Re: [Membership] Remote Participation in the Singapore Open Meeting

[Kim Isbell <kisbell@law.harvard.edu>]

Why Singapore? Easy. The thought is to spread the meetings out around the globe, since the Internet is international, and not limited to the US or Europe or Japan or... The first public meeting was held in Boston back in November. Then came Geneva. Now Singapore.
Next South America. After that, Africa is probably up for a shot. People from Toronto, LA, Mexico City, and the Caribbean all have had a better opportunity to make an ICANN meeting (in Boston, or the upcoming one down in South America) than people in the Asian
Pacific reason. And Singapore a) happens to be somewhat centrally located and b) has another meeting occurring around the same time where many of the interested parties will already be in attendance, thus making it easier for them to attend the ICANN meeting as
well. So there's no conspiracy, nor is this the first or the last meeting that will be held. The goal is to get as much international participation as possible. Unfortunately, that means that there will be some meetings that people like yourself and Mr. Allistat
cannot make. That is why we have e-mail lists like this one, video/audio feeds, and a host of people trying to read public feedback, and in some cases actively solicit it.

-Kimberley Isbell,
Berkman Center for Internet and Society
RCS

Michael Gendron wrote:

> Again, my original question - what was the decision criteria for having a meeting in Singapore? Why not Toronto or LA or Mexico City or the Caribbean?   Why Singapore - that is my question?  Like I said, I appreciate the real video connection, but why Singapore?
>
> I meant I am new to this discussion group.  I have been following the progress of all of this for a long time. As the owner of an (small) Internet consulting firm, and now as a Ph.D. candidate and adjunct faculty at SUNY Albany.
>
> Michael Gendron