[Membership] Re: [RCS] James Fishkin proposes Internet Deliberative Council

[Greg Skinner <gds@best.com>]

I think the proposal is good in theory but suffers from some practical
limitations.  For example:

* What incentives (aside from monetary) would people have to
  participate in the poll?  In the US, we can't get people to vote in
  public elections or show up for jury duty.

* From what sources would potential participants be drawn?  Some
  sources bias in favor of English speakers, others bias in favor of
  males, others in favor of residents of North America.  A counter
  argument could be made that a random sampling of participants might
  unfairly bias against individuals or stakeholders that comprise a
  large percentage of Internet users.

* How would ICANN get the word out to the participants?  Would they
  contact them via email?  There is a risk that the call for pollsters
  would not be distinguishable from spam, and bias against people who
  filter out spam or otherwise ignore it.

* I think establishing this system would cost quite a bit of money.
  Arguably, the money might be better spent educating the public
  directly and encouraging its participation.

It might be useful to try this on a limited scale and see what the
results are.  For example, the first study could just poll people at
random with a few questions on what they know about ICANN and how they
feel about it.

--gregbo