ALAC to Bring African Internet User Community Leaders to Carthage

Applications Encouraged for Travel Funding to Workshop/ICANN Meetings

 

iCSF Fellow Announced

ICANN's At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) (<http://alac.icann.org/>) is conducting a workshop on 27 October 2003 in conjunction with ICANN's quarterly meeting in Carthage, to help individual Internet user community ("At-Large") leaders in Africa inform, organize, and involve in standards and policy setting activities, Africa's individual Internet user community. The ALAC has been awarded an infoDev iCSF grant to support the participation of qualifying individuals from African countries in the workshop.

The workshop will 1) help advance participants' knowledge of the design, operation and management of the Internet, as well as the standards, policy structures and processes that effect them; and 2) provide participants' with information and tools with which to form local and regional Internet groups to advance African users' interests in ICANN and Internet standards and policy setting that will effect them.

African individual Internet user community leaders will leave the workshop and ICANN meetings with the tools and information they need to organize (or apply for an existing group to be designated as) an "At-Large Structure" and work with other groups to form an African Regional At-Large Organization (RALO) that will inform and involve the African Internet user community in ICANN and Internet standards and policy setting activities. Once established, these At-Large Structures and RALO will be able to provide information to African Internet users on relevant ICANN activities, participate in standards and policy setting activities that can effect African users, take advantage of Internet education opportunities, and send user representatives to serve on ICANN/Internet policy-development committees.

The ALAC is soliciting participants who are leading members of local, country or regional groups in Africa that advance or improve individuals' use of the Internet in some way. The ALAC will pay for travel to Carthage and lodging for a limited number of individuals who are leading participants in non-governmental, non-profit Internet and computer society chapters, consumer advocacy groups, academic institutions, and community networking organizations (and other groups that involve individual Internet users).

Participants will:

1. Participate in an ALAC Workshop on: Design and Operation of the Internet; Management, Coordination, and Governance of the Internet; and Organizing to Advance African Individual Internet User Communities' Needs.
2. Observe ICANN meetings on such topics as establishment of an African Regional Internet Registry, country code top-level domains, global top-level domains, implementation of international domain names, etc.
3. Attend social/networking events to meet technical, commercial, civil society, and governmental leaders and experts in the Internet community, as well as other African Internet user community leaders.

Participants' tentative schedule is expected to include:

• Monday, 27 October: Workshop -- "Forming a Voice for African Internet Users"
• Tuesday-Thursday, October 28-30 (schedule not finalized): ICANN constituency and issue meetings (workshop participants will attend ICANN meetings to advance their knowledge about Internet issues and ICANN activities and to take advantage of networking opportunities).

Interested individuals should immediately send an email to michel@icann.org with the following information:

Name:
Nationality:
Email Address:
Employer:
Job Title:
Role of participant in home country:
Reason for attending conference: