At a glance
At-Large community members greatly appreciated the live demonstration of the alpha version of the new At-Large website. They commented positively on the progress, enjoyed the user experience, and provided a large amount of valuable feedback.
Recent Developments
During ICANN53, a 45-minute session was held on the At-Large Website Revamp project featuring a live demonstration of the alpha version of the new At Large community website. An interactive pie chart on the alpha homepage provides visitors a visual representation of ALAC policy advice since 2003 on 18 key issues impacting Internet users, including WHOIS, IDN, and New gTLDs. Visitors can click on each slice of the pie and be directed to a dedicated page to learn the basics about a given issue, read its latest news and developments, and track the history of ALAC advice on the issue.
The new At-Large site will also integrate with the ICANN Public Comment page. Corresponding to a given public comment period, a 'Policy Detail' page on the At-Large website will be created automatically with metadata pertinent to the public comment period. If the ALAC wishes to issue a statement on a public comment proceeding, ALAC staff will be able to customize that page to help visitors understand why and how the statement is made, to record the statement's development milestones, and to direct interested visitors to the ALAC wiki workspace to get involved in the process. Once a Statement is final, ALAC staff will be able to upload a PDF document for visitors to download and will also be able to submit the Statement to public comment with one click.
At-Large community members commented on the user experience of the policy section on the website. They were pleased to see how the site will improve the policy management process system and facilitate the participation from both newcomers and experienced members in providing policy advice to ICANN.
Another highlight of the live demonstration was the interactive map on the alpha homepage. Visitors can view the number of At-Large Structures (ALSes) in individual countries and click on a country to conduct research on individual ALSes. The map can also switch into the 'RALO' view, which provides visitors a gateway to the future homepage of each Regional At-Large Organization in the website.
Two other pages were also shown to the community: 1) an At-Large Calendar page that allows users to browse and download At-Large meetings and events to their own Google Calendars, and 2) a Policy Summary page that enables users to search ALAC Policy Advice Statements based on topics, stakeholders, and other filter values.
During the live demonstration, community members were pleased to see the progress. They spent time interacting with the site and provided a large amount of valuable feedback. They emphasized the importance of keeping historical data, creating a document depository, having a translation strategy, showcasing individual members on the map, and presenting multimedia resources among other requirements. Several At-Large community members also volunteered to join the At-Large Website Revamp Taskforce, offering to help in the next stage of development of the new site.
Next steps
The next stage of website development will focus on the remaining site sections, including the About page, Get Involved, Working Group section, and RALO homepages. The At-Large Website Revamp Taskforce will be expanded to include more community members for gathering additional information and insights. In the autumn, a webinar on the new At-Large website will be organized to help At-Large community members understand how the new site will facilitate their work in At-Large and in ICANN. The beta site is scheduled to launch at ICANN54.