Hi Arsène,
Of course this can be flagged if that is the view of the community. I was
speaking in my personal capacity when I suggested it was not helpful to raise
this issue in our response to this consultation exercise – it is also why I
noted that I will be responding to this consultation individually, because I am
aware that my views on the Fellowship programme probably do not align with those
of everyone in the NCSG.
But to your question, my rationale here is that it is very easy to ask for too
much and not to recognise everything we have gained along the way. The proposed
changes to the Fellowship programme go above and beyond what most would have
reasonably asked for. We now have something on the table that is goal-driven and
merit-based. It is also more inclusive, on every metric, than its predecessor.
It is my view that we should thank ICANN staff for seeking to redesign the
Fellowship programme so to advance the goals of ICANN’s unique, participatory
multistakeholder approach to governance. Of course this is not a substitution
for all the advocacy and engagement work that ICANN staff do around the world,
which will and should continue, but it’s an excellent evolution.
The strongest arguments we can make, in any consultation response we write, are
those supported by evidence. If we have mechanisms through which we can
eliminate linguistic hurdles, let’s make them known to ICANN staff. But machine
translation is not there yet. And how much would human translation /
simultaneous interpretation into seven languages cost? I haven’t priced it but
I’m willing to guess it’s expensive.
I’m sorry if you found my comments arrogant. That wasn’t my intention. I’m just
not a huge fan of asking for blank cheques to be written, and I like to give
credit where credit is due.
Best wishes,
Ayden
On Wed, Jun 15, 2016 2:54 PM, Arsène Tungali [log in to unmask] wrote:
Ayden,
You have spoken some true reality and I pretty much agree with the challenges
the world have in so many other platforms or organizations related to language.
This is not only about ICANN but for so many other organizations dealing with
ICT Policy, etc. And I am glad you presented some innovative ways people like us
are relying on to better participate or contribute to ICANN's work.
But i don't like the way you point or present your arguments, the way you
explain those challenges, I am tempted to say, in an arrogant way (not to be
taken parsonal but due to language barrier, i couldn't find a better word :) ),
which is not really helpful at all.
I also don't know why you think the NCSG should not point this reality if they
wish to make comments. We represent CS interest and this can be considered as a
barrier to CS participation to ICANN's work.
------------------------
* Arsène Tungali *
Co-Founder & Executive Director, Rudi international ,
CEO, Smart Services Sarl , Mabingwa Forum
Tel: +243 993810967
GPG: 523644A0
Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo
2015 Mandela Washington Felllow (YALI) - ISOC IGF Ambassador -
Blogger - ICANN Fellow . The HuffingtonPost UK
2016-06-15 15:37 GMT+02:00 Ayden Férdeline < [log in to unmask] > :
It’s not that I disagree with you, Arsène – because I don’t, and I actually
identified this as a barrier to participation in my earlier email – but I don’t
think it is helpful to flag this obstacle if the NCSG responds to the
consultation. My feeling is that this is a known hurdle which cannot easily be
addressed until machine translation advances to a satisfactory standard. This is
a painful reality because linguistic diversity is very important. But like it or
not we are constrained by resources and so we need a common language. English
has become the lingua franca of Internet policy; maybe it shouldn’t be, maybe
that should be Portuguese or French another tongue, but it is. So in theory we
could keep ICANN’s language services team very busy translating all the traffic
on the fellowship mailing lists and Facebook groups, helping break down barriers
to participation, but given ICANN’s website is barely translated into languages
other than English, in practice I think we need to make better use of their
time. I think it’s quite reasonable to expect that all public-facing documents
are translated by ICANN into the seven official languages. Maybe more
face-to-face sessions and working group calls should have simultaneous
interpretation too. And I would like all sessions to have live captioning. But I
respectfully submit that this is not a discussion for the renewed focus of the
Fellowship programme.
- Ayden
On Wed, Jun 15, 2016 2:15 PM, Mamadou LO [log in to unmask] wrote:
+1 Arsene TUNGALI
===================================================================
Mamadou LO
Chef du Département Communication et Information Documentaire
Head of Communication and Information Department
Crédit Agricole Sénégal
Tel : 221 77 645 59 57
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
De : NCSG-Discuss < [log in to unmask] > de la part de Arsène Tungali < [log in to unmask] >
Envoyé : mercredi 15 juin 2016 13:06
À : [log in to unmask]
Objet : Re: ICANN Fellowship Program Application Process Review Just a quick reaction,
Fellows shouldn't be expected to speak English to be selected because ICANN
meetings work with all UN languages (though English is their working language).
It is still indeed a barrier because the application form is in English and I
remember having serious issues to fill it some time ago (as a native French
speaker).
I think this needs to be looked into very seriously to ensure inclusion and
diversity
------------------------
* Arsène Tungali *
Co-Founder & Executive Director, Rudi international ,
CEO, Smart Services Sarl , Mabingwa Forum
Tel: +243 993810967
GPG: 523644A0
Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo
2015 Mandela Washington Felllow (YALI) - ISOC IGF Ambassador -
Blogger - ICANN Fellow . The HuffingtonPost UK
2016-06-15 14:06 GMT+02:00 Ayden Férdeline < [log in to unmask] > :
Thanks for sharing this, Mamadou. Mama J has proposed some very sensible changes
to the Fellowship programme here. I will review the supporting documents more
closely over the coming weeks and respond to the consultation activity in my
personal capacity, but I would hope that this renewed mandate and focus of the
Fellowship programme is something we as the NCSG are able to support. From a
cursory glance at the documents, I'm glad to see that we now acknowledge that
there are factors other than nationality which contribute to inequality — so
trying to bring voices in from women, indigenous people, the LGBT community, and
those with disabilities is a push we need. I would also suggest that linguistic
barriers remain in this proposal (I believe Fellows must speak English to
participate?), but that's a much harder obstacle to overcome and I certainly
don't have any solutions. The proposed changes to the Fellowship programme will
see it being more goal-driven and merit-based: it has my support.
- Ayden
On Wed, Jun 15, 2016 12:52 PM, Mamadou LO [log in to unmask] wrote:
FYI
Mamadou
Envoyé depuis mon smartphone Samsung Galaxy.
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2016 3:15 AM
Subject: ICANN News Alert -- ICANN Fellowship Program Application Process Review
NEWS ALERT
https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2016-06-14-en
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ICANN FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM APPLICATION PROCESS REVIEW
14 June 2016
Open Date:
14 June 2016
Close Date:
29 July 2016
Originating Organization:
Development and Public Responsibility Department
Categories/Tags:
Reviews/Improvements
Brief Overview:
Leading up to the ten-year anniversary of ICANN's Fellowship program, the
organization has evaluated this successful initiative in order to address the
needs of the global community and provide appropriate enhancements to ensure
that the program will continue to thrive while addressing today's ICANN and its
capacity-building needs. In this regard, the ICANN staff have identified areas
of improvement, mainly to the language used to describe Applicant Selection
Criteria and the application assessment process. In doing so, ICANN staff is
looking to ensure that the Fellowship selection process remains accountable,
transparent, and independent while continuing to strengthen the ICANN
Multistakeholder Model.
Link:
https://www.icann.org/public-comments/fellowship-application-process-review-2016-06-14-en
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Ayden Férdeline Statement of Interest
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Ayden Férdeline Statement of Interest
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