Andrew: The real purpose of constituencies is to give a few people a little power base from which they can operate; to empower some at the expense of the rest of us. The other purpose is to fragment our communication as a stakeholder group. No one who supports the mission of NCSG will really want to form a new constituency. They can form interest groups, ad hoc coalitions, working groups and so on. All that can and will be done and will lead to constructive results. But constituency-formation is a way fpr people to fragment and undermine NCSG and I would not encourage anyone to pursue it. > -----Original Message----- > From: NCSG-NCUC [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of > Andrew A. Adams > Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 6:28 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS] The Purpose of Constituencies? > > In regards specifically to the notion of creating an "academic" > constituency within the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group, it strikes me > that there isn't really a clear definition of the purpose of > constituencies within SGs. The purpose of the SGs would appear clear - > to provide the GNSO with balanced (in multiple ways) inputs from various > groups whose views are believed to be important in reaching suitable > compromises on individual issues or balancing benefits and detriments > between groups across multiple decisions. Whether this works or is the > right structure is a separate question, at least the intent is > relatively clearly defined. However, within SGs, the purpose of > constituencies appears to me to have been pushed as a thing for its own > sake, perhaps with hidden motives such as attempting to weaken consensus > or majority dominance within some SGs. But the rationale and the > expected structure that should emerge within NCSG from the proposed > multiple constituencies is still unclear. Is it intended that any group > with a significant common factor should form separate constituencies, > with individual's and organisation's overlaps between constituencies > allowing for our multiple facets? I am both an academic researching > relevant issues and a registrant of a personal domain name, for example. > > Or are constituencies supposed to reflect differing types of SG member > where those different groups share some specific common interest in > elements of the domain name system? If it's the latter, I do not see an > academics group being suitable, though as mentioned non-profit/public > universities as bodies might wish to form their own group or join NPOC > (if approved). > > > -- > Professor Andrew A Adams [log in to unmask] > Professor at Graduate School of Business Administration, and Deputy > Director of the Centre for Business Information Ethics > Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan http://www.a-cubed.info/