[WSIS CS-Plenary] Proposal for C&T work

[Bill McIver, University at Albany]

All,

We have a proposal for the C&T work in response to the
May 31 deadline established by the Inter-governmental 
drafting group.  There is also a corresponding call
for technical assistance.

Thanks to Sally for putting this together.


---- CALL FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ----


We need volunteers to help facilitate the technical aspects 
of this proposal.

We are trying to identify a Web-based tool that will
assist us in this process (ed. group editing, voting, etc.).

We have collected a list of candidate systems.
We need volunteers who have Linux system administration 
experience and also people or organizations who could
possibly host a system on their server.

Contact mciver at albany.edu if you are interested in working
with us on this.


---- C&T PROPOSAL -----

Proposal for Content and Themes drafting work

The following is a proposal and timetable for how the
caucuses and Content and Themes working group can produce a
joint response to the latest draft documents.

1) Each thematic caucus or working group should agree on
what sections or aspects of the draft Declaration and Plan
of Action they consider relevant for them to work on (each
caucus doesn't need to take on the whole document).  This
work should be completed, if possible, by the end of April.

They try to agree on modifications to the language.  These
can be:
a) proposed modifications to the specific wording of the
governmental part of the document.

b) proposed modifications or additions to the non-
governmental part of the document (in some cases this will
be the same as a).

c) additional proposals.

For the Action Plan, it is recommended to try to make
proposals specific: consider whether each proposal is
relevant in the WSIS context; prioritize proposals;
specify, where possible, who each proposal is addressed to
(eg. governments, UN agencies/multilateral organizations,
civil society organizations, international cooperation
institutions, and/or private sector firms, etc. etc.)

Include possible benchmarks where relevant.

2) By May 4, introduce the proposed changes into the web
version of the document, which by that time we hope to have
available via an on-line collaborative editing tool.
If  possible, all the proposals from one caucus should be 
made collectively (this will make subsequent editing easier).

3) During the week of May 5-9, read and comment on edits
made by other caucuses, particularly in the case of major
disagreements or contradictory edits (in this case,
different caucuses may agree to work out common language
together).

4) From May 10-20, a drafting committee will work on the
editing (volunteers, please!).  An edited version should be
ready for any final comments from May 21-25, followed by
final editing so that the document is ready before the
deadline of May 31.

Sally Burch and Bill McIver