[WSIS CS-Plenary] Discussion guidelines proposal

[karen banks]

dear all

recent discussions are very important, and include how we can more 
effectively use this and others spaces for planning, discussion and 
concensus building.

i imagine many people will want to add to this discussion, and wonder if we 
could follow some guidelines in approaching this discussion. otherwise it 
could become quite cumbersome - and, we may exclude many if we encounter a 
large number of long, english meessages.

** we want to ensure that as many people as possible are able to 
participate in a discussion as important as this **

some suggestions:

(1) we translate sean's last message into french and spanish (and others in 
this context if we feel it necessary)

(2) we set ourselves a timeline for discussion around this particular issue 
(say 1 week?)

(3) we try to formulate messages in ways which make it easy for others to 
respond, by asking explicit questions, giving concrete suggestions (as well 
of course as general discussion)

(4) we keep our messages as brief and to the point as possible

(5) we remove unncessary 'reply-quotes' from messages to keep them shorter 
in length and smaller in volume

(6) whatever language we write in, we write in plain, user-friendly language

(7) at the end of whatever time we give ourselves, we prepare a synthesis 
of the discussion and translate it into english, french and spanish

(8) through whatever means of concensus building mechansisms we explore, we 
use that to affirm the outcomes of our discussion. This could then be the 
basis of an input to the next face to face meeting for affirmation by plenary.

** what do you think?.. if we can develop some general guidelines to help 
us with these important discussions, we can apply it more generally to use 
of the list **

karen