Dear UASG members,
It is sometime since we interacted with each other.
UA activities in ICANN are growing at unprecedented pace. In addition to UASG, ccNSO,GAC, gNSO and ALAC have taken up UA related activities in an aggressive way, helping UASG in achieving its objective. I may not be fulfilling my duty without mentioning UA WG of ICANN which is a strong UA pillar for all of us.
UASG since last six months is into two major processes in addition to normal activities; i.e; drafting 5 years strategic plans and modifications in Its Governance policies.
I am happy to inform you that discussions on 5 years strategic plans are completed within all chartered Working groups of UASG and we are ready to share the same with you shortly to seek your comments and feedback.
As far as UASG Governance issues are concerned, we have already taken decision and implemented SOI ( Statement of Interest) process within UASG. ICANN staff supporting UASG is in the process of final implementation and issuance of final guidelines.
UASG Coordination Working group is in final stages of concluding discussions and its recommendations of all governance issues referred to us thru ICANN staff. This outcome is likely to be shared with all of you for your comments and feedback, hopefully by September 2024.
ICANN at present is having financial crunch, due to which they have decided to reduce expenditure and staff. SOs/ACs are advised to reduce their budget & expenditure, so UASG.
We are informed that now onwards, UASG will only get support of ICANN staff for conducting seven one hourly meetings per month. ICANN staff have suggested some infrastructure changes in UASG organisational structure to make it possible. For making suggested infrastructure changes, UASG leadership have sought guidance from ICANN legal team whether UASG charter require changes for these fundamental changes or not. We are expecting to receive soughted legal advice by end of current week.
Pending these changes, Seda, Sr Manager ICANN has kindly drafted schedule for conducting meetings of Coordination WG, Tech WG, Measurement WG and EAI working group till December 2024. Members of these WGs might have received the schedule by now. You are requested to contact Seda for any inconvenience in presented scheduling if any.
Second Edition of UA Day celebration was a grand success. UASG received almost 50% higher response than last year. It was reported that more organisations and large number of individuals have participated in UA day activities from March24 to May2024.
Thank You all for making this a biggest event of ICANN.
3rd Edition of UA Day is likely to be announced on 15th August,2024. I urge prominent countries/ organisations to be ready to forward your willingness/ nominations for the Global/Regional/National and Local UA Day events.
All Working Groups are very active in their activities. Participation have gone up significantly in their regular meetings. To mention few, Tech WG have completed a survey on reasons of adoption/ No adoption of UA , analysis of response so received is in progress, EAI WG have taken out a “ Self Testing tool Guidelines of E-mail Servers/ applications, Measurement WG have drafted a out of box curriculum for UA related teaching courses in academia.
Communication WG have taken out 3rd Edition of UASG News letter.
With implementation of 5 years strategic plans, we hope we all shall be working on filling up remaining gaps in UA Adoption, which is latest plan of UASG in addition to UA awareness.
Local Initiatives and UA Ambassadors are our UA soldiers on field, who have volunteered themselves to carry UA policies and guidelines for Internet practitioners for awareness, training, workshop and adoption. I must salute the spirit and special efforts taken by our field HEROs.
Lastly I must say that Every Day is a challenge for us. We must be ready to welcome new gTLD round and face possible challenges of IDN rich gTLD demand in 2026.
With Best Wishes,
Anil Kumar Jain
Chair, UASG