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The Steering Committee has decided to extend the deadline for the presentation of a candidature for the position of Treasurer until Friday, 4 March 2015 at 2359 UTC.

Hi all.

The Steering Committee is scheduling a face-to-face meeting in Marrakesh, with the possibility to join remotely.

We will take this opportunity to hold also a vote of the membership on a few items.

Detailed information on the different points submitted to the attention of the membership will be circulated in the next days, allowing a discussion among members.

The issues will also be posted on the web site.

Election of a Treasurer

As you remember, we held elections in Dublin, with possibility to vote by email for those not attending the physical meeting, to select the Steering Committee members.

Unfortunately, in that case there has been no accepted candidature for the post of Treasurer.

We are therefore proceeding to a second round. All members are eligible: please submit your candidature, or nominate another member, sending an email to me by 23:59 UTC of Sunday 14 February 2016.

Candidatures will be published on our web site as they are submitted.

Candidates can accept the candidature as soon as they are nominated. Self-nomination implies tacit acceptance.

The deadline for acceptance is 48 hours after the deadline for submission of the candidatures.

Details about the voting process will be provided shortly, but we can anticipate that we will hold the voting at a face-to-face meeting in Marrakesh, with the possibility to vote online for the members not present in person.

Associate membership

Since the creation of the association we have had requests to join as members by individuals who are active within ALAC outside Europe, but do not have the opportunity of participating as individual members.

Up to now, we have been unable to accept those applications, because of the language of our Bylaws, that state at article 2 (“Purpose”):

a) To organize individuals from all over Europe who are not affiliated to any of the existing At-Large Structures (ALS).

However, the same article states also:

d) To seek and promote exchange and collaboration with other non-European individuals engaged in other RALOs and ICANN

We propose to solve this problem by creating an additional membership class called “associate membership”. In practice, together with “full membership”, limited to citizens and residents of the European Region as defined by ICANN, we would give the possibility to citizens and residents of other parts of the world that have for whatever reason tight links with the European Region and/or the interest in participating to activities focusing on EURALO.

Of course, we need to draft the rules in order to give to the maximum extent possible the same rights to “full” and “associate” members, but we need also to put some safeguards to preserve the European nature of the association and to comply with the EURALO rules.

A proposal will be submitted to the membership, allowing extensive debate before a decision will be taken via a vote of approval by 2/3 of the membership.

Change the name of the organization

The association has been created as “Euro Individuals Association”, and this name is the one appearing on the Bylaws.

However, during the application process as ALS, an objection has been raised in EURALO about the possible confusion, EURO being a currency.

Our association has been certified as ALS with the name of “EURALO Individuals Association”.

However, in order to change the name on the Bylaws we need formal vote of approval by the membership.

Change the name of the Steering Committee

The Steering Committee observes that in most similar associations the leadership body is called “Board”.

While the tasks and duties of the Steering Committee and of its members will be unchanged, we propose to change the name of the Committee itself to “Board”.

In order to do this, we need approval by 2/3 of the membership.

Change the title of the President and Vice-President

The Steering Committee observes that in most similar associations the representative is called “Chair”.

This is even more so considering the change of name of the leadership team to “Board”

While the tasks and duties of the President and Vice-President will be unchanged, we propose to change their titles respectively to “Chair” and “Vice-Chair”

In order to do this, we need approval by 2/3 of the membership.

Best regards

Roberto Gaetano

(on behalf of the Steering Committee)

The Marconi Society held its annual Symposium and Prize Award Dinner in London this year, and took place at the Royal Society on the 20th October, 2015.

This year, UK Computer Scientist, Prof Peter Kirstein was honored for his contributions to computer networking as well as his leading role to the birth of Internet in Europe. In addition, other young scholars from the leading universities around the world were  honored for their contributions too, to the internet and telecommunications development. http://livestream.com/internetsociety/Marconi2015

About Marconi Society  – The Marconi Society’s aim is to honor the spirit of Guglielmo Marconi, scientist, engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur. The $100,000 Marconi Prize, awarded annually, recognizes living scientists whose achievements in communications and information technology have advanced the social, economic and cultural development of all humanity. The Society also recognizes and encourages young scientists through its Paul Baran Young Scholar Awards. http://marconisociety.org/index.php/about-us/mission-statement

Interested in reading about the just concluded 10th IGF in Brazil where participants, from different sectors – civil society, business, academia, government, inter-governmental from around the world engaged in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

Especially, discussions usually about ICT sustainability, common adoption of framework, as well as other pressing issues pertaining to the development of internet technology. Please read IGF 2015 press release here:

http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/press/igf2015-press/544-press-release-igf2015

(Post provided by Wale Shakiru BAKARE)

Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place as scheduled Wednesday 21 October 2015 at the Conference Centre Dublin, room Wicklow 5 (Wednesday 21 October 2015, 15:00 local time / 14:00 UTC).

The meeting was opened by the President, who reported the following activities since the creation of the association:

• the web site is now operational, thanks to the support of Michele Neylon and the Blacknight staff;
• the membership procedure is now in pleace, and to date 12 members have been accepted (5 women, 7 men);
• the candidatures for the new Steering Committee (SC) were presented, voting was carried out by show of hands for the members attending the AGM, via email for those participating remotely;
• all necessary actions have been taken to transition out of the interim phase, to be concluded when the new Steering Committee (SC) is seated at the end of the EURALO General Assembly, currently ongoing in Wicklow Hall 1.

The meeting continued with the presentation of the candidates and the subsequent voting procedure.

In the short discussion which followed, some short-term priorities were mentioned, including a strategy for outreach, the modus operandi of the SC, the change of title from President to Chair and the possible acceptance of members from outside what is known as “Europe” in ICANN parlance.

When voting was closed, 8 members had expressed their vote, with unanimous support for the following candidates:

• President   Jean-Jacques Subrenat
• Vice-President   Wale Shakir Bakare
• Secretary   Roberto Gaetano

There was no accepted candidature for the position of Treasurer, whose role is therefore temporarily taken by the President.

The result of the vote was presented at the conclusion of the EURALO General Assembly at 18:30 local time (17:30 UTC).

Three more ballots were received after closure of voting, all supporting the elected candidates.

The interim phase is officially closed. Congratulations to the association, and thanks to the members who contributed to its initial success. It is now time to get our Association in operational mode. The SG will soon propose activities for the next 12-month period.

Wednesday, 21 October 2015,  the General Assembly (GA) of our aassociation took place in the Dublin Conference Centre, during the EURALO General Assembly and in the framework of ICANN 54.

This was a milestone for our association: it ended its interim phase and now has an elected Steering Committee (SC). The SC will soon put out a proposal for activities for the next 12-month period, and invite comments from our Members.

The vote resulted in the election of the President, the Vice-President and the Secretary. Out of 12 current members, the 8 who voted were unanimous in their choice. 3 ballots were received after the deadline, confirming the outcome of the vote.

One of the objectives of our association is to enlarge its membership, but first we need to establish ourselves as a team capable of adding some value for the benefit of our members. One of the first tasks will be to share information about events of relevance to the ICANN community.

Watch this space!

The GA will take place, as previously announced, this Wednesday, 21 October 2015, in the Dublin Conference Centre, in the framework of ICANN 54.

The exact location is room Wicklow MR5, on level 2, and the meeting is open also to non members.

During the meeting we plan to elect the new Steering Committee (please see here the list of candidates). All members (please see here our membership) are entitled to vote.

We will also discuss the priorities for the next year.

The 2015 Annual General Meeting of the European Individual Users Association will take place on Wednesday 21 October at 14:00 UTC in Dublin (15:00 local time).
The exact location will be communicated later, but it will be a room in the Convention Centre in Dublin (http://www.theccd.ie/), where the ICANN meeting will take place.
This is a very important meeting for the association, because it marks the end of the interim phase.
During the AGM, the membership will renew the Steering Committee, electing the following officers for a two-year term:

• President
• Vice President
• Secretary
• Teasurer

All members at the date of the 1. October 2015 are electors and eligible.
A description of the roles of the officers is provided here.
The agenda will be posted shortly.