WG Chair for Latin Script Diacritics PDP

SSC Assignment Overview

The GNSO held an Expression of Interest (EOI) process to solicit volunteers for the GNSO Latin Script Diacritics Policy Development Process (PDP) Working Group (WG) Chair position. The EOI was announced on the GNSO website and via email to the SOAC and SG/C leaders. The EOI closed on 20 January 2025, receiving two (2) candidates. The GNSO Council has tasked the Standing Selection Committee (SSC) with evaluating the candidates and recommending one (1) individual. The GNSO Council will review the SSC's recommendation and make a final decision on the nominee.

Timeline:

• 03 January 2025: EOI Announcement
• 06 January 2025: SSC Kick-Off Meeting
• 20 January 2025: Deadline for Latin Script Diacritics PDP WG Chair EOI
• 23 January 2025: Open poll for SSC members to complete on Latin Script Diacritics PDP WG Chair candidates
• 27 January 2025: Close poll for SSC members to complete on Latin Script Diacritics PDP WG Chair candidates
• 27 January 2025: SSC meeting to discuss Latin Script Diacritics PDP WG Chair candidates
• 27 January 2025: Start consensus call for candidate selection
• 29 January 2025: End consensus call for candidate selection
• 03 February 2025: Document and Motion Deadline for GNSO Council meeting
• 13 February 2025: Council confirms candidate recommended by SSC

What This PDP WG Will Do

The Latin Script Diacritics PDP WG will examine a single issue, seeking the appropriate mechanism in order to allow a single registry operator to simultaneously operate both ASCII gTLD and the Latin script diacritic version of the gTLD in circumstances where the gTLDs are NOT variants of each other. For clarification purposes, this PDP will use the Latin RZ-LGR as one of the relevant baseline foundational documents when delineating scope. This PDP must understand the work that was completed by the Latin Generation Panel, including the rationale and impact of the various exclusions of Section 3: Variant Sets within the aforementioned document. This PDP was initiated by the GNSO Council on 13 November 2024 during the GNSO Council meeting at ICANN81, with the PDP WG charter being adopted on 19 December 2024.

At a minimum, the WG will develop an Initial Report and a Final Report regarding the WG's recommendations on issues relating to the Latin script diacritics, following the processes described in Annex A of the ICANN Bylaws and the GNSO PDP Manual. If the WG concludes with any recommendations, the WG shall conduct a policy impact analysis and identify a set of metrics to measure the effectiveness of the policy change or recommend the subsequent policy Implementation Review Team (IRT) to do so.

WG Chair

The GNSO Council will appoint one (1) qualified, independent, and neutral Chair for the WG. The GNSO Council leadership and the Standing Selection Committee (SSC) leadership will jointly review the responses and will propose a Chair to the GNSO Council for its consideration.

The WG leadership is expected to carry out the role and responsibilities and meet the qualification as detailed in the Expectations for Working Group Leaders & Skills Checklist.

From the EOI: 

Responsibilities

The WG Chair is specifically expected to carry out the following responsibilities, including but not limited to:

• Attend all PDP WG meetings to assure continuity and familiarity with the subject matter and the ongoing discussions.
• Prepare meetings by reading all circulated materials.
• Be familiar with the subject matter and actively encourage participation during the calls.
• Be active on the PDP mailing list and invite PDP WG members and liaisons to share their viewpoints.
• Drive the progress forward and assure that discussions remain on point.
• Work actively towards achieving policy recommendations that ideally receive full consensus.
• Ensure that particular outreach efforts are made when the community has completed its review process of the WG’s outputs.
• Underscore the importance of achieving overall representational balance on any sub-teams that are formed.
• Enforce Statement of Participation, ICANN’s Standards of Behavior, and Community Anti-Harassment Policy.
• Coordinate with staff and ensure that the WG is supported as effectively as possible.
• Conduct consistent, adequate, and timely reporting to the GNSO Council on the progress of the PDP.

Skills and Experience

The WG Chair is expected to meet most of the following qualifications:

• Direct experience in consensus building processes and preferably direct experience in GNSO PDPs.
• Knowledge of and preferably direct experience in IDN related work at ICANN.
• Knowledge of ICANN policies and procedures as they relate to the relevant issue.
• Project management skills including: facilitating goal-oriented WG meetings, agenda setting and adherence, time management, encouraging collaboration, driving the completion of action items and achieving milestones in accordance with the WG timeline and work plan, keeping the WG’s actions, discussions and meetings focused on serving its ultimate goals and deliverables.
• Ability to enforce compliance with the Statement of Participation, ICANN’s Expected Standards of Behavior, and Community Anti-harassment Policy.
• Ability to determine when outreach is necessary and to undertake it.
• Ability to identify the diversity of views within the WG, if applicable.
• Knowledge of and ability to designate consensus on WG recommendations based on the level of agreement.
• Ability to help WG members understand that a consensus is a decision that is collaboratively reached and that the WG members can “live with”; accordingly, it may not be a perfect or unanimous decision.
• Commitment to review the Consensus Playbook and attend potential training related to the Playbook, facilitate consensus building by employing the tools and techniques as detailed in the playbook.
• Ability to refrain from promoting a specific agenda and ensuring fair, objective treatment of all opinions within the WG.
• Ability to distinguish between WG members offering genuine dissent and those raising irrelevant or already closed issues merely to block the WG’s progress toward its goal.
• Ability to halt disruption and, in extreme cases, exclude a WG member from a discussion per Section 3.5 of the GNSO Working Group Guidelines on Rules of Engagement.
• Ability to ensure that closed WG decisions are not revisited, unless there is a consensus to do so (usually in light of new information brought to the WG’s attention).
• Ability to commit the time required to perform the WG Chair’s responsibilities.
• Knowledge of topics in other policy efforts that have relations to or dependencies with the PDP WG topics.
• Ability to create factual, relevant and easily understandable messages, and able to clearly deliver them to the WG.
• Ability to deliver a point clearly, concisely, and in a friendly way.
• Exhibit agility and confidence in evolving situations and is able to swiftly transition from topic to topic.
• Highly effective oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills (in simple, comprehensible English).
• Excellent research skills with the ability to discern factual, factually relevant, and persuasive details and sources.
• Commitment to manage a diverse workload, while collaborating with a WG of individuals with different backgrounds and interests in driving objectives.
• Able to effectively build a course of action, analyze trade-offs, and make recommendations even in ambiguous situations.
• Knowledge of and ability to participate in the WG complaint process, commitment to review the Clarification to Complaint Process in GNSO Working Group Guidelines Section 3.7.

Applications received through the EOI

The following applications were received in the EOI process.