[rpd] Discussion about e-voting

[Kofi ansa akufo]

Hello All

Thanks for the statistics and comparisons. Forgive me again to divert this
discussion a bit. Come next year our RIR will be 10 years old.

We have an advantage as the fifth and last RIR to observe and amend what
are the challenges facing the other long established RIRs. IMHO as we
strive to achieve more than the average 10% comparison in member turn out
we should clearly review strategies for making impact on the continent.

Should we reach out directly to the community or through existing
specialized groups and institutions? Or a blend of the two?

Which would have a faster and far reaching positive impact?

Which method of reaching out is cost efficient?

I draw typical examples below;

1. The core activity of AFRINIC is managing internet resources for the
Region. What is seen now is more or less a passive approach to evaluation
of prospective members for resources. AFRINIC staff makes it difficult to
get resources YET when resources are granted there is little or no follow
up processes to check if it is even being used in the region. A quick check
in the whois database of AFRINIC indicates a /13 IPv4 that was issued last
year which is not even used in the region. Lost of job creation opportunity
on the continent.

Solution: the very IP resources we seek to manage is evolving in a
technology which is dissolving geographic barriers. AFRINIC should then be
seen as a key partner for our region to ensure that infrastructures are
established in our region to create jobs through standard policies which
will continuously monitor the activities and link or tie prospective
investors to the region rather than turn them off or frustrate them and
later grant them huge chunks of resources to be used outside the region.

2. AFRINIC currently adopts "see the trees from the forest" approach with
respect to training programs (e.g. IPv6 training). There are currently more
than three active Research and  Education Networks (REN), Association of
African Universities (AAU) as well as African Network Operators Group
(AfNOG) - specialized groups. What I see as a better and far reaching
impact is to collaborate with these groups to tailor curriculum and draw
standards. Follow up with program monitoring and audits. I believe this
should NOT be a long term goal. IPv6 awareness and adoption will have being
considerable high.

3. Again the RIR should be seen playing a regulatory role. Recent years has
seen considerable internet exchange spring up each with their own operating
guidelines for membership and peering. What AFRINIC should be doing is to
collaborate with key stakeholders (governments, submarine cable providers,
service providers through AfNOG) to draft various standards and
architectutes to be adhered to. (for example encourage distributed / or
linked national and regional exchanges.

In short AFRINIC should be seen as a regulator and reach out to the
community through existing specialized groups and institutions and not
waste resources on operations with little impact on the continent.

One will argue how does this approach impact AFRINIC members directly and
increase meeting turnout and subsequent voting participation?

Cheers

Kofi
On May 15, 2014 6:05 AM, "Adiel Akplogan" <adiel at afrinic.net> wrote:

>
> On May 15, 2014, at 24:26 AM, Kofi ansa akufo <kofi.ansa at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hello Adiel and All
> >
> > Interesting discussion.
> >
> > Forgive me to play the devils advocate for a while - few questions below
> regarding the immediate past election for board members.
> >
> > 1. What was the total votes casts?
> >
> > 2. How many votes were cast as proxy votes?
>
> See my previous mail for the above.
>
> > 3. How many individuals voted more than once due to being associated to
> more than one member?
>
> 8 out of 45. Knowing that all board members (registered members) that are
> also valid contact of resource members get 2 votes.
>
> > 4. What was the total active members as at the time of opening voting?
>
> About 750 members. This data can be dynamically checked at:
> http://www.afrinic.net/en/about-us/our-members
>
> > 5. How many votes were cast through ballot paper at the election?
>
> 45.
>
> > 6. Do we have a minimum number of votes casted (%) relative to the
> number of active members to determine dismissal or approval of the election?
>
> That is not set anywhere. but for the past year we have been dealing with
> around 10% ratio. Which as I mentioned in my previous mail is relatively
> the same thing for all RIRs. So even though we are aiming at better, we are
> not an exception (with the ressou=rces we have).
>
> - a.
>
>
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