Nominet has published the results of the Independent Governance Review.
The salient points are that the report recognises Nominet’s position and how it is held in high regard, however there is room for improvement in terms of engaging with members and other stakeholders:
“…. …. whilst the world has moved on,neither Nominet’s membership structure, nor its constitution, has kept up with these external changes. Therefore, both its membership composition, voting processes and governance system are now in need of major reconsideration and rebalancing to cope with its changed external environment. I feel it important to stress that only the membership can resolve these issues, not the Board of Directors who ultimately are agents of the member/owners”
The report also makes clear reference to some of the “squabbles” surrounding the registry in recent months:
…. it is essential for the membership as a whole to focus its energies away from their recent publicly-aired micro-politics and to face up to their relationship with the major changes in its environment which are already shaping Nominet’s future…
The report makes several recommendations that it is felt would improve matters for the registry operator, however if the members of Nominet themselves are not interested in policy development and change I suspect that getting any real changes made is going to be awkward.
The PAB, for example, is mentioned specifically:
To reconsider the role and processes of the Policy Advisory Body so that it becomes more an ‘outward facing’ part of the membership’s connection and sensitivity to the external stakeholders and the public good.
However the level of apathy among the Nominet membership is hard to ignore. This year’s PAB election did not take place, as there was no actual contest!
Needless to say Nominet has already issued a public response to the review, but whether or not they’ll be able to affect any real and substantive change in their membership’s level of involvement in the organisation’s policies and future role is another matter.
