By: Sonny Zulhuda (ICANN Fellow)

Between 7-12 April 2013, I was granted a Fellowship to attend ICANN Global Meeting No. 46 in Beijing, People Republic of China. ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is a California-based corporation that administer the global Internet.

If you are new to ICANN, learn it more on its official page. For the Fellowship itself, learn about it at its official fellowship page. It is like an internship where a fellow will attend sessions, meetings and be engaged in discussions to learn, understand and exchange views about ICANN and the Internet.

As this was my second Fellowship after Singapore in 2011, I had some pre-existing plans and expectation in my mind before going to the meeting (For my blogs on the Singapore Fellowship, read here). Here are some notes:

Meeting old friends

Some of my very good friends from the first meeting would also join this Beijing event. That is exciting to say the least. But then I also realised that those friends had before the Beijing meeting participated in at least another ICANN meeting either as Fellow or as a member of certain committees or supporting organisations in ICANN. That is a bonus for me, because I would learn from their experiences how they experienced being part of ICANN communities beyond the fellowship. I noticed some had joined the GAC (like Tracy, Sorina and Saso) while others took a position in their own ccNSO (Alejandra). Nomcom (Siranush) or regional At-Large Organization (like Natali and Naveed). I must say they have provided for us very good example 🙂

Continue reading “ICANN and the Beijing Fellowship – As I see it” →