Making Your Voice Heard: The Future of ARIN Policy Engagement
Earlier this year, the ARIN Advisory Council (AC) reached out to the community with a simple but vital question: How can we make it easier for you to participate in the Policy Development Process (PDP)?
The truth is, the PDP only works when the community feels empowered to share their opinions. Policy shouldn’t feel like a closed-door meeting; it should feel like a conversation. We are excited to share the results of our recent survey and, more importantly, how the AC hopes to turn your feedback into action.
What We Heard: The Highlights
Before asking questions about what we should consider adding by way of opportunities for policy engagement, we asked survey respondents how they are engaged in policy development today — whether that’s through Public Policy and Members Meetings such as ARIN 57 or the Public Policy Mailing List (PPML). Here’s what we discovered:
Public Policy Mailing List
The PPML remains our primary hub for discussion, with 70 percent of survey participants currently subscribed, and a strong agreement on the utility of the mailing list. While participation on the mailing list is strong, we did hear of some pain points:
- Some community members weren’t aware of the mailing list.
- Others expressed hesitation to post due to a feeling of being overwhelmed at the prospect of meeting strong opinions in reaction to their input with a large audience.
- Several respondents indicated that the email format can make it challenging to follow the context when multiple discussions are taking place simultaneously on different policies.
Public Policy and Members Meetings
More than 70 percent of respondents attend Public Policy and Members Meetings either in person or virtually, and nearly all respondents indicated agreement to the usefulness of the policy meetings.
- We heard that the human element of the meetings produces productive policy discussions.
- Additionally, the informal “hallway discussions” and the ability to connect face-to-face with ARIN staff and AC members is invaluable for fostering genuine dialogue.
- The breadth of content at the meetings is also valuable — complementing the policy discussions and providing important context for policy development.
The Road Ahead: Your Priorities
We asked you to rank potential initiatives to help us improve. The community spoke loud and clear. Here is what you want to see, ranked by perceived usefulness:
- Online Surveys (82.75%): Quick, easy pulses on new policy proposals.
- Self-Service Training (73%): Videos explaining the PDP and Number Resource Policy Manual (NRPM).
- Monthly Policy Activity Digest (69%): A “TL;DR” (Too long; didn’t read) for those who can’t read every email on the PPML.
- Workshops (62%): Deep dives into proposals currently under discussion.
Direct Insight: Beyond the Numbers
Your written comments provided the most direct roadmap for our exploration of how we might complement existing platforms for policy engagement. We’ve identified three key themes for growth:
- A Desire for Diverse Mediums: The mailing list is a staple, but it shouldn’t be the only option apart from policy meetings. There appears to be demand for modern communication tools that allow for granular, less intimidating sub-conversations.
- Accessibility & Transparency: There is strong support for AC office hours, provided they are recorded and published to ensure no “back channels” are created.
- Education & Mentorship: You want to bridge the gap between “having an idea” and “creating a proposal.” We need to make it easier for first-time policy authors to submit a proposal — with some combination of training content and direct access to AC members for guidance.
Next Steps
We aren’t stopping here. We are currently developing a second survey, which will help us explore how to realize the potential avenues touched on through the first survey.
The AC wants to extend a massive thank you to everyone who participated. This data is instrumental as we explore ways to make ARIN policy engagement more accessible, efficient, and — dare we say — enjoyable for the community we serve.
View the Data
Want to dive into the raw numbers yourself? Access the PDF.
Stay tuned for more updates as we work together to make policy engagement as approachable as possible, and tune in to our presentation at ARIN 57 (Monday morning, 20 April) to share your opinion.
Any views, positions, statements, or opinions of a guest blog post are those of the author alone and do not represent those of ARIN. ARIN does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or validity of any claims or statements, nor shall ARIN be liable for any representations, omissions, or errors contained in a guest blog post.
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