<div dir="ltr">Thanks again Dave for your frank and constructive comments.<div><br></div><div>The BoT is hearing you and I personally believe that we could together work on addressing them through incremental and steady steps to develop a WORKING bottom-up model. </div><div><br></div><div>As Jason and Gihan had indicated, the start is the Chapters Advisory Council, which is heading in the right direction and has our support.<br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature"><br></div><div class="gmail_signature">Sincerely,<br><br>Walid Al-Saqaf</div></div></div><div class="gmail_signature">Member of the Board of Trustees, ISOC</div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Apr 10, 2016 at 11:08 AM, Gihan Dias <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gihan@uom.lk" target="_blank">gihan@uom.lk</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<div>Dave,<br>
<br>
Thanks.<br>
<br>
I wish you all success in this effort.<br>
<br>
Gihan<br>
<br>
On 2016-04-10 පෙ.ව. 6:02, Dave Burstein wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Folks</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Bob Hinden and the board heard some
important, frank comments. The other board members made clear
they are thoughtful, dedicated and want an effective
organization. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>A member of the Puerto Rico chapter
declared ISOC<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre-wrap;line-height:1.38;background-color:transparent"> is not bottom-up. There are two systems staff & chapters. He asked, "</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent">Will ISOC become </span>a
bottom-<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:14.6667px;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent">up org?" </span> Anyone
who follows the email list knows this is a major problem. I
believe most of the staff and the board agree that is the way
to go. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>But a former board member tells me
this has happened every two or three years for a decade.
Despite good intentions, decisionmaking remains top down with
a few executives powerful. Robert Atkinson explained to me how
the FCC is controlled by a permanent government of the staff,
"Commissioners come and go but we're still here."<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>So I circulated two proposals that I
believe can win support and be easily implemented. Watching
the dynamic at the board, I realized it didn't even need a
resolution. Bob Hinden as Chair can take President Kathy Brown
aside for a few words. Brown has the skill and authority to
make this work.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Hinden might say, "Many of us on the
board want better relations with the chapters. We have two
proposals that in general make sense.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>First, that we review with the
relevant chapters policy positions and alliances before they
are made, unless there's no time. We have active mailing lists
that can make it quick and easy. Every politician knows you
get stronger support if you consult the people involved.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Second, let's start providing the
chapters some minimum funds for their operations. We do that
very inefficiently now, with too much staff time involved with
the requests. The chapters are unhappy needing to beg and
cajole to get even small operating expenses. I think we can
move quickly to distributing to the chapters say 3% of our
budget. We need to be careful the program isn't abused, but
I'm sure you can work closely with the chapters committee and
get this well begun over the next month or two,"</div><span class="">
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I hope Bob or some of the other board
members make this happen. Even better, Brown has supported the
principles here many times. It would be great if she led the
change. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
</span><div>Kathy, at board direction, has done a
great job encouraging members to speak up. But the
organization risks becoming a hollow shell if we don't respect
our chapters. Let's start by sharing the (very modest)
proposals here.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I raised my hand too late but will
make sure to be early for the session in the morning, (9:15
New York time)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Dave Burstein </div>
<div>New York Chapter</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
</font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div>
<div dir="ltr">Editor, Fast Net News, Net Policy News and DSL
Prime<br>
Author with Jennie Bourne DSL (Wiley) and Web Video: Making
It Great, Getting It Noticed (Peachpit)</div>
</div>
</font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
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