[Chapter-delegates] ISOC's policies - sensitive email

[Veni Markovski]

Fred, and all - see comments below.

On Wed, Mar 21, 2012 at 10:11 PM, Fred Baker <fred at cisco.com> wrote:

>
> On Mar 21, 2012, at 9:23 PM, Veni Markovski wrote:
> > 8. ISOC does not represent civil society - for an independent observer
> it is an organization, which is heavily influence by its organizational
> members (companies), not by individual members or chapters. Good and not so
> good.
> > This point needs clarification - it's good that ISOC does not represent
> civil society - there are many, who claim that, but ISOC is unique as the
> home of the IETF. But it is not good that ISOC would not encourage and
> empower its chapters to participate at the IGF/ITU meetings, as they are
> indeed the ones, representing the civil society in their respected
> countries.
>
> Veni:
>
> I do find myself wondering to what extent you think ISOC is driven by its
> organizational members.


To a very large extent.



> At my company, I'm among the small set of people that are involved in and
> care about ISOC.


That's understandable, but it's also something to worry about, if you think
from a certain point of view.


> Sally and others ask us questions and give us reports, but the
> organizational members don't sit down with ISOC to give it its priorities.
>
> What specific influence do you think the organizational members have on
> ISOC?
>

The organizational members do not need to sit down with ISOC to give its
priorities - as you point below, they do it through the Board, which
consists of their representatives. Just as an example - when was the last
time the chair of the Board was someone, elected by the chapters or the
members? I don't envy this, I actually think this is what makes ISOC to be
considered widely as representing the technical community. I remember many
governments talking about ISOC in the context of the IETF, W3C, but I can't
remember one talking about ISOC as representing netizens, or civil society.
That is not a reason for any personal feelings, like envy. It's a reason
for the Board to sit down and think, "Why is that?", "Is it true?", "What
can we do to change it?". That, of course, if the Board believes that this
is a correct vision of ISOC. And if it thinks it is not, then what steps
would it take to make sure everyone else knows it?
So, to respond to your question more directly - I don't envy anything. I
don't think the organizational members pay the right attention to ISOC,
otherwise they would have seen that there's certain value in having ISOC
represent the technical community, and the chapters represent the civil
society, the users. But if they, as you say, have only a small set of
people, who care and are interested in ISOC, then it is really sad. And
that makes the chapters even more important for ISOC, it seems, because
they are the ones, who care and are interested in ISOC in big numbers.

best,
veni


> BTW, I'm not asking about the board structure. Yes, I know you have long
> wanted the chapters to have as many seats on the board as the
> organizational members, but in this conversation, I'm not on that topic -
> and neither are you. Parallel to your question about the role and influence
> of the chapters, I'm asking about the organizational members themselves,
> the advisory council, etc. What, specifically, do you envy?
>
> Fred
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