[Chapter-delegates] 2014 Internet Society Board of TrusteesElections

[Winthrop Yu]

   +1 Louis!

On 4/8/2014 6:50 AM, Houle Louis wrote:
> Alejandro was pushing a little more under the projectors the real work that
> Chapters are achieving. If Chapters are the heart, they are also the acting arm
> in their own community, in many regards. And that includes individuals,
> enterprises, and governments, civil society, non-profit, vulnerable communities,
> impaired, retired, youth, security threats, Personal Information Protection
> (PIP), access, affordability, innovation...and I would like to add, Chapters
> efforts to simplify, explain and translate into a comprehensable wording the
> Internet for everyone, the mulistakehoderism and any of the 3244 acronyms (;-) )
> in use in our daily emails.
>
> Louis Houle
> Président
> Société Internet du Québec - ISOC Québec
> Louis.Houle at isocquebec.org
> www.isocquebec.org
> Visitez lewww.naralo.org
>
> Le 2014-03-30 20:59, Eric Burger a écrit :
>> I always seem to leave something out. Alejandro is totally correct that
>> Chapters do a lot of outreach to users. More especially, we all recognize that
>> ‘users' include individuals, enterprises, and governments.
>>
>>
>> On Mar 29, 2014, at 4:40 PM, Alejandro Pisanty <apisanty at gmail.com
>> <mailto:apisanty at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I beg to differ... Eric's view:
>>>
>>> 1. seems to reflect a purely infrastructural view of the Internet. I'm pretty
>>> sure that people in many chapters will consider themselves not only as simple
>>> users Well beyond updating their Facebook walls with cute pictures, Chapter
>>> members create e-commerce and e-government portals, train and teach people
>>> and organizations, organize, campaign and lobby for Internet principles at
>>> risk, develop original connectivity and software solutions, build and deply
>>> gear, networks and services, and, what do you know, ocassionally find
>>> themselves participating in the IETF.
>>>
>>> 2. seems to reflect a silo structure of the stakeholders and members of ISOC,
>>> which extrapolates the necessary grouping of people and organizations for
>>> internal organizational purposes into an existential divide. No surprise that
>>> we find ISOC bureaucray accepting and even promoting this silo view of
>>> stakeholders in Internet governance discussions and activities; and little
>>> wonder they don't know what it is that hurt them when this view bites back.
>>>
>>> The richness of the Internet Society does not lie in how it glues together
>>> three separate tiles. It lies in how effectively it glues together a rich
>>> tapestry of multfunctional, committed streams. Or was that way until
>>> recently. Has Sigmund spent one night awake too many?
>>>
>>> Yours,
>>>
>>> Alejandro PIsanty
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Mar 29, 2014 at 12:43 PM, Dave Farber <dave at farber.net
>>> <mailto:dave at farber.net>> wrote:
>>>
>>>     Well said.
>>>
>>>     On Mar 29, 2014 2:16 PM, "Eric Burger" <eburger at standardstrack.com
>>>     <mailto:eburger at standardstrack.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>>         There are three legs to the ISOC three-legged stool:
>>>
>>>          1. Chapters: the people who USE the Internet
>>>          2. Organizations: the people who BUILD and RUN the Internet
>>>          3. IETF: the people who INVENT, REFINE, and ensure an INTEROPERABLE
>>>             Internet
>>>
>>>
>>>         *No* leg is more important than the other:
>>>
>>>           * Chapters represent individual people’s interests, not driven
>>>             (necessarily) by a profit or governmental motive.
>>>           * Organizations represent the most people from more geographic
>>>             regions than any Internet Society community.
>>>           * The IETF represents the best in working out the best technical
>>>             solution, irrespective of one’s company, national, or ethnic origin.
>>>
>>>         Likewise:
>>>
>>>           * Without Organizations, we would not have the insights of how
>>>             things /really/ work.
>>>           * Without Chapters, we would have no heart.
>>>           * Without the IETF, there would not be an Internet for there to be
>>>             an Internet Society.
>>>
>>>         This is also why, as Jason pointed out, once each Internet Society
>>>         community selects Trustee(s), those Trustee do not represent that
>>>         community. Those Trustees work for the best result for the Internet.
>>>         Not Chapters. Not Organizations. Not the IETF. Not even the Internet
>>>         Society as a corporation. Just the best for the open, free,
>>>         accessible, and interoperable Internet.
>>>
>>>
>>>         On Mar 29, 2014, at 12:41 AM, Gihan Dias <gihan at uom.lk
>>>         <mailto:gihan at uom.lk>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>         On 2014/03/29 පෙ.ව. 9:14, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>         Any candidate can promise to throw money at a solution and hope it
>>>>>         will fix itself. (Whether, once on the Board, such a position has a
>>>>>         realistic ability to succeed, is reasonable to ask. )
>>>>>
>>>>         Evan,
>>>>
>>>>         So I will refrain from making unrealistic promises.
>>>>>
>>>>>         But the challenge is more than just money, it is one of changing
>>>>>         culture. IMO, those who are elected have a responsibility to ensure
>>>>>         at the Board level that chapters are a built-in characteristic of
>>>>>         ISOC, indeed *the* defining characteristic, not one that appears
>>>>>         added on as an afterthought.
>>>>>
>>>>         Yes. Chapters came later in the society's evolution. However, now
>>>>         they are (or should be) one of the two legs of the society, of equal
>>>>         status with organisational members. I believe that the best way to
>>>>         do this to strengthen chapters by
>>>>         1. Making chapters be active, visible and effective at a national
>>>>         level, and to have chapters identify and drive national issues
>>>>         2. Have effective input from each chapter, through regional bureaus,
>>>>         to the Society. This will include - but not be limited to - the
>>>>         Chapter Advisory Council.
>>>>         3. Make chapters financially strong by supporting fund-raising at
>>>>         chapter level.
>>>>         4. Support each chapter to have at least a part time paid staff
>>>>         member. - otherwise volunteer officers will find it difficult to get
>>>>         any work done
>>>>         5. Encourage and support collaboration among chapters.
>>>>
>>>>         I would also like to get your views on other ways of strengthening
>>>>         chapters.
>>>>>
>>>>>         Such cultural evolution requires far more than financial
>>>>>         consideration to ensure chapter sustainability (though that
>>>>>         component is certainly part of it). I want to hear from each
>>>>>         candidate a vision that indicates both an understanding of this
>>>>>         challenge and the political capability to confront it.
>>>>>
>>>>         Each chapter is unique, and will have its own challenges. ISoc
>>>>         should be flexible enough to work with each chapter on its own
>>>>         terms, while at the same time avoiding favoritism.
>>>>
>>>>         Regards.
>>>>
>>>>         Gihan
>>>>         ISoc Sri Lanka
>>>>         BoT Candidate
>>>>         _______________________________________________