[Chapter-delegates] Issues facing Chapters

[Houle Louis]

+1 Evan,

Very constructive.


Louis Houle
Président
Société Internet du Québec - ISOC Québec
Louis.Houle at isocquebec.org
www.isocquebec.org
Visitez le www.naralo.org

Le 2014-05-21 18:48, Evan Leibovitch a écrit :
> Hello all.
>
> A few comments, not in any particular order:
>
>  1. ISOC Global, whether it is aware or not, has a tremendous pool of
>     untapped knowledge and presence that could be of immense value to
>     chapters. To take just one example, ISOC has a presence at just
>     about every major Internet Governance event (ITU, ICANN, IGF, etc
>     etc). As a participant it is aware of who is at these meetings
>     representing governments, businesses and civil society. Such
>     intelligence can be easily assembled into a database that is
>     usable by chapters at the local level so they know, at very least,
>     who is supposedly representing their local community's interests
>     at the international level. At very least ISOC can provide such
>     local intelligence to each chapter; ideally, they could be helping
>     to introduce their chapters to their representatives.
>
>
>  2. A similar form of intelligence can be useful for sponsorships.
>     While ISOC has relationships with many multinationals as
>     organizational members, it is in the interests of both these
>     members and the chapters to have positive relationships between
>     chapters and these orgs' local offices. Even in (maybe especially
>     in!) countries that don't have a specific presence by the
>     multinational, a relationship with local chapters can be mutually
>     beneficial. It is in the common interest of ISOC Global and its
>     chapters to develop a strategy to engage organizational members
>     (and to extend this into a corporate outreach strategy that may
>     appeal to potential organizational members who need more convincing.)
>
>     Now that ISOC Global is no longer competing with chapters for
>     funding, we have some really good opportunities to create
>     "sponsorship pools" into which multinationals can contribute, that
>     is distributed to chapters and split based on a formula TBD. Such
>     initiative suggests both innovation, and reflects the kind of
>     corporate cultural evolution that ISOC needs to show the world.
>
>
>  3. Far, far, FAR more needs to be done on the policy side, notably in
>     explaining complex Internet issues in simple terms in multiple
>     languages. I would go as far as to say that, in my personal bias,
>     public policy education is the one area in which ISOC is most
>     badly needed by the world, and where it is doing the least. Making
>     Internet technology issues understandable and localized is IMO one
>     of the primary tasks of a chapter. ISOC Global cannot possibly do
>     this alone. But also the Chapters need the support of Global
>     policy staff, as well as a more full commitment to bottom-up
>     policy development as the issues are better understood at the bottom.
>
>     There is much to be learned (and inspired) from the Deploy 360
>     approach which I consider one of ISOC's successes; but that
>     program is not targeted at the public and cannot simply be tuned
>     in that direction.
>
>
>  4. I believe that the annual grant to chapters should not necessarily
>     be earmarked for events, and should be allowed to be used for
>     general outreach, education and operational costs. I would also
>     tie the annual amount to ISOC general revenue, increasing if it
>     rises and falling if it drops. Share the benefit, share the pain.
>     Common interest.
>
>     Having said that, I do not believe that ISOC Global has an
>     obligation to fund chapter staff; nevertheless, there are
>     innovative approaches (such as the "sponsor pool" mentioned above)
>     that ISOC can implement to increase Chapters' ability to attract
>     extra revenues (as well as its own).
>
>
>  5. Regarding media engagement: as ISOC staff know, this is a personal
>     passion of mine as well as my traditional career bent. I have made
>     some proposals on this subject, including one that constituted an
>     unsuccessful community grant application last year. I am
>     continuing to engage staff on this issue and have given it
>     substantial ongoing analysis. ISOC ought to be viewed as the
>     definitive authority on end-user interests in the Internet in
>     every locality in which it has a presence either directly or
>     through a Chapter; IMO a successful media strategy demands that as
>     an objective. I would add that this is not a
>     rich-country/poor-country issue; ISOC's presence in the IT
>     mainstream *everywhere* is far from optimal.
>
>     As one hint: I am an enthusiastic backer of the "Internet Strong"
>     campaign theme and believe that both ISOC Global and ISOC Chapters
>     can and should do far more to leverage this into a global,
>     decentralized media strategy. As a start, I suggest a Working
>     Group that includes media-minded Chapter members and ISOC's own
>     media staff.
>
>
> -- 
> Evan Leibovitch
> Toronto Canada
>
>     Em: evan at telly dot org
>     Sk: evanleibovitch
>     Tw: el56
>
>
>
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