[Chapter-delegates] Request that board member Sunday discuss forming a group to review the chapter proposals

[avri doria]

Hi,

Wanted to mention that the Chapters Advisory Council (ChAC) will be
looking at the  ISOC Staff/Board rejection of the proposal at the
meeting on Tuesday and discussing how to respond.   Hopefully enough of
your chapters have ChAC delegates who will participate in the
discussion.  If indeed there is Chapters displeasure with the way the
Board spends ISOC's money, we need to show that it is more than just a
handful of people.

Thanks

Avri


On 04-Jun-17 01:25, Dave Burstein wrote:
> Gonzalo and folk
>
> As most of you know, last spring a proposal was made to allocate 3% of
> the ISOC budget for the chapters to spend on their activities.
> Depending on the allocation formula, that would be $15,000-$50,000 per
> active chapter. Careful review to avoid fraud was included.
>
> I believe the majority of the board was supportive and one board
> member said he was confident things would be approved after the
> chapters committee developed a concrete proposal. Instead, staff has
> chosen another path. 
>
> It's time for those on the board to set policy. The staff proposal
> ignores the primary points and instead suggests spending $500,000 on
> branding is the best way to help the chapters. The staff proposal will
> soon be public, I'm told. The differences will be very clear. 
>
> The elephant in the room, of course, is that most ISOC chapters are in
> the Global South, as is most of the board. Almost all policies are
> made by senior staff, almost all in the Global North and strongly
> supportive of the "DC Consensus." I can provide several clear examples
> of ISOC opposing Group of 77 proposals strongly supported by the
> African and Asians because they would lower the price of Internet
> access. (Previously discussed at ISOC events.)
>
> I spend time on ISOC because I think we can deliver concrete progress
> on the Internet for All. I don't think I'm alone in believing our $30M
> PIR subsidy can be far more effectively used. I believe the chapters
> will demonstrative that, if they had support. 
>
> Frankly, the people on the ground in Africa I've met have a far
> clearer understanding of what's needed than D.C. lawyers and
> economists. I'm on a U.S. State Department committee, and I'm amazed
> how in DC ideology takes precedence over knowledge. We can and should
> bring the public interest issues to the forefront. We haven't. 
>
> So I request the board members informally begin looking closely at the
> chapters proposal, with a possibility of forming a group to show
> respect for the opinions of the chapters.
>
> The rest is commentary. I've been up almost 24 hours working on this
> and am fading. If my comments are unclear, please request
> clarification from me or the members of the chapter committee. 
>
> I'll be making concrete proposals after I get some sleep and catch up
> on the technology reporting I do for a living. In particular, we
> should change the symbolic meaning of some old charter rules and
> actively reach out to those not well represented. 
>
> In particular, nearly 1/3rd of the Internet is now Chinese. Both
> Africa and India will soon have more Internet users than the U.S. 
>
> Any global policy is likely ineffective unless a way is found to
> incorporate this missing third of the Internet in decisions. 
>
> How can ISOC build those bridges? Many of us, including Bob Kahn and
> Vint Cerf, have been personally working on this
>
> Ideas needed.
>
> Dave Burstein
> -- 
> Editor, Fast Net News, 5GW News, Net Policy News and DSL Prime
> Author with Jennie Bourne  DSL (Wiley) and Web Video: Making It Great,
> Getting It Noticed (Peachpit)
>
>
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