[Chapter-delegates] How many members do we have?

[Susannah Gray]

Hi John,

On 12/12/2018 02:26, John More wrote:
> Dave
>
> Much of what you say is correct. Even while working to strengthen the 
> Chapter structure and bringing more accountability, I have always 
> taken the position that ISOC should not claim to be a “membership” 
> organization in that it has never done anything to create an 
> effective, connected membership. I have been a member for years.  I 
> have even given made the $75 contribution.  Nothing.  No regular 
> communications are sent from ISOC, only from the Chapter.  There is no 
> solicitation of donations, there are no calls to action, there are 
> virtually no communications unless you sign onto a specific e-list of 
> project.
- I agree that communication from ISOC could be improved. However, I do 
not feel that ISOC should be sending out more communication to members 
as care needs to be taken to avoid confusion and mixed messages as 
people are already unsure of the split between ISOC and the Chapters.
>
> Sharp contrast with international organizations, like Greenpeace, 
> Amnesty International, or Human Rights Watch.

- Greenpeace is fully funded by individuals (it does not accept 
donations from corporations) so it needs to maintain a constant dialogue 
with its members, which is not the case with ISOC.

>
> A friend who had been with the Physicians for Social Responsibility 
> came out of retirement to lead The Rachel Carson Council.  He has 
> re-energized and increased the membership by soliciting, sending 
> newsletters, asking for activism, creating intern training programs 
> and college campus councils — all to engage in environmental justice 
> activism.

- The San Francisco Bay Area ISOC Chapter sends out newsletters every 
couple of weeks (using MailerLite) to its members and updates its 
website regularly with snippets of news - it's not a hard/time consuming 
task. The AMS is not the best tool for this but it does the job and it 
is free for all the Chapters.

I think rather than ISOC upping its communication to the general 
membership it might need to direct/assist Chapter leaders more with 
their communications needs. While I wholeheartedly support the bottom 
up, multistakeholder ethos, I believe some general direction is needed 
by many of the Chapters in terms of the kind of general Internet-related 
news and issues they should be informing their members about and the 
tools that can help them do it.

Thanks,

Susannah

—
Susannah Gray
President
San Francisco Bay Area Internet Society Chapter
www.sfbayisoc.org

>
> ISOC needs more this.  And it does not require hiring consultants.
>
> The only caveat I have with what you say is that you love broadsides 
> and are rarely willing to admit where things are happening.
>
> But your point is well taken.
>
> John More
>
>
>
>> On Dec 11, 2018, at 6:01 PM, Dave Burstein <daveb at dslprime.com 
>> <mailto:daveb at dslprime.com>> wrote:
>>
>> All
>>
>> Andrew notes, accurately, that ISOC's membership should not have been 
>> claimed we had 110,000 members.
>>
>> *The figure was prominently on our home page, however. *Those closely 
>> involved in ISOC always knew it was inaccurate, but refused to take 
>> it off the home page even after it was brought up and discussed at 
>> the top. ISOC used the claim in advocacy.
>>
>> The home page also said ISOC was "a trusted source." Trust needs to 
>> be earned, not claimed.
>>
>> All of us want to be proud of what ISOC is accomplishing. We share 
>> the powerful human trait of "confirmation bias." It is very hard for 
>> anyone to listen to what disagrees with one's own beliefs, including 
>> that a group we are part of is to be admired.
>>
>> ISOC, almost all of us agree, can and should be doing more to bring a 
>> great Internet to everyone. (We disagree on how to do that, of course.)
>>
>> To be effective, we need to look honestly at what we are doing. In 
>> practice, those raising problems were told, "you're shouldn't be so 
>> negative," often attacked and shot down.
>>
>> I'm still here, because I believe ISOC, with a $30M/year subsidy from 
>> .org, has the potential to be the most powerful _pro-consumer_ force 
>> on the net. But I've watched for several years as those who agreed, 
>> and supported issues like more chapter funding got burned out and left.
>>
>> I knew Kathy for years as one of the most progressive in D.C. circles 
>> and expected her to do much more. I know several of the board members 
>> to be hardworking, articulate, concerned, and of good faith. I know 
>> the same is true of Andrew.
>>
>> Can we be honest with ourselves and do better? 75% of the Internet is 
>> not in the U.S., Western Europe, and allies. China alone is 40% and 
>> their achievements remarkable. (344M have fiber home connections.) I 
>> am not naive about the Chinese government, but we can never be truly 
>> effective organizing the Internet without including them, as well as 
>> the many others not well-represented here.
>> ------------
>>
>> Unfortunately, Andrew is wrong that we now have
>>
>>     anadmittedly smaller list of confirmed and clearly engaged members.
>>
>>
>> I wish that were true. But I know in New York the majority of our 
>> "members" are nothing more than people who have agreed to be on a 
>> mailing list. I don't think we've had a meeting with even 75 of our 
>> "2,500" members in at least the last 5 years. The maximum number of 
>> people who have done /anything at all/ is perhaps 400, and very few 
>> of them are "clearly engaged."
>>
>> Which I, Andrew, and many others are working to improve.
>>
>> Dave
>> (Who would much rather be discussing the right radios for rural 
>> Africa or the unhyped prospects of 5G, rather than wasting time in 
>> what should be unneeded organizational problems. If we become the 
>> "bottom-up multi-stakeholder organization" Kathy wanted us to be, we 
>> would be doing a much better job delivering what we all believe in.)
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>
>
> _______________________________________________
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