[Chapter-delegates] SIG / SG questions

[K Mohan Raidu]

Dear Vinton,Greetings for the day.
Please let me know how I can join IPNSIG. I the President of ISOC India Hyderabad Chapter. 
Mohan.================================================================================================= 

    On Sunday, May 26, 2024 at 05:58:25 PM GMT+5:30, vinton cerf via Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> wrote:   

 we kept the name, IPNSIG,  for the non-profit that was created in 1998 as a SIG. The non-profit is distinct from its chapter status since ISOC prefers (requires?) that the chapter has a distinct existence separate from ISOC. You are right about acrobatics - we have somehow managed to comply with ISOC requirements for administration and board management, sometimes in conflict with advice from lawyers. 
v

On Sun, May 26, 2024 at 8:23 AM Joly MacFie <joly.nyc at gmail.com> wrote:

Technically Vint, IPNSIG is no longer a SIG, it's the Interplanetary Chapter, thus it is chartered. All SIGs were de-chartered at the end of 2021, and IPNSIG was the only one to make that transition, so, essentially maintaining its status. The Accessibility SIG went back to being an ISOC-NY project. Some have organized themselves into local chapters. Others either zombified, or transitioned into the new system, or just transitioned out of ISOC entirely.
Unlike the chartered Chapters, the new SIGs/SGs are internal projects within ISOC, with a two year lifespan. The SIGs have to compete for renewal, while the SGs are permanent, but all need to elect new leadership at that two year point. They are admin'd by staff, who also take care of financial details, online presence, documentation etc. With staff doing the admin, this would leave volunteers free to do the actual project work.
Others may explain better but my understanding is there were two main reasons for this:1) Unlike geographically local Chapters, SIGs/SGS, as chartered global entities, involve a whole lot of legal acrobatics that are beyond practicality, if one's serious about compliance. Dealing with this stuff alone for ISOC itself stretches capacity. (Interplanetary did some kind of end run around this.)
2) SIGS were mushrooming and  some SIGS were not well run, while eligible for the same support as Chapters, thus the whole thing needed reining in.
One might have hoped that longstanding SIGs with strong leadership could have yet been eligible for a charter, but it was one size fits all, with the exception of accessibility, youth, and gender being considered vital enough to be permanent.

Joly

On Sun, May 26, 2024 at 5:19 AM vinton cerf <vgcerf at gmail.com> wrote:

Joly,I don't have a lot of answers but I believe IPNSIG (Interplanetary chapter) set up its own web site. The chapters have independent existence from ISOC, by requirement. They can raise their own funds, have a bank account distinct from ISOC, etc. 
v

On Sun, May 26, 2024 at 3:01 AM Joly MacFie via Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> wrote:


When the new SIG / Standing Group structure was set up at the start of 2022, there were a set of guidelines posted on MemberNova.
This document is no longer available, but IIRC, defined a principle that ISOC staff would handle 'administration' roles, to leave volunteers unencumbered by such mundanity as documentation, web presence, finances, so that they could dedicate themselves to actual projects. I found this quote:

Processes and protocols for archiving and accessing publicly available resources such as web content, listservs and social media accounts will be developed as part of the roll out plan for the new SIG structure. The emphasis will be to ensure public assets and work done by SIGs is available and can inform future efforts while maintaining connections and community that has been developed

So, no websites for Groups outside of ISOC, to ensure continuity as teams change every two years.
Eventually landing pages for the SIGS/SGs were set up at  https://www.internetsociety.org/sigs/ however, in terms of documentation these are limited to a few focus areas and current Group leaderships, and there was a wait for Fonteva.

Most groups responded by setting up chat groups on Telegram, Whatsapp, or Signal, and maybe Google docs, maybe some social media, and now, Chatter groups are available via Fonteva, working for some.
Documentation/Website? The ISOC-NY A11ySIG plugged the gap by documenting the Accessibility Standing Group on their wiki, which the new leadership have ported over to a standalone site https://isocasg.org, now linked from the ISOC landing page.

So questions:
Where are the current guidelines?  
What follow up is being done on documentation of the first two year projects?
Can SIGs now set up their own websites?
Is sigleaders at isoc.org listserv still a thing? And, if not, is Chapter Dels an appropriate venue to discuss SIG matters?
Looking forward to responses
Joly-- 
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Joly MacFie  +12185659365 --------------------------------------
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