[Chapter-delegates] Chapter advice on live streaming
Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond
ocl at gih.com
Mon Sep 16 08:38:06 PDT 2024
Dear Luis,
I am sorry but you are missing the point: what I deplore, principally in
my email is the lack of transparency for the Board of Trustees to
conduct "informal" meetings and discussions in which decisions are made
on closed mailing lists, with no accountability whatsoever especially
when it relates to matters of actions that directly affect a core
activity of the Chapters as a core part of the Internet ecosystem. By
the way that the request was made by the Chapter Advisory Council, this
is not just a "change of service provider" or minor operational issues:
it is a strategic resource for Chapters which Chapters have asked for
explicitly. To treat the matter as a minor issue is a critical mistake
when dealing with a core service.
We hear from the Chair of the Board that there were no objections for
the inappropriate response that was given to the request, in substance
and in form and I am flabbergasted by the silence shown by Board members
who were selected by this community and indeed any other Board members
(past and/or present) who follow this community closely.
According to the US Council of Non Profits (
https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/running-nonprofit/governance-leadership/board-roles-and-responsibilities
):
"a board of directors does not exist solely to fulfill legal duties and
serve as a fiduciary of the organization’s assets. Board members also
play very significant roles providing guidance to nonprofits by
contributing to the organization’s culture, strategic focus,
effectiveness, and financial sustainability, as well as serving as
ambassadors and advocates. Beyond fulfilling legal duties, board members
can be important resources for the organization in multiple ways."
Are ISOC Board members even "allowed" to do that now?
The Organisation's Culture and Purpose is being changed. Unless this is
the new way the Internet Society works? But then who are we, as a
community, to advocate for an Open, Transparent, Collaborative Internet,
when we, as a community, are lying to ourselves and not practising what
we preach? This is definitely NOT the Internet Society I want.
Kindest regards,
Olivier
On 15/09/2024 19:11, drhipo at me.com wrote:
> Dear Olivier,
>
> As you know, trustees' voting is not disclosed unless it is a
> resolution or happens in public. Asking for them to disclose their
> posture on an issue puts them in danger to be accused of releasing
> either the discussion or other things the rest of the board (meaning
> not the Chapter elected members) are not willing to disclose due to
> their personal or corporate culture. At the end, there is only a third
> of Chapter elected members votes which are easily out-numbered by
> other cultural beliefs. Even if there is an obligation of every
> trustee to act in favor of ISOC as a whole, simple human approach to
> team playing may prevail.
>
> I would be very surprised if IETF or Organizational BOT Members of the
> board come and establish a dialogue in a mailing list with other
> Internet Society members.
>
> Best Regards,
> Luis
> On 15 Sep 2024 6:27 -0600, Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond via
> Chapter-delegates <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org>, wrote:
>> Dear Ted,
>>
>> Thank you for informing us that there were no objections. Based on
>> your communication, it appears that there is unanimous approval.
>>
>> I am quite surprised by this outcome, as some Board members had
>> previously expressed concerns, and I was not aware that their
>> positions had changed. I kindly request that the Board members on
>> this mailing list provide an explanation for their change in stance
>> and the rationale behind the decision to cease funding a vital
>> Chapter and communication resource.
>>
>> Kind regards,
>>
>> Olivier
>>
>>
>> On 13/09/2024 14:13, Ted Hardie wrote:
>>> Hi Eduardo,
>>>
>>> If I understand your question correctly, you are asking if this was
>>> a rough consensus with some dissent? There were no objections.
>>>
>>> regards,
>>>
>>> Ted Hardie
>>>
>>> On Fri, Sep 13, 2024 at 1:33 PM Eduardo Diaz
>>> <eduardodiazrivera at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Ted:
>>>
>>> Can you indicate how many Board members needed to be at consensus?
>>>
>>> -ed
>>>
>>> On Fri, Sep 13, 2024 at 7:37 AM Ted Hardie via Chapter-delegates
>>> <chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Olivier,
>>>
>>> The board has an active mailing list and informal meetings
>>> once a month (though August's meeting did not occur this
>>> year because of low availability). The discussion took
>>> place mostly on the mailing list, along with trustees' edits
>>> of a proposal using online tools. Because this response did
>>> not require a resolution, confirmation of agreement was
>>> assessed on the list and confirmed at the September informal
>>> meeting, earlier this week. None of those methods generate
>>> minutes in the formal sense, but I can confirm that there
>>> was consensus for the response.
>>>
>>> regards,
>>>
>>> Ted Hardie
>>>
>>> On Fri, Sep 13, 2024 at 12:16 PM Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond
>>> <ocl at gih.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear Ted,
>>>
>>> I acknowledge receipt of your response, which I have
>>> reviewed with interest.
>>>
>>> The Chapter Advisory Council submitted its formal
>>> request on 17 July 2024. The Board, through its Chair,
>>> issued its, I assume, formal response on 13 September 2024.
>>>
>>> Upon reviewing the list of ISOC Board Meetings available
>>> at Internet Society Board of Trustees Meetings
>>> <https://www.internetsociety.org/board-of-trustees/meetings/>,
>>> I have not identified any meetings of the ISOC Board of
>>> Trustees occurring between these dates.
>>>
>>> Given that this decision was made by the Board, I kindly
>>> request the following:
>>>
>>> * The minutes of the meeting during which the Board
>>> decided not to reinstate the ISOC.LIVE video
>>> production, editing, and archiving services.
>>>
>>> Warmest regards,
>>>
>>> Olivier Crépin-Leblond
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 13/09/2024 09:17, Ted Hardie via Chapter-delegates wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Dear colleagues,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> One of the items in your recent advice to the board was
>>>> a request that the "ISOC funding for the ISOC.LIVE
>>>> video production, editing, and archiving services
>>>> should be reinstated, as well as ISOC.LIVE should be
>>>> financially supported by ISOC on an ongoing basis."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The board's role here is to set the direction for the
>>>> organization by establishing strategic goals; the
>>>> details of the communication plan are a part of the
>>>> staff execution of those goals. During the budget
>>>> analysis of 2023, the communications team analyzed the
>>>> effectiveness of specific streaming approaches and
>>>> found that community engagement was driven primarily by
>>>> on-demand viewing. This matches a broader shift common
>>>> to mainstream programming. As a result of this
>>>> analysis, the communications plan shifted away from a
>>>> retainer-based contract for live streaming to a
>>>> project-based funding model for future work.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> This was a staff management decision, taken with due
>>>> care and analysis. The board's role is to assess
>>>> whether the overall communications plan is effective in
>>>> meeting the strategic goals; it does not direct the
>>>> staff to use specific contract types or contractors.
>>>> If the needs of the communications plan change again to
>>>> require live streaming on a full-time basis, the board
>>>> is confident that the staff will issue the appropriate
>>>> RFP and conduct the appropriate analysis of the
>>>> submissions.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The project-based funding model remains available, and
>>>> chapters may, of course, fund specific live streaming
>>>> events using chapter funds or Beyond The Net grants.
>>>> Any analysis of the effectiveness of those live
>>>> streaming events would be valuable data for any future
>>>> considerations of the engagement model.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The board thanks the ChaC for its attention to the
>>>> communications plan, and we look forward to continued
>>>> discussion of how to engage the broader community in
>>>> the mission of the society.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Ted Hardie
>>>> for the Board
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically subscribed
>>>> to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet Society Chapter Portal (AMS):https://community.internetsociety.org.
>>>> -
>>>> View the Internet Society Code of Conduct:https://www.internetsociety.org/become-a-member/code-of-conduct/
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically
>>> subscribed
>>> to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the
>>> Internet Society Chapter Portal (AMS):
>>> https://community.internetsociety.org.
>>> -
>>> View the Internet Society Code of Conduct:
>>> https://www.internetsociety.org/become-a-member/code-of-conduct/
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
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>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically subscribed
>> to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet
>> Society Chapter Portal (AMS): https://community.internetsociety.org.
>> -
>> View the Internet Society Code of Conduct:
>> https://www.internetsociety.org/become-a-member/code-of-conduct/
--
Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond, PhD
http://www.gih.com/ocl.html
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