[Chapter-delegates] Chapter advice on live streaming

Fri Sep 27 00:07:05 PDT 2024

Thanks Eduardo.

Eduardo you are right that chapters and our members form an important part
of who ISOC is. In "About Us" on our website, you see we prominently
mentioned "128,265" Members, "131" chapters and SIGs, and 84 OMs. This is
by no means to compare which is/are more important, but it is also fair to
say that without chapters, we will become more like a trade or industry
consortium, which is clearly not what ISOC wants to be seen as.

But I also want to go back to the points that Barry talked about.
(Following Barry's lead, I also say here for the record that I am a trustee
elected by chapters.)

The point that Barry (and Luis) reiterated that "once any of us
becomes a trustee
we are not representing the community that put us here: we are representing
the Internet Society itself and acting in the interest of the Society as a
whole" is true. But, to me, this is more about how the communities
(including chapters, their leaders and members) should perceive the
trustees, more than binding what they trustees should "care about." It is
true that it is common that chapters may have the "wrong perception"
that their elected trustees "represent" them, or possibly also the same
perception exists for some in the OM or IETF communities too. But that has
more to do with the constituents' perception and hence expectation, more
than what it should limit what the trustees can or should do. In fact, it
shouldn't. As a trustee, I believe we can still advocate for chapters, oir
OMs, or IETF, or anyone else. The fortunate part of it is that there
shouldn't be a "zero sum" scenario among ISOC constituents and the Internet
communities as a whole. After all, in virtually all situations, I strongly
believe what is good for the chapters as a whole should be good for the
other communities, and vice versa. Even what's good for the OM community
"as a whole" (not individual company members) should be good for chapters
and the whole Internet community too. So why not? Even when we talk about
this case about live streaming, those in the OM or IETF communities can
listen to and benefit from it, and I am sure some do too, right? So, I
choose to advocate for any or all of them as appropriate for the matter,
rather than avoiding any one (or all) of them, including the constituent
that just happens to have elected me to the board.

And about the point that the board should not interfere with management
actions, I agree too that is proper. The board should not micromanage the
executive management. But that does not mean that the board must
collectively agree with or defend any (past or present) management decision
either. Otherwise, it may be the management micromanaging the minds of
individual board trustees :) That would not be a nice thing :)  Of course,
due to confidentiality, trustees (and management too) should not discuss
the details of the proceedings in the board. But, that should not be
necessarily construed as that the board collectively agrees completely and
without any reservation with any or management decisions, the kind of thing
that we just said the board cannot interfere with in the first place. So,
there may be some management decisions that some trustees may choose not to
defend.

As Barry well said, "management has to have the freedom and flexibility to
handle day-to-day operations as it sees appropriate, within the strategic
plan that we worked with them to
create." It should and can also have the freedom and flexibility to change
course and make revisions to policies or executive decisions based on new
information, feedback received from the communities, and plainly learning
to fix something that did not work very well.

There have been a lot of useful discussions here. It is unfortunate that
the past decision has got us to this point. For that, as they say, it is
what it is, or, it was what it was. Looking to the future, I think we can
move on, and it seems pretty clear that there are ways (including some
discussed in the thread here) that can lead to a better outcome.

Charles

On Wed, Sep 18, 2024 at 2:45 PM Eduardo Diaz via Chapter-delegates <
chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> wrote:

> Barry,
>
>
>
> I appreciate your insights regarding the responsibilities of the Board of
> Trustees for the entire Internet Society. However, it is crucial to
> recognize that most of the Internet Society's composition consists of its
> chapters. The ISOC chapters serve as the organization's foundation; without
> them, ISOC would face considerable challenges in effectively communicating
> its message. With approximately 128,000 members, the chapters are essential
> in mobilizing and engaging the broader community. When individuals join a
> chapter, they become ISOC global members before selecting their preferred
> chapter, emphasizing the chapters' importance in representing the entire
> ISOC community.
>
>
>
> The Chapter Advisory Council (ChAC) was established in the ISOC bylaws to
> ensure a unified voice for all chapters, allowing them to present issues
> pertinent to their members. Consequently, when the Board receives formal
> advice from the ChAC, it should be regarded as a collective perspective
> from its chapters. Given that the Board does not engage in operational
> matters, it would have been prudent to thoroughly review the ISOC strategic
> documents to identify areas where the functionality explicitly requested by
> the chapters could be integrated into the strategy and then request the
> ISOC CEO to implement it. I believe this consideration needed to be
> adequately addressed by all the trustees, particularly given the informal
> way it was discussed. The Board's request to present this issue to the
> staff has been interpreted as a lack of concern for the chapters.
>
>
>
> So, I would like to ask whether the trustees are willing to consider a
> bylaw change that would allow the ChAC to send formal advice to the ISOC
> CEO regarding matters deemed operational. Absent such a change, staff may
> overlook valuable advice, resulting in a lack of incentive for them to
> respond or take official action, and the chapters will have no other avenue
> to voice these concerns.
>
>
> -ed
>
> Just an ISOC member
>
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 18, 2024 at 10:51 AM Barry Leiba via Chapter-delegates <
> chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
>
>> I'm responding to something in Luis's note, but it's not really a
>> response to Luis -- it's a clarification of what the roles are.
>>
>> >  Our BOT elected members (and of course, IETF and OMAC ones if
>> isolated) are a minority in the Board
>> > and they are promptly remembered that they are not representing a
>> sector but the Internet Society as a
>> > whole, as written in the legal framework.
>>
>> For the record: I'm a trustee who was elected by the Organization Members.
>>
>> First, on the "minority" point, I want to highlight that the
>> Organization Members used to select half the board, six members.
>> Three each were selected by the Chapters and by the Standards
>> Community (the IETF, trustees appointed by the IAB).  This change
>> around ten years ago to the current balance -- one Organization
>> selection was transferred to the Chapters, and one to the IETF -- so
>> we now have each of the three communities having an equal say (four
>> trustees each) in the constitution of the board.  We also have a
>> thirteenth trustee now (Funke Baruwa), who was appointed by the board
>> itself and whose background lies outside all three of those
>> communities.
>>
>> Second, as Luis said and which can't be stressed enough, once any of
>> us becomes a trustee we are not representing the community that put us
>> here: we are representing the Internet Society itself and acting in
>> the interest of the Society as a whole.  We have both a legal and
>> moral responsibility to do that.  Of course, we each come with our
>> respective individual backgrounds and experience, which certainly
>> affects our individual views, and that diversity is crucial in getting
>> a broad global perspective.  Sometimes that means that we have
>> different views of what is best for the Society.  But it doesn't
>> change the basic truth that we are all acting not as representatives
>> of the communities we came from, but as trustees of the Internet
>> Society.
>>
>> Third, the board's role is never to manage operational decisions for
>> running the Society -- that's the job of the Internet Society
>> management.  It is to work with the Society to set strategic
>> direction, to oversee the mission of the Society.  A board that would
>> micromanage things would be overstepping its role and would be toxic
>> to the health of the organization, whose management has to have the
>> freedom and flexibility to handle day-to-day operations as it sees
>> appropriate, within the strategic plan that we worked with them to
>> create.
>>
>> Barry Leiba
>> Internet Society trustee
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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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> _______________________________________________
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