[Chapter-delegates] Chapter advice on live streaming

Fri Sep 27 10:49:50 PDT 2024

*Speaking in my personal capacity.*

Many thanks, Charles you for sharing your thoughts, which resonate with
some of my own reflections. I have been following this conversation
closely, and while I may have a different perspective on certain comments
made by a few other persons  in this thread, I want to emphasize that ISOC
is community-driven and community-powered. Engaging in discussions like
this makes us better, as we can all learn from one another and work towards
earning each other’s trust.

For the record, I support open engagement that enhances our Chapter, even
though my fiduciary duty at this point is to ISOC.org, which limits the
extent of my engagement as a member of ISOC's Board of Trustees. However, I
will always advocate that community comes first, and ISOC is no exception
in the multistakeholder approach we have all championed. As an African
proverb states, “It takes a whole village to raise a child.” For ISOC to
become what we all envision in that child I see in that proverb, it must
always be driven by engagement within our community.

I want to express my gratitude to all the community members who have
relentlessly engaged on this topic. I believe that the concerned
individuals in this thread are listening, and listening is a key component
of accountability. I am optimistic that taking the right steps to earn the
community's trust and needs is important and I hope this issue will soon be
resolved.

Thank you.

Best regards,
*Caleb Ogundele*
Chapter Elected,
ISOC Board of Trustees Member

On Fri, Sep 27, 2024 at 3:07 AM Charles Mok (gmail) via Chapter-delegates <
chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> wrote:

> 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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>> _______________________________________________
>> 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/
>

-- 
*Caleb Ogundele*
Email: muyiwacaleb at gmail.com
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