Answers inline prefixed with "DY>" answering both Spencer's and
Marshall's points:
On Aug 4, 2008, at 12:00 AM, Spencer Dawkins wrote:
Hi, Marshall,
Speaking as a scribe...
My biggest obstacle to using jabber for scribing is that we still
(used to be frequently, now very rarely, but it happened in Dublin)
experience networking problems on the wireless LAN. The typical
Monday morning problems of long ago kept me from trying it for about
two years ("once burned, twice shy").
DY> Yes, either the wireless network - or the *Jabber server* - can
potentially be a serious challenge. I was a frequent Jabber scribe at
IETF 71 in Philadelphia in the RAI sessions and those of you who
attended those sessions will recall my quite frequent trips to the mic
to say for the remote attendees who were listening to the audio stream
something like "the jabber server is done. help has been requested" or
"the jabber server is back up".
DY> Having said that, the Jabber server performance was rock solid at
IETF 72 (and I know we switched to using a new Jabber server) and I
saw no issues whatsoever with its performance as a remote attendee. I
did, though, see comments from a few of the folks who were Jabber-
scribing saying that they were having wireless network access problems
in a few of the rooms there.
Beyond that ... so how many working groups have formal secretaries?
DY> Certainly an excellent idea for working groups.
Marshall wrote:
1.) Is it really necessary to have a jabber scribe and a regular
scribe as a separate
position ? We had 117 sessions in Dublin, finding 234 scribes is
clearly harder than finding 117.
DY> I think there is value in having two separate roles. In my view,
the "regular" scribe is there to record the activities and
particularly the *actions* of the working group. The notes from the
regular scribes can be a great asset for the chairs and can also be an
excellent resource for people who were unable to attend. For
instance, I have several times in the past found Spencer's detailed
minutes extremely helpful in catching up with what happened at a RAI
meeting that I could not attend.
DY> I also personally see value in an edited set of "minutes" for a
meeting along the lines of those produced by regular scribes. A
chatroom log file is not the same as it is filled with other
conversations (as well as the inevitable notices from Jabber clients
as they join/leave the room).
DY> In contrast, I see the Jabber scribe primarily as the connection
to remote participants (where "remote" could be people who are not
attending the meeting or who may be at the meeting but in another
session). There is a degree of interactivity here that is not true of
the regular scribe. The Jabber scribe needs to be able to relay
questions from those in the Jabber room, answer questions the remote
participants may have ("which slide are we on?"), etc. That necessary
interactivity, though, may distract the Jabber scribe from the
detailed note-taking the regular scribe may be doing.
DY> Like you, Marshall, I have found the Jabber scribe to be immensely
helpful in such ways as filling in speakers' names. When I was a
regular scribe at IETF 71, I was *also* monitoring the Jabber scribe
for exactly this kind of information, which I then recorded in the
regular minutes.
2.) Would it be possible to have a volunteer list for scribes in
advance of the meeting ?
DY> Definitely a good idea. For a couple of the working groups I
follow, the chairs sent out the request for scribes (regular and
Jabber) several days in advance.
I would even suggest 2 - a list of people willing to volunteer in
general, and a agenda or calendar with slots in each session for
the scribe for that session.
DY> Good idea.
3.) A minor point, but I would urge WG chairs to formally designate
someone (possibly themselves) to
relay questions from jabber. This seems to fall to the jabber
scribe, even though it is impossible to stand at the
mike and scribe at the same time !
DY> For me I dealt with this by sitting very close to the mic for the
sessions in which I knew I was going to be a Jabber scribe. In
several sessions the chairs were also clear that the Jabber scribe
could "jump to the front of the line" and stand up quickly to relay a
question, which was very helpful.
Regards,
Dan
--
Dan York, CISSP, Director of Emerging Communication Technology
Office of the CTO Voxeo Corporation dyork@xxxxxxxxx
Phone: +1-407-455-5859 Skype: danyork http://www.voxeo.com
Blogs: http://blogs.voxeo.com http://www.disruptivetelephony.com
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