Hi Dave,
At 08:01 19-03-2013, Dave Crocker wrote:
The difference between a 'venting' session and a 'working' session
is that the latter produces action items that actually produce
further... action.
Yes.
For the most part, the open microphone portion of plenaries tends to
serve merely as venting sessions, and sometimes as an informal
'chat'; if anything productive develops, it is typically not linked
to open mic activity that possibly triggered to it or contributed to it.
It's good for stress relief. :-)
Obviously not part of the basic note-taking effort, but I suggest
that IETF management groups explicitly consider the task of
augmenting the notes with published action items they are taking
from the sessions.
That's a good idea in my humble opinion.
This highlights some important cultural and procedural guidance --
and an explicit action item -- they're worth making more accessible
in one or another 'guidance' documents.
Merely to offer an example notation:
Sean Turner mentioned that a year ago someone asked him how to become
a WG chair. Asking is the first step! He thinks that if people want to
actively participate, they need to volunteer to write drafts etc.
{guidance/leadership}
The above lists asking as the first step. Most people would not ask
as it is awkward to do so.
Participants see the same individuals being selected WG Chairs. Do I
have to work for a big company to be selected WG Chair? Do I have to
be friends with the Area Director to be selected as WG Chair?
Here's a quote from the minutes:
"Benoit Claise believed that it is also a matter of perception. If
there is a perception that certain people cannot become leaders,
then we have a problem."
There is unfortunately such a perception.
Directorate. Some people are shy about going to the mic. If you are
not a native English speaker or if you are not comfortable to speak in
public or if you are a woman in a room of 50 males, you might not feel
comfortable. We might want to think about other ways to reach out and
get other people's input than the ways we have right now. {participation/wg}
It is difficult for people who are not from the United States,
Canada, United Kingdom, Australia or New Zealand to understand the
English spoken in the IETF. It is difficult for some people to
understand the informal words and expressions used in IETF
discussions. Someone from Germany mentioned that it would be helpful
to have transcription services in real time to make it easier for
non-native English speakers to follow the discussions.
The top affiliations are as follows:
Cisco
Huawei
Ericsson
Alcatel
Juniper
Ntt
Google
ATT
Orange
IBM
It's up to these companies to see whether the women participation
requires an action item. I don't know whether these companies have
heard of "changetheratio".
I was surprised by the results for the directorate (you may have seen
the message). There are bright and talented people irrespective of
age or sex. Does anyone reach out to them?
Arturo Servin mentioned the following:
"don't be afraid to get out of your comfort zone and pick
people that you maybe would not have thought of before."
Harald Alvestrand mentioned that:
"Whatever the IETF community has done over the last years did
not help, so he feels that we need to do something different,
but doesn't have a suggestion."
The IETF can discuss about the "something different" for the next
three years or it can take the risk of actually trying something
different to see whether it works or not.
Regards,
S. Moonesamy