On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 3:04 PM, Moriarty, Kathleen <kathleen.moriarty@xxxxxxx> wrote: > Being a scribe can be a good way for people to know who you are (the > scribe). From reading the thread on this, when you ask someone who is new, > how about having them sit next to someone who is more familiar with the > attendees to help with names? Maybe for those which English is not a first > language, they could monitor the jabber list for questions. They may be > more comfortable with certain aspects of volunteering during a session or > reading drafts on their own time. > > > > It would be good to get the message out to newcomers that volunteering is > important. You help others and they help you, it is basic networking skills > and does work in the IETF. > I support this. Maybe some encouragement from the chair could help the newcomers in winning their natural "shyness." I talk by personal experience here: maybe my shyness is a bit above average, but I think that when it is your first time in a new environment, it is only natural to be a little afraid of doing something wrong, even in something like IETF that I, as newcomer, found quite "welcoming." Adding the "pseudo-mentor" to the scribe could also help and maybe also having two newcomer-scribes in parallel, so that each one knows that if s/he misses something or gets something wrong, the redundant scribe can be used to recover from the error. > > > Thanks, > > Kathleen > > > > From: ietf-bounces@xxxxxxxx [mailto:ietf-bounces@xxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of > Stewart Bryant > Sent: Monday, April 22, 2013 6:05 AM > To: Ted Hardie > Cc: IETF > Subject: Re: Meritocracy, diversity, and leaning on the people you know > > > > On 19/04/2013 19:13, Ted Hardie wrote: > > As a working group chair, when I stare out at a sea of faces looking for a > scribe, the chances of my asking someone I know produces good minutes is > much higher than my asking someone whose work I don't know. > > Think about how this often works in WGs without a > secretary or regular scribe. > > Chair says we need a volunteer for a scribe. > > Everyone looks away and sits on their hands. > > Chair says no scribe, no meeting. > > Everyone looks away and hangs their head even lower melting into the floor. > > Chair pleads a bit more. > > Silence. > > Chair asks someone they know since they are less likely to refuse. > > There maybe a refusal or two by people who expect to be at the > mic a lot, or need to leave early, or are only there to catch up > with their email. > > Eventually someone committed to the WG, and usually well known to the > chairs, frequently a name called by the chair, offers to scribe in order > to the meeting started. > > The strong temptation is to just ask one of the well known good > scribes before the meeting in order not to waste time in a tight agenda. > > Stewart >