Re: Social Science and the IETF

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On 3/8/2014 9:50 AM, Stewart Bryant wrote:
I am concerned that in the recent IETF discussion of interpersonal
dynamics, insufficient consideration has been given to the innate
personal characteristics of individuals that participate in the
IETF process.

Using the Myers-Briggs characterization
...
In the recent discussions that have taken place in the IETF on matters
related to social interaction, I have developed concerns that the
IETF is at risk of taking decisions outside its core competence.
In matters of organizational design and the creation of rules
that relate to interpersonal interaction, the IETF should, in my
view, be seeking wider professional input from those qualified
in the social and organizational sciences.



Stuart,

Forgive me, but what discussions are you referring to?

The ones that I am aware of covered harassment and bullying, with some later discussions considering the professionalism of how one voices personal frustrations with another participant.

None of these is a matter of mismatched personality types, whether formulated by M-B or any of the vast array of competing personality and interaction theories.

Harassment and bullying are forms of intimidation seeking to marginalize a participant. They are not "interaction" problems; they are attacks.

Some are frontal, attempting the verbal equivalent of blunt force trauma. Others try to be more clever and subtle, such as when the attacker pretends to be a victim, or the attacker questions the victim's motives. Whatever the form, they seek to undermine the person, rather than deal with technical substance.

The draft I wrote goes into these in some details, including citing a array of professional papers:

     https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-crocker-diversity-conduct/

Further, my understanding is that the Anti-Harassment Policy formulated by the IESG and the more recent draft by Adrian and Pete all have had professional input.

Please take the 12 minutes needed to look at the cited video. It includes some discussion of the difference between "communication" problems and bullying:

     Workplace Bullying
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAgg32weT80,


Since your note made no specific references, perhaps you have some other conversations in mind? Please do be specific.

d/
--
Dave Crocker
Brandenburg InternetWorking
bbiw.net





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