Hi Michael, inline (and trimming a bit): > > Externally, the current Internet environment is different from what it > > was when the current statements were developed: regional needs are > > different, communication patterns are different, and the > > standardization landscape is different. Internet users and, thus, also > > ISOC's chapters and members are more international and many of them > > come from developing countries. > > Could you characterize what you think the changes in communications patterns are? Back in 2005, the community was not consulted for things such as coming up with a mission statement; that was simply the environment back then. At present, we want to be involve the community as much as it is feasible. That is why we are sending out requests for input such as this one. > > Internally, ISOC's revenue sources have increased significantly from > > 2005 until present. This means that ISOC's potential to realize its > > ISOC has more money, but are it's revenue sources significantly more diverse? No, they are not significantly more diverse. > Or to put it another way, can ISOC do things now that might have pissed off > some of it's donors before? No, we should still try not to piss off any of our donors :-) > > Our goal is to bring more focus into the organization. The idea is to > > avoid spreading ourselves too thin and, instead, increase ISOC's focus > > on activities that make a difference. > > Do less (or the same) things better, rather than do more things. Right, we are currently focusing on impact as opposed to activities. > > In order to make those key decisions, staff, the board, and the > > community need to be on the same page regarding ISOC's vision and > > mission, and their underlying meaning. Given that many members of > > staff, the board, and the community were not around when the current > > statements were developed back in 2005, revising them with their > > involvement was considered to be a necessary exercise so that everybody > > feels them as their own. Getting a common sense of ownership is one of > > our main goals. > > As the new mission statement is in point form, like the previous one, > I want to suggest that each of the mission statement points be given a > name/handle (to the point of having an HTML anchor on the web page..) so that > it can easily be referred to in other documents. As you probably know, the new ISOC's web page has just been launched. Content is still being migrated from the old page to the new one. I will talk to the web team to make sure the statements are presented in a good and clear way. > While secure is mentioned, that can mean "secure for children" or "secure > against terrorists". For some governments that translates into "no privacy", > (no TLS!) which is exactly the opposite of what most of us think of when we > say "secure". > > So, I'd like to see the privacy tussle mentioned more prominently if we are going to say "secure" > ISOC has been using the "open, globally-connected, and secure" adjectives for a while, AFAICT. Secure here is to be understood as in the "trust" initiative ISOC has been driving. It is definitively not to be understood as not using TLS. Do you have in mind any other adjective that reflects better the intent? > Somewhere, perhaps not in the normative part of the mission statement, I'd > like to see things like: > > > - Facilitates open development of standards, protocols, > > administration, and the technical infrastructure of the Internet. > > ... (such as being the home for ietf.org, XXX, YYY) > > Maybe a prominent link in the mission statement page that says something > like, "How ISOC implements it's mission statement" Yes, we intend to have text explaining all that on the new web page. When we gather enough input we will work on finalizing the migration from the old web page and generating any new material needed. Thanks for the comments! Cheers, Gonzalo