I was thinking about the travel for the other organizations when I put it together, but the question asked was about what it took to be a ‘full’ participant. I suppose this is where we get to compare theory with practice. In theory, one could be on the OASIS board or IEEE BoG or even in leadership in 3GPP for less or a comparable amount as it would cost in the IETF. In practice, the worst offender is likely 3GPP, where it seems there is a meeting every three weeks in rather inaccessible locations all over the world. One is not likely to be elected or appointed to a leadership position if one is not present. And one is not likely to be present unless one has the backing of a large multinational vendor or government funding it. Looking introspectively, anyone can participate in the IETF for free, but in practice it costs thousands and is difficult without corporate support. Moreover, the IETF is explicit that if one does not have corporate support, one does not get leadership positions. This comes through in both our NOMCOM rules, but more especially so from the questions asked of AD’s, starting with, “Do you have funding or corporate support to enable such a commitment?” (IETF Chair) or, “Do you have funding or corporate support to enable your maximum attention to the Area Director role?” Nothing is absolute, I know of at least one IETF Chair who did not get direct corporate support, but the Chair did get direct governmental support, which they were transparent about. However, I would offer that was the exception that proves the rule. > On Mar 24, 2019, at 10:56 AM, Melinda Shore <melinda.shore@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > On 3/24/19 6:45 AM, Eric Burger wrote: >> So, to be a ‘full’ IETF participant, including governance, costs >> substantially more than some other SDO’s (wonder why IETF lost CTI >> work?), but substantially less than the ITU-T (wonder why ITU-t has >> totally lost out on Internet standards?). > > Well, wait a minute. Attending meetings for these other SDOs > also involves travel costs, lodging, etc. > >> As for “participation in the IETF is free,” it is the same kind of >> free as open source software is free. Sure, you can download a copy >> of Linux for free. However, if you want support, it costs 2-10x what >> some of the proprietary operating systems cost per copy. So much for >> ‘free’! > > It costs time, if nothing else, and that's not free. But I > do know people who've been productive contributors who never > participate in meetings. I don't think that nomcom eligibility > determines who is a "full" IETF participant and I'm rather > unhappy about seeing it slowly transitioned into a proxy for > membership. > > Melinda >
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