[governance] New membership database: choose your own username

[Deirdre Williams]

First of all - thank you everyone for all the good wishes for the holidays.
I should like to add my "Happy New Year!" and a wish for the absence of
earthquakes, epidemics, hurricanes, floods, landslides and volcanic
eruptions globally in 2011.

Second - there are several things that are not clear to me about this
message from Jeremy and I would be grateful for clarification.

On 2 January 2011 07:01, Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy at ciroap.org> wrote:

>
> Before the next poll or election is called, anyone who wishes to
> participate will have to have an account in the new database that I have
> created to record IGC membership.  All those who voted in the last election
> will also be entered into this database.
>

My understanding is that eligibility to vote is defined by a subscription of
at least 2 months to the IGC mailing list. If that changes, in the sense of
there being additional requirements, surely it needs to be in the charter?

>
> We are doing this because, until now, there has been no proper IGC
> membership list, other than the list of subscribers to the governance
> mailing list (which contains many non-member lurkers, duplicate
> subscriptions and some defunct accounts).
>

By the existing rules it is, I thought, not possible to be a "non-member
lurker" since the rules define membership by "subscription to the list"?

>
> The advantages of a maintaining a centralised database is that we can use a
> single list of members (and potential members) for purposes including:
>
>
>    - mailing list subscription
>    - editing content on the IGC Web site
>    - determining eligibility to vote for coordination elections and
>    charter amendments
>
>
> Also, we will finally be able to associate names and (optionally)
> organisations with email addresses.  Our inability to do this in the past
> has been a problem for the coordinators.
>
> I will be entering existing members into this database shortly, but I am
> first giving everyone the opportunity to create their own database entry so
> that they can choose their own username.  If you don't choose your own
> username, you will end up with a username like "john.doe".  The username
> won't be used on the mailing list, but will be associated with any content
> you may create on our Web site, and possibly for other purposes in the
> future.
>
> To create your own entry in the IGC membership database please visit this
> new page of our Web site:
>
> http://www.igcaucus.org/user/register
>
> When registering, please use the same email address with which you are
> subscribed to the governance list.  This is important because it will enable
> me to flag you as an official IGC member (ie. one who voted in the last
> coordinator elections),
>

"Official IGC members" are those who subscribe to the list, NOT those "who
voted in the last coordinator elections". The definition in Jeremy's message
seems to me to be a fundamental change in the intention of the charter.

if indeed you are one.  (If not, please register anyway - especially if you
> intend to vote at the next coordinator elections.)
>
> Visiting the page above is also the way, from now on, to subscribe to or
> unsubscribe from the governance mailing list.  (Unfortunately due to
> software limitations, your password for the mailing list Web site won't be
> automatically set to the one you choose when creating your database entry -
> you'll need to set it again when logging in there, or use any password you
> may have had there before.)
>
> Existing subscribers to the governance mailing list who have not voted in
> the list election will not automatically be added to the database.  So, if
> you did not vote but are nonetheless an active participant, you should
> register yourself using the link above.  If you don't, your mailing list
> subscription won't be touched, but you won't have access to participate in
> polls or to add content to our Web site.
>
> Thanks, and please let me know if you have any questions.  You have one
> month from now to create your own database entry if you wish, before I will
> create entries for all the missing members.
>
> PS. Since this email is long enough already, I'll be writing separately
> about some of the other "phase 2" improvements to our Web site.
>

Research has demonstrated that mailing lists are like icebergs, with the
greatest proportion invisible "below water level". There have also been
studies that demonstrate that this "invisible majority" plays an important
part in the production of results, particularly by dissemination of
information from the discussions carried on by the minority.

The issue of reviewing the charter keeps recurring. Perhaps we have come to
the point where that review MUST be carried out. We should not press for
inclusion and transparency in others while working towards something which
can appear to be exclusion and opacity in our own affairs.

Deirdre

>    --
>
> *Jeremy Malcolm
> Project Coordinator*
> Consumers International
> Kuala Lumpur Office for Asia Pacific and the Middle East
> Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM, 7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg, TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur,
> Malaysia
> Tel: +60 3 7726 1599
> *
> Empowering Tomorrow’s Consumers
> CI World Congress, 3-6 May 2011, Hong Kong
> Businesses, governments and civil society are invited to join consumer
> groups from around the world
> for four days of debate and discussion on the issues that matter most to
> consumers. Register now!
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> *
>
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>
>
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-- 
“The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge" Sir William
Arthur Lewis, Nobel Prize Economics, 1979
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