[governance] New membership database: choose your own username

[Don Cameron]

Fascinating how questions of good list governance stem from the very list
designed to promote good Internet governance through participatory
contribution. If nothing else this is surely a trigger for increased
participation here! (or for the lurkers to arise from the woodwork as it
were :-)

 

I also queried use of the term 'lurker' because of context and association
(with defunct accounts etc.). My apologies if this misunderstood, however
the association was probably inappropriate. I'm still not sure the term is
being used in proper context in conversation when suggesting that 'lurkers'
should be separated from 'voter-members'.

 

Until this furore erupted I was a lurker on this list, and would probably
have remained as such had these dramatic changes not been proposed
(implemented without consensus?) - however being a lurker does not mean I
fail to identify with and associate with civil society, nor do I withdraw my
right to vote (as a member voter) should I so choose - a right is not an
obligation. I lurk because I choose to lurk. I will vote if I choose to
vote.

 

Why is a lurker deemed different from a voter?

 

Perhaps what is really intended is to identify and define people who do not
identify as civil society members? (some of whom may lurk; some of whom may
not)

 

I think care needs to be taken that rights are not removed from people
through these actions.

 

Don

 

 

From: governance-request at lists.cpsr.org
[mailto:governance-request at lists.cpsr.org] On Behalf Of Deirdre Williams
Sent: Tuesday, 4 January 2011 10:40 PM
To: governance at lists.cpsr.org; Jeremy Malcolm
Subject: Re: [governance] New membership database: choose your own username

 

 

On 4 January 2011 02:47, Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy at ciroap.org> wrote:

On 04/01/2011, at 2:28 PM, Avri Doria wrote:

 

> And with the way you are terming those who participate in the list
passively as lurkers

That is a value-neutral term, as far as I use it.  But I've apologised if
anyone was offended by use of that term.

 

"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)."

 

The intention of my comment at least was not that I found the term itself
offensive, but that in the context that was used (see above) the suggestion
appeared to be that "lurkers" were undesirable and should be removed from
the list of subscribers - since they were included in a list with "duplicate
subscriptions" and "defunct accounts". Also that "lurkers", by definition,
were not members. Since these views seem to disagree fundamentally with my
understanding of the way the Internet Governance Caucus is supposed to work
I felt that it was necessary to challenge them.

I apologise in turn if I misunderstood your intention. :-)

 

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!
http://www.consumersinternational.org/congress
Twitter #CICongress

Read our email confidentiality notice. Don't print this email unless
necessary.

____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
    governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
    governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org

For all list information and functions, see:
    http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t




-- 
"The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge" Sir William
Arthur Lewis, Nobel Prize Economics, 1979

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20110105/2315e730/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
     governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org

For all list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance
To edit your profile and for other IGC information, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t