[governance] New membership database: choose your own username

Avri Doria avri at acm.org
Wed Jan 5 16:53:44 EST 2011 

Hi,

Just for a point of confirmation, I had always assume that membership had to be confirmed annually by voting.  Kind of like paying due annually to be a members of other some other membership groups.  

the charter is explicit on this:

> The membership requirements for amending the charter are based on the most currently available voters list. In amending the charter, everyone who voted in the previous election will be deemed a member for amending the charter.


That is part of the reason for why elections should have a non of the above category, so someone can take the act of voting without needing to actually pick someone.  But this is not included in the charter and maybe it should be, though introducing it as a practice would not be contrary to anything i the charter.  I personally think all elections should have a 'non of the above' category.

In any case, I think including people as members who did not vote in the last election is a change that is not substantiated by the charter.


a.

On 5 Jan 2011, at 16:20, Ian Peter wrote:

> 
> Shaila raises some of the more interesting questions  around membership – and the most interesting of all if how anyone ceases to be a member. Quite an important question, because charter amendments require a positive vote of two thirds of “members”. - not just two thirds of participants in the vote.  Members certainly should include people who were members but didn’t vote in last elections, as Shaila points out. But members could then be construed to include people who havent participated for years, because there is no way to cease being a member even if you die currently.
> 
> These sorts of problems cant be solved technologically. Nor can the administrative issues which surround a list which serves a dual purpose of an open mailing list to discuss internet governance issues and also a forum for decision making by the subset of mailing list members who would define themselves as IGC members.
> 
> So it’s not easy. However, I personally think that the series of technology changes Jeremy had led over the last year or so have been great enhancements which have made us more efficient. Its great to be able to vote on accepting a position statement without flooding the mailing list with a hundred or so YES messages – and its good to have surveys, wikis and other tools to help us develop positions and discuss them. So, on the whole, I think the changes which have been introduced have been well worthwhile, and it is great to have a co ordinator such as Jeremy with the requisite technical skills to advance our use of on line tools. None of our recent co ordinators have had these skills, so Jeremy is making a great contriubution.
> 
> This has been improved and enhanced by the input of others on this list – the recent changes did need some tweaking, and may need more to meet all needs.
> 
> But the concept is good IMHO, even if unable to solve all our problems.
> 
> Ian Peter
> 
> 
> From: shaila mistry <shailam at yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>, shaila mistry <shailam at yahoo.com>
> Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 11:27:55 -0800 (PST)
> To: Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy at ciroap.org>
> Cc: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>
> Subject: Re: [governance] New membership database: choose your own username
> 
> Hi Jeremy
> I have been a member of IGF for many years now, I have attended several IGF s and have been part of WSIS since its inception. However for the last two years I have not received the ballot to vote, in a timely manner. I did get the ballot last time after a little scramble but am uncertain if it was included.
>  
>  I too am a little concerned about the intent and direction of the changes. Having said this my concerns with the new format and criteria are as follows
> 	• How do we recognize members like myself who have been long standing members. So if my vote was not included in the last elections, am I "reassigned" ? how do I have this corrected so I receive the ballot for the next election.
> 	• Then there are others who also may be long standing members,but simply opt out of voting...does that diminish their status as members?
> 	• Then there are serious but non participating members who are observers who also should be counted as member  .
> 	• Then there are the true" lurkers' whilst most of us would like to open up participation to all individuals who have genuine concern for our work, I admit that there is sometimes an uneasy feeling of wondering who is just lurking with a  purpose of some " ill doing" . 
> So these categories of members raises some questions on what to put in place
> 	• Should we have some broad eligibility criteria ?
> 	• Should we have some sort of periodical scribe - un-scribe process ?
> 	• Should we establish some " organizational' elements ?
> 	• Should we have members discussion forum...blog pages or something ?
> I personally have followed most discussions with great interest and have found them to be very informative and thought provoking. Just havent always been able to squeeze in my two cents worth. I would like to be more active in this coming year and participate more as needed.
> 
>   
> 
> Warm regards to everyone and Happy New year to all !
> 
>  
> Shaila Rao Mistry
> President
> Jayco Interface Technology 
> Jayco MMI
> Input Technology With A Human Touch
> 
> Vice President Public Policy
> National Association On Women Buisness Owners
> 
> Next Generation Convenor 
> International Federation on University Women
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> 
> From: Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy at ciroap.org>
> To: governance at lists.cpsr.org
> Sent: Sun, January 2, 2011 3:01:01 AM
> Subject: [governance] New membership database: choose your own username
> 
> This is long, but important, so please read it.
> 
> 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. 
> 
> 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 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), 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.
> -- 
> Jeremy Malcolm
> Project Coordinator
> Consumers International
> Kuala Lumpur Office for Asia Pacific and the Middle East
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> 
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> 
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