[governance] New membership database: choose your own username
Ian Peter
ian.peter at ianpeter.com
Wed Jan 5 17:11:46 EST 2011
Hi Avri,
What you suggest is probably the most convenient way to determine
membership. However, it does mean that if you miss voting you are no longer
a member. If everyone is happy with that, a lot of problems are solved.
> From: Avri <avri at acm.org>
> Reply-To: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>, Avri <avri at acm.org>
> Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 16:53:44 -0500
> To: IGC <governance at lists.cpsr.org>
> Subject: Re: [governance] New membership database: choose your own username
>
> 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 ³members². - not just two thirds of participants in the vote.
>> Members certainly should include people who were members but didn¹t 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 it¹s 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
>> Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM, 7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg, TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur,
>> Malaysia
>> Tel: +60 3 7726 1599 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +60 3 7726
>> 1599 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
>>
>> Empowering Tomorrow¹s 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
>> <http://www.consumersinternational.org/congress>
>> Twitter #CICongress
>>
>> Read our email confidentiality notice
>> <http://www.consumersinternational.org/email-confidentiality> . Don't print
>> this email unless necessary.
>>
>>
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> ____________________________________________________________
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