[governance] Idea of Instant Messaging for IGCaucus

[Niels ten Oever]

Dear all,

Thanks to all for the uptick in recent work. It is very much appreciated, and your work does not go unseen!

I strongly side with Johan on this, namely for keeping email as the only official and authoritative source for communications of the IGcaucus. 

My reasoning is as follows:

- e-mail is the best communications protocol that works in a federated manner. Thus we are not dependent on one company or provider. 

- e-mail has the best archiving options, and thus enable transparency and accountability, as well as future research into IG. 

- e-mail is the authoritative communications protocol in many Internet Governance body, and since the IGcaucus focuses on this field, it is to be expected that the members are very acquainted with email.

I could imagine that there would be an unofficial and informal channel on Signal (far better privacy practices than Telegram and Whatsapp)- but this channel would then not be used for official decision making, and its use would not be mandated or regulated by the charter.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Niels




On 7/29/19 1:21 PM, Imran Ahmed Shah (via governance Mailing List) wrote:
> Dear Johan,
> Thanks for contributing your comments, however, as I said in replying to Alex, that idea is to introduce another communication medium of communication not to close the mailing list in anyway.
> 
> Is there no tool in the current world, in which we can establish interlinking between the conversation of both type of mediums.....????
> 
> Best Regards
> 
> Imran
> 
> On Monday, 29 July 2019, 15:58:17 GMT+5, Johan Helsingius <julf at julf.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> On 29-07-19 08:43, Imran Ahmed Shah (via governance Mailing List) wrote:
> 
> 
>> IGC Mailing lists had been an openly viewable platform with subjective
>> discussion where everyone can reply in his/er own peace time. Very
>> positively served its purpose for last 15+ years. However, I am opening
>> a discussion thread for kind review and discussion among the caucus;
>> that how much it is useful and practical, if we could also (be able) to
>> have (some kind of) instant messaging platform for the IGC Caucus.
> 
> 
> Email is still the major tool for communication that needs to be
> recorded and accessible. I don't really see what additional benefits
> or functionality IM would bring (and note that IM and email has
> coexisted for at least 30 years without IM replacing email). The
> other problem is that all email systems are pretty much interoperable,
> while Im systems aren't, so with IM you would have to pick one
> of the many incompatible systems in use, and would cut out users
> of other systems.
> 
>     Julf
> 
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-- 
Niels ten Oever
Researcher and PhD Candidate
Datactive Research Group
University of Amsterdam

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