Re: synopsis of qualifications for nomcom volunteer

[Brian E Carpenter <brian@hursley.ibm.com>]

I'm against any changes, except clarifying that we mean people who
have actually registered for 2 out of 3 meetings. Other twiddling 
in this area will just create complexity and over-constrain the 
criteria. 

On one point, bias towards those who can travel to meetings may be
unfair, but I can't imagine any rational alternative. We don't
want a NomCom containing people without personal acquaintance with
at least some of the nominees.

   Brian

avri doria wrote:
> 
> There are two open issues relating to nomcom volunteers:
>    - general qualifications
>    - number of volunteers from a single company.
> 
> I will cover the first in this email and the second in another.
> 
> The issue of general qualifications seemed to be an offshoot
> of an initial concern that there may not have been a sufficient
> pool of volunteers for this year's nomcom.  Once begun, the
> discussion widened from there.
> 
> - is bias toward those who can travel fair in an
> organization where attendance at meetings is not the primary
> method of participation or decision making.  The question was
> also asked whether simple attendance was a sufficient
> criteria or could it someday result in a nomcom without
> experienced WG participants.
> 
> -- It was discussed that it is difficult to find other
>     criteria.  among the suggestion for additional criteria
>     were:
>    - authorship
>    - chair at some point in past (recent)
> 
> -- one suggestion involved having two pool of volunteers
>     1/2 of the nomcom would be filled from each pool.
>     Attendance (the 2 out of 3 rule) would be the criteria
>     for one pool while participation (editor, wg chair etc.,)
>     would be the criteria for another.
> 
> -- one suggestion involved supplementing the 2 out of 3
>     rule with a rule that qualified someone who had attended
>     at least some larger number of IETF meeting sometime in
>     its history.  The number suggested was 6.  The rationale
>     was that while the 2 out of 3 selected for recent experience,
>     the lifetime rule selected for long term experience even
>     in cases were recent attendance was only occasional.
> 
> -  There was a suggestion that the current wording was not
>     strict enough and the criteria should be:
>     "Members of the IETF community must have registered for
>      and attended at least 2 of the last 3 IETF meetings in
>      order to volunteer."
> 
> ---  A suggestion was made that rosters could be checked to
>       ascertain attendance.  Since these are not entered into any
>       database, that would be impractical
> 
> -- Since attendance can't be proven it was argued
>     that it was less ambiguous to state:
>     "Members of the IETF community must have registered for
>     at least 2 of the last 3 IETF meetings in order to
>     volunteer."
> 
> -- There was also an argument that the adjudication  of
>     participation should be left to the secretariat
> 
> -- There was a specific suggestion that the issue be resolved
>     by adding a discussion in the oral tradition that both left
>     the rule alone but explained why the rule was as it was:
> 
>     The following text was suggested as a starting place
> 
>       The test for eligibility for nomcom membership was based
>       on two considerations:
>       - We want active community members who care about the IETF,
>         want to select the best possible leadership for it, and
>         are close enough to the community to be able to do so.
>       - We want an objective test for who is eligible and who is
>         not.
> 
>       The criterion we have found that most closely meets both
>       those criteria is attendance at meetings. It excludes people
>       who participate in the community but do not come to meetings;
>       still, it seems impossible to find a rule that would include
>       those but not exclude people who have less involvement in the
>       community.
> 
> ---  Further text for the addendum was suggested:
>        - since much of the work of the IESG and IAB is done at,
>         or manifests itself at, meetings, it is important to
>         have Nomcom members who are familiar with the dynamics
>         of IETF meetings and participants in them.
> 
> --
> Avri Doria
> http://www.sm.luth.se/~avri/
> 
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-- 
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Brian E Carpenter 
Distinguished Engineer, Internet Standards & Technology, IBM 
On assignment at the IBM Zurich Laboratory, Switzerland