Re: [atlarge-discuss] Chair

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>]

Jamie and all stakeholders or other interested parties,

  You point up again some substantive points and "Works"
that need to be completed by this newly elected panel
and that the Chair of the Panel can facilitate.  You have
again repeated that these task's will need to be completed
with the approval or ratification of the member, hopefully
by Vote of the members.

  What's more interesting in a way is that the "Interim Panel"
Chair was as you nicely outlined was unable or lost interest
in getting accomplished.  So perhaps a completely new
Panel chair is more affable.

  However it is plainly obvious that Richard, myself and
other members (Richard is a newly elected Panel member)
know full well that without many more new members and
good funding, the work elements that you mention below
Jamie, will never get completed...

  SO and effective, and membership supported chair is
paramount, but such a chair of the panel should be elected
by the Panel members themselves.  If the wrong choice
in a Panel Chair is made that should be apparent
by the subsequent debate on the needed work elements,
fairly early on...  Should a bad/wrong Panel chair
choice be made or become apparent to the members,
than the trouble shall escalate unless a new panel chair
is elected by the panel members quickly...

James Love wrote:

> Here are some practical issues concerning the panel chair.  When the last
> panel was elected, there was a lot of talk going a lot of different
> directions, and not much in the way of decisions.   Then we elected VB, who
> was really the only candidate for chair.  VB got off to a nice start, and
> held a few votes, which required framing the issues and sending out a
> ballots.  From this we made some decisions setting up the discuss and panel
> lists and a few other things.  The, for probably a number of reasons,
> including Esther and Denise's launch of at-large.org (the non-democratic
> ICANN at-large effort), the ERC reports, etc..... the Chair lost interest,
> and next to nothing got done.  We never even had a final formal vote on
> getting the web page keys, as Joop pointed out, and we never got the call
> for a webmaster out the door.  It took a lot of pressure just to allow the
> members to organize this election.    So, when the chair is engaged and able
> to frame issues and make sure decisions are made, it has some real benefits.
>   When the chair is not functioning, it is very hard to do anything.
>
> Next, suppose you want outreach.   Suppose you want to comment on some ICANN
> stuff.  Well, it is helpful if you have someone what can be the voice for
> this.  It could be anyone in the organization that is picked to do it.....
> I certainly think it is a plus if the chair is trusted to do this.....and a
> mess if the chair isn't trusted to do this.  But on any given issue, it
> might be someone else....
>
> The reality is that icannatlarge.com has no power, and no powerful people
> want it to have power, and it has a lot of basic work to be done that
> requires a lot of decisions.   Adopting a charter, Incorporating, opening a
> bank account, raising money, figuring out how to run elections, verifying
> members, etc.  None of this stuff gets done if you can't make decisions (and
> lots of them).  People elect chairs to faciliate efficient decision making.
>   The NCC does not have a chair.  It is basically disfunctional.
>
> With regular elections, you can "throw the bums out" if you don't like what
> they do.  This makes the members the real decision makers.  Because power
> comes from the membership, the panel cares what the membership says.  This
> is a postive thing.
>
> The panel will elect a chair.  Otherwise it will do nothing.  But these
> debates are useful, IMO, because they are getting to substantive issues.....
>   what is icannatlarage.com, and what is it ready to do?  Some want it to
> only create a charter.  Others (myself included), see some other tasks which
> it should do, assuming it has the support of the elected panel (which is
> influenced by the discuss feedback, and the fact that new elections are
> always around the corner).   When we present the charter to the membership
> (if we actually get that done) we can have a good debate over the role of
> the chair and the method of selecting the chair.
>
>    Jamie
>
> Gary Osbourne wrote:
> > At 10:39 PM 06/08/02 -0400, DannyYounger@cs.com wrote:
> >
> >> ...and just where is it written that the panel has to
> >> elect a chair?  And, if so, why should the panel and not
> >> the membership be the group that does the electing?  Who
> >> approved these indirect elections?
> >
> >
> > I don't think it is unreasonable to have a position of
> > Chair, and I don't think it is unreasonable to have the
> > panel choose its own Chair. The position is Chair of the
> > Panel, not the at-large. I don't see that Chair position
> > as properly a spokesperson position for the at-large or
> > other potential mission creep. If the at-large Panel
> > decides on a public statement, hopefully with visible
> > support from other members, perhaps someone, and someone
> > other than Chair, perhaps even a non-Panel member, could
> > be designated Press Liaison. One doesn't want to see too
> > much power concentrated in one position.
> >
> > The Chair position can, and I submit should, be the role
> > of a panel facilitator, someone to move discussion along.
> > Someone to act in the role of servant, not master. Someone
> > who may not even want the position but takes it on as a
> > duty, a task to be undertaken and performed, not as a
> > leadership position of a diverse group. If the latter is
> > the case, and deemed necessary, open elections for such
> > a position to all the membership.
> >
> > Rather than the peak of a pyramid for all tasks the Chair
> > should be seen as the center of a star for certain tasks.
> > Someone with strongly held majority (or minority) views on
> > numerous issues might not be the best person to occupy this
> > position. I have no particular person in mind when I make
> > that statement. I'm just making the observation that the
> > Panel and membership should cast a wary eye on anyone
> > overly covetous of such a position.
> >
> > I would also suggest that the Chair position be non-voting,
> > perhaps even in the event of an otherwise tied vote, and
> > if it isn't clear who might be the best person to occupy
> > it, and/or to keep it from becoming a center of power, and/or
> > a source of friction, one could rotate the position amongst
> > Panel members, perhaps monthly, preferably via some near-
> > random process less open to abuse, such as alphabetically.
> >
> > After all, if it is just a task which needs doing, why not
> > share it? My comments would also hold true for an Alt Chair
> > position. If you're going to have a Chair, you might as well
> > have an Alt Chair for backup.
> >
> > Just some thoughts from a non-member, though given the mostly
> > high quality (I don't know some of them) of the elected Panel,
> > I'm now considering joining :) -g
> >
> >
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> >
> >
>
> --
> ------
> James Love, Consumer Project on Technology
> http://www.cptech.org, mailto:love@cptech.org
> voice: 1.202.387.8030; mobile 1.202.361.3040
>
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Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup - (Over 124k members/stakeholders strong!)
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Contact Number:  972-244-3801 or 214-244-4827
Address: 5 East Kirkwood Blvd. Grapevine Texas 75208



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