On May 23, 2013, at 3:14 PM, Arturo Servin
<arturo(_dot_)servin(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com>
wrote:
I am not expecting to agree with me as I do not agree that we only contribute
to standards development.
I agree with the substance of Donald's comment. Let me talk for a moment about
Adelaide.
In March 2000, the IETF met in Adelaide. I was the person who made the decision
to go there. My logic was, as Don's is in this thread, that we have a primary
purpose, and that the positioning of meetings was largely about where our
attendees came from. At the time, the IETF was perhaps 1500 people, of whom
about 675 posted Internet Drafts (I know the number, because I sent them
individual emails, in effect running a survey about the advisability of a
meeting in Adelaide). We had 8 people from Australia that had been working in
the IETF for a number of years, and AARNET was willing to host a meeting. Also
at the time, about one author in six was from Europe, and we had very few from
Asia. So we were operating on the principle that one meeting in six should be
in Europe. I took the perspective that on our 40th meeting, we could have 1/40
in a place that we had a few faithful participants that was well out of the way.
It was not billed or intended as a developmental activity, and it didn't turn
out to be one. We still have a small percentage of people from Australia, and
thy are still faithful. As far as I know, having a meeting there didn't affect
that positively or negatively. It was a fairness thing, extending a courtesy to
people who were doing good work over a long period of time.
We now have roughly 1/3 of our attendees and authors from Asia, 1/3 from
Europe, and 1/3 from North America. We have a few people from South America, of
which you are one, and the only time we have people from Africa is when ISOC
pays for them to come. We try to position meetings in those continents once a
year, it doesn't quite work for reasons that require an adult beverage to
discuss, but we do try. And we get a lot of commentary from folks that would
like the IETF to be a development organization.
There is a political aspect. The ITU pays the air fare for people from
developing countries, and friends vote for friends. This is relevant in
WSIS/WCIT/WTF, where the ITU periodically offers itself as the SDO of the
future. I won't go into that further, but it is the elephant in the room, and
there, I have said it.
To my way of thinking, the argument for a meeting in South America is not that
maybe possibly we will get more attendees. If they have a reason to come, they
will first be on the various mailing lists and contribute in that way, and in
time will find it in their business interest to attend in person. You did that,
Fernando did that, it's what our Asian colleagues did a decade ago, and it's
what our European colleagues did a decade before that. From my perspective, the
argument for an IETF meeting in South America, whether in Buenos Aires or
somewhere else, is that we have people doing good work (show us the Internet
Drafts) that have been participating over a period of time, and - well, we meet
where our participants come from, like we did in Adelaide.