At 07:45 23/10/01, Lloyd Wood wrote:
I think remote participation in live WG meets isn't a worthwhile goal,
given cost and difficulties of interactive networking (never mind
timezones); encouraging it when more than half the people in a WG
meeting have their faces buried in a laptop and are tapping away at
wireless access anyway is merely ironic.
If you really want to increase participation, start by turning off
wireless networking entirely and telling everyone who is actually
there to pay attention. Including the people showing slides; at least
with printed acetate technology you don't have people stopping to
answer their Instant Messages.
While I disagree with the first sentence above, I agree that
on Tuesdays and Thursdays I think it actually be productive to dispense
with the wireless LAN coverage in meeting rooms.
Many have been the meetings where folks who want to actively
participate in that meeting are unable to get in or unable to sit down.
Not uncommonly this is because of folks who are clearly playing video games or
otherwise doing sundry other laptop computing -- rather than
paying attention to the meeting they are sitting in.
The challenge is that some folks clearly do use the wireless
LAN to download I-Ds to review precise text during the meeting
discussing that particular I-D (in lieu of carrying paper around,
I suppose), or for other good purposes. Legislating either way
on this seems unconstructive.
So maybe I'll settle for a general plea to folks attending
IETF meetings. If one isn't going to actively participate in a given
meeting, then please move out of that meeting room into the hallway
or some other venue so that folks interested in that particular
meeting have an unencumbered ability to participate.
Ran
rja(_at_)inet(_dot_)org