Hi -
Watching this discussion scroll by on my screen, I'm amazed
how similar it is to discussions of evangelism in congregations.
Two things this religious institution might learn from other
religious institutions:
(1) "need-based" evangelism. Outreach efforts are more
effective if they sincerely address specific needs of
the target community. Does face-to-face participation in
the IETF offer things practitioners in under-represented
regions feel they need? As long as we focus on how it
could help *us*, rather than what needs it would address
for them, it'll be far less effective than it could be.
(2) Watch out for "colonialist" attitudes, such as assuming
that we know what the needs and priorities of the target
communities are, rather than finding out. This can require
much more investment than just doing surveys, and may even
reveal that certain models of "helping" might be culturally
inappropriate, and consequently ineffective or counter-
productive.
Randy