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Re: procedural question with remote participation

2013-08-04 13:20:56


--On Sunday, August 04, 2013 07:27 -0400 Michael Richardson
<mcr(_at_)sandelman(_dot_)ca> wrote:

...
    > * On several occasions this week, slides were uploaded
    > on a just-in-time basis (or an hour or so after that).

Agreed.  I'd like to have this as a very clear IETF-wide
policy. No slides 1 week before hand, no time allocation.

I had two different WG chairs (from two different WGs) tell me
this week that their WGs really needed the presentations and
discussion to move forward and they therefore couldn't do
anything other than let things progress when they didn't get the
slides and get them posted before the session started.  This is
part of what I mean by the community not [yet] taking remote
participation seriously.  If having the slides in advance is as
important to remote participants as Michael and I believe, then
the community has to decide that late slides are simply
unacceptable behavior except in the most unusual circumstances,
with "unacceptable" being viewed at a level that justifies
finding replacements for document authors and even WG chairs.

I also note that the 1 week cutoff that Michael suggests would,
in most cases, eliminate "had no choice without impeding WG
progress" as an excuse.  A week in advance of the meeting, there
should be time, if necessary to find someone else to organize
the presentation or discussion (and to prepare and post late
slides that are still posted before the meeting if needed).  If
it is necessary to go ahead without the slides, it is time to
get a warning to that effect and maybe an outline of the issues
to be discussed into the agenda.    If the WG's position is that
slides 12 or 24 hours before the WG's session are acceptable,
then the odds are high that one glitch or another will trigger a
"well, there are no slides posted but they are available in the
room and the discussion is important" decision.

Again, I think the real question is whether we, as a community,
are serious about effective remote participation; serious enough
to back a WG chair who calls off a presentation or replaces a
document author, or an AD who replaces a WG chair, for not
getting with the program.

best,
    john