The two points of focus I saw in your blog post were
- tools
- culture
Different populations based on age or social culture are often
familiar/comfortable with different modes of communication. So this
discussion brings to mind the conversation on diversity in the IETF, as
being potentially relevant and beneficial there.
On a trivial level, software exists that can display e-mail list threads as
discussions in a forum, and vice versa, but the content is the same -- it's
simply the visual treatment that's changing, and the push/pull preference
of each individual user.
The amount of information being passed in a single communication
transmission -- and the consequent periodicity/volume of messages -- is to
my mind the main difference when comparing generational communications
preferences. Certainly there's a faster turnaround -- and more constant
contact -- between friends constantly texting; on the other hand, more
thoughtfully and carefully worded text usually is found in e-mail. (It's
hard for me to see protocol details being discussed/referenced/reconciled
via one-liner tweets ;^)
Experiments with new tools would be great. A common problem with multiple
tools in the same functional space is partitioning of information among
tools. A carefully chosen data architecture that minimized this would be
beneficial.
As far as changing the culture goes, we are the culture. And the only part
of that culture I can really change is me. All I can do is be respectful,
consider that people with different opinions may be thinking of different
experiences/data than I am, and try to avoid reflexive responses. The old
"treat others as I'd like to be treated" thing. While it's true that the
old-timers here have a lot of history and context, it is just as true that
epiphanies can't be scheduled or assigned. They'll come out of the blue
sometimes from quite unexpected directions, and the culture needs to be
ready to capture them when they do. Actually, I think the IETF has been
fairly effective at that.
Walter
Walter Pienciak
Senior Manager, Technology Community, IEEE Standards Association
w(_dot_)pienciak(_at_)ieee(_dot_)org
+1 303 527 0934
On Tue, Aug 19, 2014 at 1:19 PM, Kathleen Moriarty <
kathleen(_dot_)moriarty(_dot_)ietf(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com> wrote:
Hello,
After the Administrative Plenary in Toronto, I took a little time to write
up a summary from my view point with some possible options for experiments
from the email list discussion.
http://www.ietf.org/blog/2014/08/mailing-lists-what-works-what-doesnt/
Any thoughts?
--
Best regards,
Kathleen