Re: ISOC Chapters and NC membership

From: George Sadowsky (George.Sadowsky@nyu.edu)
Date: Mon May 08 2000 - 07:50:05 PDT


I can understand the reasoning behind this thinking, and in the case
of ACM, with many chapters located in the United States, I would
agree with it.

However, where there are chapters located in foreign countries, the
goals of the chapter tend to be more regional or national and often
bring significant issues to the table that the parent organization
would not. I think specifically of the Bulgarian chapter, which
represents a set of issues not addressed by ISOC Headquarters, or the
Mali chapter, which is a driving force in extending the Internet in
that country, or the Madagascar Chapter, whose first meeting I
attended last week.

If we're focusing upon global Internet governance, then such
organizations in particular countries, which are often the most
concerned and involved, should have a voice. While I haven't
followed the specific governance structure of this group, I'd argue
that chapters of organizations in countries (other than that in which
the parent resides) should be allowed to be members, even if the
parent organization is a member.

George Sadowsky
(Vice President, Education, ISOC and former Board Member)

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At 10:34 AM -0400 5/8/00, Milton Mueller wrote:
>Adam:
>The reasons are pretty clear, and they were formed not specifically
>to deal with
>ISOC chapters but with all organizations that have multiple departments or
>chapters.
>
>The thinking was that a single organization could multiply its influence
>unreasonably by having various chapters join. There are, for
>example, many local
>ACM chapters as well as ISOC chapters. Or for that matter, any university has
>potentially hundreds of separate departments. Rather than giving,
>say, Syracuse
>University multiple votes by having its computer science dept, its
>policy school,
>and its information school all join as separate "members," or having
>30 different
>ISOC chapters and ACM chapters join, it was decided that the fairest way to do
>this was to have one representative for each organization.
>
>--MM
>
>Adam Peake wrote:
>
> > Would someone please clarify the rule on ISOC Chapter membership, they
> > can't join as voting members, right?
> >
> > What's are the reasons for this.

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