[ALAC] [ALAC-ExCom] ALAC/At-Large Improvements Project -- important update

[Patrick Vande Walle]

On 12 Oct 2011, at 01:04, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond wrote:

> Yes, that person is a volunteer, but when you volunteer for ALAC, you're
> not doing it as a piece of fun. There is a deep responsibility that goes
> along with that. There is accountability to users in the rest of the world.

At the same time, the ALAC needs to be crystal clear about what is expected from a volunteer, especially the amount of time requested. As a volunteer, you can be  expected to use a large part of your free time to serve on ALAC, committees, working groups, etc. You should not be expected to work for the ALAC in lieu of your main job, although some people might have more flexibly than others. 

While this is somewhat clear for the main ALAC task,it is less so for working groups, especially when they involve other SOs and ACs. 
One of the "ALAC improvements" I would like to see is that any call for volunteers should include a detailed description of the expected investment in resources, including details on teleconference schedules, etc. It is one thing to pressure an individual to be part of a working group, because "that is expected from a volunteer". If we find out later that he/she is effectively unable to participate because of time constraints or overload, there is no gain for anyone. 

Patrick Vande Walle