[NA-Discuss] The self-nomination of Eric Brunner-Williams, for NARALO Chair

[Eric Brunner-Williams]

Colleagues,

Having described the changes I propose to make in how, and on what
subjects, the RALO contributes to the advice available to the Board,
and the changes I propose to make in travel support allocation for the
purpose of improving on the rather limited record of enabling informed
contribution to policy making by individuals, I now want to direct
your thoughts to the RALO's call time management.

The RALO has monthly calls of 60 to 90 minutes duration. The bulk of
the time is given over to casual, or careless, oral summaries which
could be less momentary, more memorable, and more actionable, when
written, and when written, distributed several days prior to the call
for which time is scheduled, and allow for questions on points unclear
from the readers and informed discussion, opportunities now lost to
"recitations".

The net is that RALO calls are wicked boring and unlikely to attract
new interest outside of an asylum, and of course, the eminently sane
who do in fact listen to each call, live or in mp3 form.

This is a situation which can be improved. There is the minor
discipline of call time management, which the incumbent manages
passably, but the larger issue is what information, from whom, and
intended for what audiences, form the non-procedural content of our calls?

I propose to change RALO call time, which is likely to deflect any
interested person or organization listening for the first time to
something, anything else, to something that sells the idea that the
RALO is what the 2007 MOU envisioned -- the place where the interests
of individuals is expressed and informs network policy in the large.

So rather than having the usual recitations from the usual reciters,
who may be challenged by the sheer repetition and lack of apparent
utility of monthly recitations, I propose that a portion of the call
time be given over to expert presentations on network policy issues,
which are then "canned" as podcasts and used to effect both "inreach"
and inform those not on the calls, and "outreach", to expand awareness
of the RALO as an agent of change.

What I have in mind for speaker and content are the following:
o Michael Geist on marks or surveillance in Canada,
o Larry Lessig on the topic of his choice,
o Mark Rotenberg on surveillance in the US,
...

In brief, more of the process done via mail, all of the status updates
in writing and several days before an agenda slot, and content that
informs us, and anyone else not yet residing in an asylum for the
procedurally deranged.

Again, these are proposals for change, contingent upon election.

Eric Brunner-Williams
Eugene, Oregon