SCNA Meetings Open

[Rich Littleton]

	Mel, who has worked very hard to boost SCNA, makes the point that
information is flowing freely in the organization.  She summarizes the
board meetings, the excomm meetings, and the general meetings to explain.

	(I've left Mel's text below for reference.)

	However, it turns out that there are two failings with these
meetings as communication methods.  (1) There is no advance notice of what
is going to happen at the meetings, so members can't know if the meeting
will be worth their attending.  (2) There is no input at the meetings
(except at the general meeting where no decisions can be made).

	The bottom line is, a member finds out, NOT what is going on in
SCNA, but what has been alread done to him/her in SCNA.  Sometimes, this
is what has been done FOR him/her, but this is all after-the-fact
information.

Information is certainly being withheld.

	The Ops committee, one of the best and most active of the
committees, has taken up establishing a revised (more stingent) security
policy.  Unfortunately the committee has intentionally decided to NOT let
the SCNA or SCN membership know about the existence of or the specifics of
the policy and also intentionally decided to NOT get input and review from
the SCNA or SCN membership.  The committee has been urged repeatedly to
open up this process but, for reasons of quick action, has directly and
intentionally declined.

	Mel, you have directly stated that information is no being
withheld, intentionally or not.   I think you will be surprised.  Could
you contact Rhodes Hileman, the very capable coordinator of Ops, and get
an update.  Could you then send a letter on the SCN list, and any others
on which this discussion has occurred, and tell us if this information
will continue to be withheld before it is sent to excomm or to the board?
Thanks.

	I encourage those reading this to write to the board
(scna-board at scn.org) and ask for a copy of the security policy and ask
that the discussion be opened.  Members can be thrown out of the
organization for violating some of the parts of the policy. Members should
know about it BEFORE it is adopted.

	Mel's plea for volunteers to help with information distribution is
good, and anyone wanting to do so, contact her.  However, the board or
excomm or Ops committee withholding the agendas of their respective
meetings is not due to a lack of volunteer effort.  It is simply the
decisions to not do this.  Each committee has to have an advance agenda to
have a productive meeting, so it is a simple matter to post it days in
advance of the meeting.

	Thanks, again, to Mel, for getting this discussion going on these
lists.

Later,

Rich


______________________________________________________________________


On Mon, 4 Oct 1999, Melissa Guest wrote:

> [this is in response to an earlier thread, suggesting that SCNA's
> Board & Coordinators are intentionally not allowing others to know
> what work is going on and what policies are being drafted.]
> 
> this is from the current MOTD:
> 
> "September 29 1999     ----    MESSAGE OF THE DAY    ----
> Wednesday 3:00 PM
> ...
> * Upcoming SCNA meetings:  Excomm - Oct 7, 7pm - Broadview Library. 
> Board - Oct 13, 7pm - Columbia Library.  Observers welcome to both. 
> Next General Meeting - 7:00pm, Wednesday, Oct 27, 7pm - Everyone
> welcome University Branch Library, 5009 Roosevelt Way NE.  Learn more
> about SCN! 
> ..."
> 
> The intention for the three monthly meetings goes like this:  
>  - The Excomm meeting is the meeting of the different operational
> teams to coordinate with each other, and report on current status,
> priorites and needs. 
>  - The Board meeting (a week following)  focuses on less
> operational, more policy/long-range planning issues, and issues in
> supporting the work of Excomm teams.
> 
> Anyone is welcome to attend and observe the board or excomm meeting
> now, and there is usually time at the end of the agenda for observer
> comments and questions.  Observers do not participate in those two
> meetings mainly because they are time-constrained, and it is often
> difficult to finish covering everything on the agenda even with just
> the regular participants.  There are also very often after-meeting
> informal discussions that include anyone attending. 
> 
>  - The general meeting is intended to be the place where anyone (user,
> member, someone from outside) can come talk with board members (at
> least) about what's going on and ask for help if needed (technical or
> otherwise). 
> 
> Anyone at all interested in the goings on in SCN who is unsatisfied
> with the info they're getting on maillists and the web can go to
> whichever of these meetings they're most interested in and find out
> more.  And if anyone can't make the meetings and wants more details,
> they are welcome to contact us: 425 653 7353 or guests at scn.org and we
> will answer questions as best we can (and/or find the appropriate
> other people to talk to).  If not us, try calling (206) 365-4528 or
> emailing help at scn.org for more info on anything, and our helpdesk
> volutneers will try to answer your questions as best they can. 
> 
> If anyone would be interested in volunteering to help improve the
> communications amongst the teams/management/membership/volunteers/user
> base and public, pleeeeease email me at guests at scn.org - we have
> several volunteer tasks you could help with that would improve the
> flow of information to all.
> 
> Thanks,
>      Mel
> 
>    -=-  -=-=-  -=-  -=-=-  -=-  -=-=-  -=-  -=-=-  -=-  -=-=-  -=-
> Melissa & Steve Guest                                  (425) 653 7353
> VPs & Mega-Volunteers                                 8am to 11pm PST
> Seattle Community Network                          http://www.scn.org
>    "Supporting People and Communities with Free Internet Services"
> 
> 
> 
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