Hi,

On Sep 17, 2014, at 8:08 PM, Benjamin Akinmoyeje <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Congrats to everyone elected.
> 
> Conversations here should be less cryptic and there should be conscious effort to engage newcomers.
> 

Thanks for this, Benjamin. I wouldn’t say that our conversations on this list are really cryptic, although I don’t blame you for feeling that way. And you’re absolutely right about engaging newcomers. We should make more of an effort to have some sort of coordinated set of activities to get this right. It might not just be helpful for newcomers, but existing members who would like to get more involved.

Bandwidth being as limited as it is is really why I encourage folks to join working groups. They are the bottom of the bottom-up process, and where the majority of the work is done. It’s also a kind of short cut to going from 0 to 100 on the learning curve. OK…, maybe not 100, but nobody’s probably there anyway. WGs are, however, a great way to get valuable experience no amount of coaching can give you. I guess what we need to do is figure out ways that make it easier for members to join WGs. Mind you, I say easier, but not easy. It’ll never be easy for a first-timer, but it’s surely something we can and should work on. :)

That isn’t to say that if you decide not to join a WG, then you shouldn’t be able to provide meaningful input to discussions. That isn’t true at all. All perspectives are valuable. That’s why we have this list as well as our monthly policy calls. It’d be great to see more members join those. Why not start with the call on September 23rd? Rafik just sent out the details to join it.

Thanks again.

Amr