[comp.org.usenix] nominees BOF?

henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (01/10/90)

Idea of the week:  how about a BOF at Washington to grill, er excuse
me I mean get to know, the nominees for the Usenix board elections?
Even those with familiar names have seldom spoken out in public on
Usenix issues.  Doubtless position statements will be published, but
an interactive inquisition is more informative and more fun. :-)

I'm not necessarily volunteering to run it, just wondering whether
there's interest.
-- 
1972: Saturn V #15 flight-ready|     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
1990: birds nesting in engines | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu

pjg@autarch.acsu.buffalo.edu (Paul Graham) (01/10/90)

i think this is a great idea.  as long as it doesn't conflict with the
board meeting.  it might also serve as a forum for those who wish to
get on the ballot to do some electioneering.

those interested in timely presentation of their positions might even
consider posting a precis of their ``platform''.

taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com (Dave Taylor) (01/10/90)

I think that Henry has an excellent idea with a "nominees BOF" and I'll
even attend it so long as no-one asks me about some obscure feature or
strange bug in the Elm Mail System!  :-)

Seriously, I endorse the idea, and frankly, as I too am voting as well
as a nominee, I am similarly interested in hearing what everyone else
has to say about many of the important topics facing the Usenix
Association.  

What the heck: I'll even volunteer to run it too!  Sign us up!

						-- Dave Taylor
Intuitive Systems
Mountain View, California

taylor@limbo.intuitive.com    or   {uunet!}{decwrl,apple}!limbo!taylor

reggie@dinsdale.nm.paradyne.com (George W. Leach) (01/10/90)

In article <316@limbo.Intuitive.Com> taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com (Dave Taylor) writes:

>I think that Henry has an excellent idea with a "nominees BOF" and I'll
>even attend it so long as no-one asks me about some obscure feature or
>strange bug in the Elm Mail System!  :-)

>Seriously, I endorse the idea, and frankly, as I too am voting as well
>as a nominee, I am similarly interested in hearing what everyone else
>has to say about many of the important topics facing the Usenix
>Association.  

     The interaction that takes place at this BOF should be recorded and
disseminated to the entire USENIX population, not just the BOF attendees.
Perhaps a transcript of the BOF can be printed in ;login: and/or put in
this newsgroup.

>What the heck: I'll even volunteer to run it too!  Sign us up!

     If you still have your Mac, you can do the transcript as well :-)

     I'd volunteer, but I can't go to DC :-( :-(

George



George W. Leach					AT&T Paradyne 
(uunet|att)!pdn!reggie				Mail stop LG-133
Phone: 1-813-530-2376				P.O. Box 2826
FAX: 1-813-530-8224				Largo, FL 34649-2826 USA

henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (01/12/90)

In article <6922@pdn.paradyne.com> reggie@dinsdale.paradyne.com (George W. Leach) writes:
>     The interaction that takes place at this BOF should be recorded and
>disseminated to the entire USENIX population, not just the BOF attendees.
>Perhaps a transcript of the BOF can be printed in ;login: and/or put in
>this newsgroup.

This would be an excellent idea... but it means that *somebody* has to
record and transcribe two hours of talk.  Either Usenix would have to
supply someone to do it -- and my impression is that they're stretched
pretty thin at conference time, so I suspect the answer is "no" -- or
someone would have to volunteer.
-- 
1972: Saturn V #15 flight-ready|     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
1990: birds nesting in engines | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu

tower@buit4.bu.edu (Leonard H. Tower Jr.) (01/12/90)

In article <1990Jan9.221705.17622@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes:
|Idea of the week:  how about a BOF at Washington to grill, er excuse
|me I mean get to know, the nominees for the Usenix board elections?
|Even those with familiar names have seldom spoken out in public on
|Usenix issues.  Doubtless position statements will be published, but
|an interactive inquisition is more informative and more fun. :-)
|
|I'm not necessarily volunteering to run it, just wondering whether
|there's interest.

Perhaps it should be made part of the Open Board Meeting?  I suspect
all the nominees plan to be there anyway.

Be nice if a nominees session was scheduled to have minimal conflict
with other BOFs.

enjoy -len 

kent@ssbell.IMD.Sterling.COM (Kent Landfield) (01/13/90)

In article <1990Jan11.193931.4650@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <6922@pdn.paradyne.com> reggie@dinsdale.paradyne.com (George W. Leach) writes:
>>     The interaction that takes place at this BOF should be recorded and
>>disseminated to the entire USENIX population, not just the BOF attendees.
>>Perhaps a transcript of the BOF can be printed in ;login: and/or put in
>>this newsgroup.
>
>This would be an excellent idea... but it means that *somebody* has to
>record and transcribe two hours of talk.  Either Usenix would have to
>supply someone to do it -- and my impression is that they're stretched
>pretty thin at conference time, so I suspect the answer is "no" -- or
>someone would have to volunteer.

Tape recorders are great for recording sessions. The tapes can then be
transcribed after the conference has ended and the panic is over. I have
always wondered why Usenix didn't record all their sessions on audio tape
and then make those tapes available for purchase. Yes, I know that it
would compete with the video tapes but time is at a premimum and I 
don't have a VCR in my car...

			-Kent+

adams@swbatl.UUCP (745) (01/14/90)

In article <614@ssbell.IMD.Sterling.COM> kent@ssbell.IMD.Sterling.COM (Kent Landfield) writes:
>always wondered why Usenix didn't record all their sessions on audio tape
>and then make those tapes available for purchase. Yes, I know that it
>would compete with the video tapes but time is at a premimum and I 
>don't have a VCR in my car...

Because hearing Henry say "next slide" could get boring.  Perhaps the
individual candidates could simply take questions via the net for a limited
time.  Less hassle than a BOF and wider audience.  
-- 
uunet!swbatl!adams or adams@swbatl.swbt.com    | Tom Adams: 314-235-7459
mail lists: uunet!swbatl!antiques-request      | BOOKS WANTED: pre-1930 radio,
or uunet!swbatl!antique-radio-request	       | electrical & scientific topics

taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com (Dave Taylor) (01/15/90)

> Perhaps the individual candidates could simply take questions via 
> the net for a limited time.  Less hassle than a BOF and wider audience.  

Gee, you just *know* something strange is afoot when *Tom* has such a
good idea!  :-)  				  [just joking, Tom!]

I think that Usenix nominees fielding questions via the net is a good
idea.  I think that, however, it's probably informative to check out
whether the current nominees are participants in Usenet or not in the
first place because what we're skirting is the fundemental problem
of pre-election periods, where candidates change their behaviour to
sway or impress the voting populace.

Of course, there's also the question of whether participation on 
Usenet is a useful and necessary selection criteria.  I can see 
both sides of the coin on this one; on the one hand, it's pretty
clear that Usenet is a common and popular communications mechanism
and vehicle for information dissemination, especially from a group 
such as the Usenix Association.  On the other hand, however, the
last thing I would want was a board member that spent their time 
reading and writing to alt.sex.bestiality (or some other "way out" 
group) INSTEAD of spending the time and brain cells to be aware 
and knowledgable about the Unix industry and marketplace.  

After all, I believe that one of the fundamental challenges facing 
the Association right now is just that; the transition from being 
in essence an elite Unix hackers club [*] to being a more general 
purpose Unix community organization (and the subsequent challenge 
it becomes distinguishing ourselves from the UniForum Association
as well as other more tightly focused technical conferences like
Unix Solutions, or technical publications like the gradually
transitioning "Unix World" magazine, etc).

But that's for a real posting, not this discussion.  ;-)

In any case, I think that Tom has a good idea, and I, for one,
continue to endorse any mechanism whereby I can learn more about
the various people running for the different Usenix offices.

And for me personally, I think that Usenet participation *is* an
important criteria; I would like to know that the board has their
finger right on the pulse of the Unix programmers community, and
I think that Usenet is the main artery of that community...

						-- Dave Taylor

[*] don't get me wrong with this hackers club bit; I *like* that
    sort of organization since I can get my "marketing" and "sales"
    quota from other organizations.  I mean, after all, isn't the 
    bottom line here that we're supposed to be having FUN doing
    all this stuff?  That's certainly one of the fundamental 
    ingredients I would like to see the Association preserve...

Intuitive Systems			Nominee for
Mountain View, California		   Usenix member-at-large

taylor@limbo.intuitive.com    or   {uunet!}{decwrl,apple}!limbo!taylor

adams@swbatl.UUCP (745) (01/16/90)

In article <326@limbo.Intuitive.Com> taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com (Dave Taylor) writes:
>Gee, you just *know* something strange is afoot when *Tom* has such a

And who better to validate strangeness than our *illustrious* Mr. Taylor.  :)

>whether the current nominees are participants in Usenet or not in the
>first place because what we're skirting is the fundemental problem
>of pre-election periods, where candidates change their behaviour to
>sway or impress the voting populace.

What I fear more is the degeneration of officer elections to a personality
contest.  And if Usenix votes go like newsgroup votes lately, I'd want no part
of it.

>Of course, there's also the question of whether participation on 
>Usenet is a useful and necessary selection criteria.  I can see 
>both sides of the coin on this one; on the one hand, it's pretty
>clear that Usenet is a common and popular communications mechanism

It seems reasonable that all candidates have access to electronic
mail.  It's trivial to provide mail <-> news reflectors.
I'd certainly feel justified requiring everyone to provide an email 
address prior to electioneering.  If you don't do mail you certainly
can't represent most of us out here. 

There's a lot more bandwidth here than in those one page position papers
mailed out at great expense by the association.

The timeliness of response could also help gauge a candidate's commitment
to doing the job.  And we could evaluate their willingness to use nasty old 
public domain mail agents rather than the robust, faithful mailer supplied
on the distribution tapes :)  

>After all, I believe that one of the fundamental challenges facing 
>the Association right now is just that; the transition from being 
>in essence an elite Unix hackers club [*] to being a more general 
>purpose Unix community organization (and the subsequent challenge 
>it becomes distinguishing ourselves from the UniForum Association

-- 
uunet!swbatl!adams or adams@swbatl.swbt.com    | Tom Adams: 314-235-7459
mail lists: uunet!swbatl!antiques-request      | BOOKS WANTED: pre-1930 radio,
or uunet!swbatl!antique-radio-request	       | electrical & scientific topics

jdpeek@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Jerry Peek) (01/16/90)

I like the idea of seeing the nominees in person (now, I only know who
half of them are...)  I think we should try the BOF.  If it works,
maybe it could turn into a regular conference session instead of a BOF???
-- 

--Jerry Peek; Syracuse University Academic Computing Services; Syracuse, NY
  jdpeek@rodan.acs.syr.edu, JDPEEK@SUNRISE.BITNET        +1 315 443-3995

jsq@longway.TIC.COM (John S. Quarterman) (01/17/90)

Jerry Peek <jdpeek@rodan.acs.syr.edu> writes:
>I like the idea of seeing the nominees in person (now, I only know who
>half of them are...)  I think we should try the BOF.  If it works,
>maybe it could turn into a regular conference session instead of a BOF???

There already is a regular conference session for meeting the board
and asking them questions.  It's called the Open Meeting with the Board.
During elections, most of the nominees have attended that session in the past,
even without the explicit invitation the Executive Director posted this time.

John S. Quarterman, not speaking for the Board, and not running for the Board.