Session Date/Time: 29 Mar 2023 04:00

gendispatch

Summary

The gendispatch working group meeting covered several topics, including updates to meeting venue requirements, re-examining the roles of Area Directors (ADs) and the IAB, antitrust guidelines for participants, and integrating policy expertise within the IETF. The discussion on meeting venue requirements generated significant debate, while the other topics received varied levels of support and feedback.

Key Discussion Points

Updating Meeting Venue Requirements (Sean Turner, Jay Daley):
- Proposed replacing "close proximity" with a "time to walk" requirement (5-15 minutes) for hotels.
- Proposed replacing the requirement for one-third of attendees to have rooms in IETF hotels with "sufficient to meet projected demand."
- Proposed eliminating the terminal room and directing users to the lounge.
- Reopening discussion on internet filtering.
- Concerns raised about accessibility, inconvenience, and the qualitative difference between attending a meeting and going to work.
- Discussion on the trade-offs between cost, location, and visa issues when selecting venues.
Re-examining IESG and IAB (Rich Salz):
- Problem statement: AD job is essentially full-time, and it takes two terms to do the job well, limiting the talent pool.
- Concerns about IAB mission and workload of the IESG.
- Discussion on metrics related to participation in IETF leadership, corporate affiliations, and term limits.
- Proposed working group formation.
Antitrust Guidelines for Participants (Joel Halpern):
- Document aims to be informational and descriptive of antitrust issues, not policy-setting.
- Concerns raised about the document's effect and relevance to current antitrust activity.
Integrating Policy Expertise within the IETF (Stacy Hoffman):
- Discussion on the benefits and challenges of incorporating policy expertise into the IETF's work.
- Identified key gaps in communication and community building.
- Proposed a tightly scoped, time-limited working group.

Decisions and Action Items

Meeting Venue Requirements:
- Create a separate mailing list for further discussion and proposals regarding meeting venue requirements, especially points one (close proximity) and four (internet filtering).
- Jay Daley to present proposal regarding removing the terminal room (point three) to the community on the new mailing list.
Re-examining IESG and IAB:
- Rich Salz to refine and provide more concrete proposals and solutions for IESG/IAB issues. These should be discussed further on the admin-discuss mailing list.
Antitrust Guidelines for Participants:
- Continue discussion on the antitrust-policy@ietf.org mailing list. The document will remain an AD-sponsored informational document, with a last call to be made after the antitrust-policy group reaches agreement.
Integrating Policy Expertise within the IETF:
- The IETF will not create a working group for this at this time. The authors will revise their plans.

Next Steps

Establish a mailing list for discussion on Venue Requirements.
All meeting decisions and action items should be summarised on the gen-dispatch mailing list
Refine all proposals for further community debate.