[OpenID board] Draft guidelines for local chapters

Nat Sakimura sakimura at gmail.com
Thu Feb 28 17:52:51 UTC 2008


Mike,

> Actually, as I see it, imposing layers and a rigid local chapter hierarchy and
> structure is what is likely to cause management, compliance, and budgeting
> problems for OIDF.

Why is it so? I do not see the reason.

> Local chapters should be entirely self-organizing, with the only requirement for
> recognition of them by OIDF being that they agree to abide by the guidelines and
> demonstrate liveness.  The thing that matters isn't the structure or organization
> of the chapters.  What matters is whether they have motivated, active
> organizers, and do things to promote OpenID.

Actually, if Local Chapters are to be completely self organizing and
self financing,  then, it is likely that they would have to be
incorporated, since, otherewise, there will be no vehicle to receive
money and do accounting including tax etc. This implies the
independence tendency for the chapters and I would imagine that those
chapters will be eventually competing to some extent / in some aspect
to OIDF itself. They probalby will not compete in terms of TM, IPR,
etc. but they would compete for the fund.

The very fact that chapter members must be OIDF member and OIDF not
financing chapters at all is a contractding statement, at least to
some extent. Think of this. Why should a member who is not interested
in the international activities - he does not understand English
anyways and has no presence overseas - would be motivated to pay
membership fee to OIDF if the local activities are not going to be
compensated at all? He would give the fund to the local activities
instead.

Whether it is individual or corporation, they always calculate ROI.
Actually, this is one of the popular question I am getting. I will
have a very tough time to persuade the potential members to join OIDF
if that is the case. From the preveous conversations / email threads,
I was believing that there are some budgeting consideration going on,
but if this was a false impression, I would have to realign many
things here in Japan.

I would have to say that not having a sound finantial incentive scheme
is likely to be a cause of problem.

=nat

2008/2/29, Mike Jones <Michael.Jones at microsoft.com>:
> Actually, as I see it, imposing layers and a rigid local chapter hierarchy and structure is what is likely to cause management, compliance, and budgeting problems for OIDF.
>
> Local chapters should be entirely self-organizing, with the only requirement for recognition of them by OIDF being that they agree to abide by the guidelines and demonstrate liveness.  The thing that matters isn't the structure or organization of the chapters.  What matters is whether they have motivated, active organizers, and do things to promote OpenID.
>
> As per budgets, local chapters should no expectation of receiving any money from the OIDF.  They should be entirely self-organizing and self-sustaining.
>
>                                My two cents worth...
>                                -- Mike
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: board-bounces at openid.net [mailto:board-bounces at openid.net] On Behalf Of Nat Sakimura
> Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 8:46 AM
> To: board at openid.net
> Cc: Nat Sakimura
> Subject: Re: [OpenID board] Draft guidelines for local chapters
>
> I feel like too many fragmented chapters in one level would cause
> management, compliance, and budgeting problem for OIDF. While it is
> appealing to envisage school level chapters and national level
> chapters equal, I feel that it is more practical to introduce some
> layers there like many sports organizations are organized.
>
> For example, in our case
>
> OpenID Foundation (International)
> - OIDF Continents (e.g., OpenID Europe)
> -- OIDF National (e.g., OpenID U.S., Canada, France, Japan, etc. )
> --- OIDF States (e.g., California, Tokyo, Manitoba, etc.)
> ----- OIDF Regional (can be cities, schools, etc.)
>
> In the beginning, I think there would be OIDF International and National.
> In areas like Europe, where EU like thing already exist, Continent
> level one can also be organized.
>
> It would also help to establish a guideline for budget distribution as well.
> In general, after taking the budget for the international activities,
> it will be allocated to the National level organization, and they will
> be further allocated to the down stream. We need to do the decision
> closer to the edge. At the same time, however, we have to keep track
> of the effectiveness, book, and compliance, which will be an overhead
> for the organizations. This means, to be viable as a chapter, they
> need to be above certain size as well. So, it will actually help to
> group them together like the above so that for the organizations below
> certain level, the one above it can take care and absorb those
> overhead.
>
> Sorry to talk about economics of these things, but usually, if
> economics does not work out, things will not work out after all.
>
>
> 2008/2/28, Snorri <snorri at snorri.eu>:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Dear Mike,
> >
> >
> >
> > Yes for University/students of course you are right! Or in countries with no
> > much Internet surfers...
> >
> > (and it's a first step)
> >
> >
> >
> > But attention to propose a model close the Wikimedia Foundation... OpenID is
> > really different...
> >
> >
> >
> > I think is important to have a strong visibility on the local chapter to
> > avoid the drifts!
> >
> > And unfortunately too free management offers these possibilities...
> >
> >
> >
> > A good legal way would be to propose a "Trust Large local chapter" like OIDE
> >
> > Tomorrow why not "OIDA" (OpenID Asia, I help the community to start),
> > "OpenID Africa & Middle East" and "OpenID Latina" to organize their network
> > and relieve an excessive work for OIDF.
> >
> >
> >
> > Soon, I'm at your disposal...
> >
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> >
> >
> > -Snorri
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > De : board-bounces at openid.net [mailto:board-bounces at openid.net] De la part
> > de Mike Jones
> >  Envoyé : mercredi 27 février 2008 19:11
> >  À : board at openid.net
> >  Cc : 'Nat Sakimura'
> >  Objet : Re: [OpenID board] Draft guidelines for local chapters
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi Snorri,
> >
> >
> >
> > I agree that recognizing local chapters that are formal legal entities is a
> > good thing.  But I'm also going to be an advocate for recognizing very
> > light-weight, self-organized local chapters.  As a thought experiment, for
> > instance, I would want us to also be able to recognize chapters that are as
> > informal as local OpenID chapters organized as clubs in high schools.  If I
> > was in high school now, for instance, I might start the Worthington High
> > School OpenID Chapter.  (I was a founder of an informal group in our high
> > school called the "Computer Wizards" that ran for many years. J)  We want to
> > encourage light-weight grass-roots chapters like this, as well as those that
> > are formal legal entities.
> >
> >
> >
> > Glad you'll be working on these guidelines with us!
> >
> >
> >
> >                                                 My two
> > cents worth...
> >
> >                                                 -- Mike
> >
> >
> >
> >  ________________________________
> >
> >
> > From: board-bounces at openid.net [mailto:board-bounces at openid.net] On Behalf
> > Of Snorri
> >  Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 9:57 AM
> >  To: board at openid.net
> >  Cc: 'Nat Sakimura'
> >  Subject: Re: [OpenID board] Draft guidelines for local chapters
> >
> >
> >
> > Dear Mike,
> >
> >
> >
> > Very good guideline, in Europe the organization is very similar!
> >
> >  We have already 4 local chapters (OpenID France incorporated since 2007 + 3
> > new the next month).
> >
> >
> >
> > But as there are already a community (with Representative Member in 18
> > countries, soon in 21), we think is better and more serious to accept only
> > formal legal entities.
> >
> >
> >
> > The Number of 3 member is good but depending of the countries (e.g.: in
> > France the minimum is 2 while in Poland it is 15)
> >
> >
> >
> > I'm free to work actively on these guidelines (we have already started to
> > work on legal documents)
> >
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> >
> >
> > -Snorri
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > De : board-bounces at openid.net [mailto:board-bounces at openid.net] De la part
> > de Mike Jones
> >  Envoyé : mercredi 27 février 2008 16:48
> >  À : board at openid.net
> >  Cc : Nat Sakimura
> >  Objet : [OpenID board] Draft guidelines for local chapters
> >
> >
> >
> > As per our discussion on the last board call, here are some of my thoughts
> > about local chapters, based on my experience with USENIX local chapters.
> >
> >
> >
> >   - Local chapter members must be members of the OIDF.
> >
> >   - Local chapters can either be informal organizations or formal legal
> > entities, which is a decision we can leave to the organizers.
> >
> >   - Local chapters must register with OIDF.
> >
> >   - Local chapters must have a designated leadership team of at least three
> > people.
> >
> >   - Local chapters should have their own web site listing events and news.
> >
> >   - Local chapter sites are the responsibility of the chapter organizers,
> > not the OIDF staff and volunteers.
> >
> >   - We should allow any three OIDF members who declare themselves to be the
> > leadership team for a local chapter to create one.  We should *not* express
> > any favoritism between local chapters, even if multiple competing chapters
> > form in a given region or city.
> >
> >   - To be recognized by the OIDF, chapters must agree that their activities
> > will be for the purpose of supporting the OIDF and OpenID, not competing
> > with the OIDF in any way.  They must agree, for instance, that any
> > intellectual property or trademarks developed or held by the local chapter
> > must either be owned by OIDF, jointly owned by the OIDF, or licensed to the
> > OIDF under terms that allow OIDF to use them in whatever way it sees fit,
> > including sublicensing to others under terms of its choosing.
> >
> >   - Chapters must exhibit "liveness" to remain recognized by the OIDF.  At
> > least every 6 months, the leaders should report on their chapter activities.
> >  Meetings are good.  Evidence of an active mailing list is sufficient.
> > Making no report of activities when requested to do so is grounds for
> > de-listing the chapter.
> >
> >   - There should be a "Local Chapters" committee authorized by the board
> > that is the interface to the local chapters.  It's fine for this committee
> > to include some non-board members.  In fact, while I would have at least one
> > board liaison to the committee, it would be a good idea to have several
> > local chapter leaders on the committee as well.
> >
> >   - In return for local chapters registering with the OIDF, we will list the
> > chapter on the OIDF website in a list sorted by geography, providing contact
> > information for the chapter.
> >
> >
> >
> > We should add an addenda item to the board call to discuss these guidelines.
> >
> >
> >
> > So who wants to be on the Local Chapters committee and what external members
> > should we recruit?
> >
> >
> >
> >                                                 Best
> > wishes,
> >
> >                                                 -- Mike
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> >  board mailing list
> >  board at openid.net
> >  http://openid.net/mailman/listinfo/board
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Nat Sakimura (=nat)
> http://www.sakimura.org/en/
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-- 
Nat Sakimura (=nat)
http://www.sakimura.org/en/



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