Sorry to butt in, but since my name was mentioned...
I think the committee should consist of half a dozen members. I distinctly remember seeing a discussion on the subject that reckoned committees/boards that were too small or too large are ineffective. Too-small groups will be homogeneous and under-representative. Too-large groups will be heterogeneous and spend their time bickering. The recommended size was somewhere between six and twelve. Unfortunately, I can't point to a reference.
No, I'm not volunteering. I believe I've already offered to help with media relations, however me and committees don't get on. For a start, the first thing I'd do is table a motion to make the organisation more representative of open source. :)
adam
-----Original Message----- From: fsfe-ie-bounces@fsfeurope.org [mailto:fsfe-ie-bounces@fsfeurope.org]On Behalf Of Ciaran O'Riordan Sent: 26 November 2003 03:10 To: fsfe-ie@fsfeurope.org Subject: Re: [Fsfe-ie] a committee for IFSO
"Niall Douglas" s_fsfeurope2@nedprod.com writes:
I would be extremely surprised if the membership ever did anything regularly. Almost all committee-based organisations I've ever seen are run almost entirely by members of the committee - they certainly have to do all the grunt work anyway.
I think anyone of real use, will help regardless of committee positions etc.
Without holding any related committee positions:
You yourself mailed MEPs regarding software patents Malcolm Tyrrell mailed MEPs, and did letter stuffing work Ben North has worked on Irelands implementation of the EUCD Adam Moran and Adam Beecher did mass faxing of a letter to MEPs Glenn Strong has put together a charter for IFSO I've researched, drafted letters, and given talks Mel McWeeney is looking into voting processes. Teresa Hackett is working on the "IPR enforcement directive" (not a member of fsfe-ie, but more on her later)
(apologies to anyone I've left out, this isn't a definitive "thank you" list, it's just off the top of my head with a quick look at the archives) (Plus numerous people have given useful comments etc.)
So we either make a committee of 9, or we push the committee aside as a technicality and continue the good work.
Unless you are referring to the possibility that a commitee could ruin this current widespread contribution. Yes this could be a problem, but again I see the solution is to push the committee aside.
-- Ciaran O'Riordan - http://www.compsoc.com/~coriordan/ _______________________________________________ Fsfe-ie mailing list Fsfe-ie@fsfeurope.org https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/fsfe-ie