[IndiChix] A message for LC-IN

[Runa Bhattacharjee]

This mail is not about what has transpired on the list the past couple of days. Neither is it about
who is winning and which side I am on. To be honest, I just don't care.

What I see is a box of  jigsaw puzzles which was dropped on the floor. The pieces have fallen apart
and one needs to kneel down, crawl under the furniture search for the fragments and put them back
inside the box.

A few of us restarted a dormant group sometime last year. A group with enormous potential, resources
and good thoughts. Right now I see a few small problems at hand and I *want* to solve them.

[The following section might contain extracts of a mail message that I had earlier sent to Aneesha,
Archana, Ankita, Barkha and Vidya.]

1. Leaders/TresChix:

I suggest earmarking a core group of people. The candidates I had previously suggested are: Archana,
Aneesha, Ankita, Barkha, Vidya and myself. Reason for these names being suggested was because all of
these 6 ladies have been working together for a couple of months uptil the BoF session.

However rude it sounds but opening up any discussions on the mailing list on this would have lead to
confusion about leadership and potential conflicts. I would again suggest considering this group as
the core working group for the coming 1 year. Post the 1 year period, an election (similar to what
is followed in Lc-Global) can be undertaken. The number of leader positions (current figure of 6 may
or may not be acceptable), election method, tenure, etc. could be charted by the "core working group".

This group can also take immediate decisions as and when required and have regular meetings to track
the various sub-teams (for instance a website team) that might be working on various fronts. Also it
would ensure impromptu decisions are not taken that would have wide-reaching consequences. This can
be done by  ensuring regular reporting and feedback collection from the group.

TresChix from the global community may or may not understand the local requirements of an Indian
Chapter and the dynamics and composition of the Indian FOSS community . The local needs have to be
identified by the chapter members themselves with able guidance from the local "TresChix" i.e. women
who are part of the Indian FOSS community for a considerably long time. Alongwith this, the lessons
from the past experiences of the global TresChix would prove valuable as and when required.


2. Chapter Autonomy:

Each country/city chapter is an autonomous entity, it requires its own set of rules/policies and
functioning method. Rules starting from the participation methods to the mailing list guidelines
should be charted out *clearly* so that any abuse of the written policies can be easily identified
and penalised. Casing point here, the grrls-only mailing list in the global forum which clearly
states about its restricted discussion/membership policies. Any discussions on the mailing list
*cannot* be publicized.

Similarly, policies about membership rules/violation/gender-focus/location of members etc. can
clearly be defined and documented. So that any decisions can have a clear reference point.

3. Messaging:

Documented rules and policies automatically make messages emanating from the group consistent
irrespective of who it is coming from. My earlier suggestion was that for the immediate timeframe ,
for any critical information/group related decision that needs to be conveyed or made public, the
core working group talks first and one person (anyone) sends out the message. Perhaps one/two
spokesperson could be chosen later on. Additionally, general information about the group ought to be 
put up publicly.


The above points can perhaps be termed as "over-organization", but I see it as necessary
infrastructural framework for the group. Lets give ourselves __1 month__ to organize ourselves here.

I do not wish to see "+1" or "-1" mails (if at all) coming to the list in reply to this mail. If any
of the above needs to be implemented then start a new thread, take a vote and get them in place. If
no mails come to the list by Tuesday, I'll start writing mails to the list asking for suggestions.
Often silence is mistaken to be *acceptance* or *timidness*. In some cases Silence is due to
insufficient or misinterpreted information.

Since it seems that the server hosting the current wiki is a critical box, I would vote for it to be
shifted as there seems to be some plans afoot to make a website. I on my part would continue
contributing to the wiki so that as and when a web team is formed, they do have ready content.

It takes a long time to build relationships and momentary harshness to break them. I would like to
apologize to everyone on the list who had to read all the harsh words that have flown around. Also,
I would like to make an earnest request to anyone who is contemplating leaving the
mailing-list/group, to please stay back. I plan to complete the jigsaw puzzle and would love to show
it to you all.

This mail is cc-ed to Carla Schroder, Sulamita Garcia, Akkana Peck and Valorie Zimmerman

regards
Runa
-- 
blog: http://runab.livejournal.com
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