Re: How to reach AC Newbies and why is there such a Large "Silent Majority"? [Was: Re: Don't disclose election results]

On 6/4/14, 10:06 PM, Robin Berjon wrote:
> On 04/06/2014 14:57 , Arthur Barstow wrote:
>> On 6/4/14 8:03 AM, Robin Berjon wrote:
>>> Maybe we should do some AC training. When I ran for TAG I was
>>> surprised at how many reps wrote to say "I'd like to vote for you but
>>> I don't understand how".
>>
>> Oh dear. That's really {s,b}ad. The closest thing I know about related
>> to AC Newbies is <https://www.w3.org/wiki/AdvisoryCommittee/NewbieInfo>.
>> If there is some additional info that should be added, please do update
>> that doc or send me the details and I'll be happy to update it. That
>> said, perhaps there are better ways/medium to reach Newbies (f.ex. a
>> 5-10 minute video that address the issue you raise as well as other AC
>> Newbie FAQs). (I just filed a related issue in the AC tracker
>> <https://www.w3.org/Member/track/issues/7>).
>
> I'd add to the wiki but I couldn't get a sense for what wasn't working for them
> — I sent some instructions in the hope that something would happen.
>
> Voting is basically clicking on a link in an email that comes to you, then
> ticking someone's name and hitting Submit.
>
> I guess there could be several reasons (possibly mixed):
>
>    • Email never got read, is lost somewhere in Inbox/Trash.
>    • Rep does not know about http://w3.org/Member/, etc.
>    • Lost password
>    • Confused by WBS UI (I think it's pretty readable, but it's old school so
> might confuse some?)
>    • Laziness (could figure out how to do but would rather be told)

  * Language barrier

Sending announcements and reminders in their native languages can stimulate 
members from non English speaking countries more, if W3C offices in some of the 
countries haven't done it.

Actually, W3C/Keio has been encouraging Japanese members, by sending reminders 
in Japanese language, to join events such as workshops & TPACs, cast votes at 
elections, and so on. I've heard from some busy AC reps that it helped them.

AC reps read English, but native languages can be more appealing.

Yosuke

> That's why I think it would be useful to reach out to non-voters (perhaps also
> to non-posters?) to get a feel for what the barriers are.
>
> I'm willing to bet that in many cases the fact that one would need to get
> approval, but it's not seen as important enough to call a meeting, is a barrier.
> I'm not sure what we could do to help here. Make membership more expensive for
> non-voters? ;-)
>

-- 
Yosuke Funahashi
co-Chair, W3C Web and TV IG
Chair, W3C Web and Broadcasting BG
Researcher, Keio Research Institute at SFC
Special Adviser, Tomo-Digi Corporation

Received on Sunday, 8 June 2014 13:59:56 UTC