Subject: [codec] Selection of BOF Chairs

From: Cullen Jennings <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:43:08 -0700

There has been a bunch of discussion on if the BOF chairs are biased  
or not.

The key question this BOF is devoting nearly all it's time to is the  
questions of should the IETF form a WG to do this work. Let's be 100%  
clear here - both chairs are clearly in favor of a YES answer to this.  
Everyone involved was well aware of this when they were chosen as BOF  
chairs.

It takes a lot of energy to arrange and facilitate the discussion to  
make a complicated BOF happen (and this one is complicated). Both of  
theses people are deeply involved with leading groups that are  
building some of the widely used codecs on the internet today. They  
have a lot of energy and passion about it and also significant  
experience in the business environment these would be used it, the  
needs of the users, and the types of networks they are deployed on.  
It's easy to find other people around that also have lots of  
experience in this but it's hard to find ones that have the time and  
energy to run a BOF.

This situation is not unusual, the bulk of the WG BOFs I have been at  
were nearly all chaired by people who were proponents of the work  
moving forward. The information presented at a BOF is not controlled  
by the chairs and I fully expect to hears the Pros and the Cons for  
this work in the BOF meeting. It's not like the chairs have any  
control over who decides to talk up to the microphone in the meeting.

As a practical matter, we have enough problems to deal with in this  
BOF. Lets deal with real problems as they come up and not worry about  
hypothetical ones. Lets make sure the discussion is going to give the  
right opportunities for all view to be represented on topics that are  
important input for the IESG making a decision about this. If you  
think the chairs are doing the wrong thing - by all means - make  
Robert and I aware of that and it we will get to the bottom of it. I'm  
sure that mistakes will be made along the way but IETF process is good  
at fixing mistakes and getting the right thing to happen. I'm easy to  
reach: emails works, for IM I am [email-masked], my  
work phone is +1 408 902 3341 and if you really need me right away my  
mobile is +1 408 421 9990. I'm glad to help get problems sort out such  
that we can have discussion of all the useful points at the BOF.

I am not keen on changing horses mid stream but if that was required  
to have a BOF that represented all sides of the debate, I would do it.

Cullen <RAI AD>

PS. It is worth mentioning that if a WG was formed, the criteria for  
selection of WG chairs is very different than BOF chairs and thought  
sometimes it ends up being the same people, Robert and I have not even  
started thinking about who could chair a WG. We would be considering a  
wide range of candidates