ISOC Document 95-065

Title:	ISOC Publications
Author(s): 	Tim O'Reilly
Date:       1995.11.14
Body:      	Board of Trustees
Document:  	95-065
Revision:
Supersedes:	basic
Status:
Maintainer:	Tim O'Reilly
Access:      unrestricted


It seems a commonplace that the publications are an important "member benefit" 
of the Internet Society.  If this is so, it seems to me that they should 
reinforce a clear concept of what it means to belong to the society, what is 
expected of members and what benefits they receive.

Despite the praise that some of us have heaped on On The Internet and the 
email newsletter, my professional opinion is that the current Society 
publications reflect the same lack of focus and clear sense of mission that 
bedevils the Society in other arenas.

To be sure, there are some articles that reflect one or another actual
focus of the Society--its international or educational activities, for 
instance, or the IETF update summary--but many others seem as if they might 
well appear in any of the dozens of commercial Internet magazines.

It is my belief that we need to re-examine the mission of the publications in 
light of the mission of the Society, and to make them a vehicle for 
communicating with the membership about the central issues the Society is 
(hopefully) struggling with.

So, for example, if it were truly reflecting the Society's mission, and 
involving the membership in that mission, a current issue of the magazine 
should have articles focussing on the very topics that are now occupying the 
trustees, such as the relationship between internet users, some of the 
historical internet constituencies, and industry players who are changing the 
rules of the game, or the conflicting proposals about the role ISOC ought to 
play in managing the DNS.  There should also be a strong online, CD and book-
oriented publications program providing the definitive reference to the work 
of the IETF and the other Internet
standards making bodies.  The Society's publications should be THE source to 
which people turn when they want the story "from the horse's mouth."  (In this 
regard, only Tony's statistics pages on the Web really achieved that 
objective.)

As in so many other areas, the Internet Society needs to decide on its real 
mission--what it wants to be when it grows up--and then mold its publications 
program into a tool to support that mission.

I'd like to take a reading on whether the rest of the trustees think I'm just 
blowing smoke here or not, and if not, I'd like your mandate to work with 
Wendy to re-craft the publications significantly.