Internet Society Chapters 

Dhaka, Bangladesh
6 October 2010, 5.30pm-7.30pm

Agenda

1.  Welcome and Introduction, (5 mins)
2.  About the Internet Society (PDF), Rajnesh D. Singh, Head, Regional Bureau for Asia, ISOC (15 mins)
3.  Internet Society Chapters, Anne Lord, Senior Manager, Chapters and individual Members, ISOC (15 mins)
4.  Reviving an ISOC Chapter in Bangladesh – discussion (45 mins)
5.  Refreshments and Networking (40 mins)

Meeting Summary

The number of people that attended the meeting was 45. This is a very good turnout for a first meeting.

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend. We were very happy to see such a strong interest in rejuvenating the Chapter.

The meeting opened with two presentations:  ”An introduction to the Internet Society” by Rajnesh Singh, Head, Regional Bureau for Asia, followed by a presentation from Anne Lord, Senior Manager for Chapters and Individual Members on “Internet Society Chapters”.

After the presentations the floor was opened to discussion. The first topic for discussion was the potential scope and naming of the Chapter. Many different opinions were expressed, some in favour of a Bangladesh Chapter, others in favour of city based Chapters, allowing more focus of work at the local level. The conclusion at the end of the discussion was to create the Bangladesh, Dhaka Chapter of the Internet Society.

Below is a summary of the key points of the discussion.

1. Involve multiple stakeholders not just those working in the ICT area.
2. Involve students (tertiary) who can build critical mass
3. Engage user groups (Academia)
4. Support for city/district based Chapter
5. Leadership/bylaws/structure need to be developed
6. Programme areas suggested: Internet Governance, Technical, Users, Youth.
7. Start with one Chapter and see how we go
8. Key issues: this should be a grassroots activity, and decentralisation allows for greater dispersion.

At the end of the meeting, it was suggested to form a working group in order to develop a workplan for the chapter. Around 28 people volunteered for this task. Russell John kindly volunteered to create a mailing list for the working group. If you are interested to join to actively participate in the group, then please send email to Russell at <russell@linux.org.bd>.

The group agreed to work to the following timeline:

Oct 6th – first meeting
Oct 7th-31st – working group discussions
Nov 1st-15th – draft workplan for the Chapter
Nov 18-28 – send draft workplan to the Membership for comments/feedback
Nov 30 – Finalise the workplan.

A follow on physical meeting will be organised by Russell for the working group to begin discussing the draft workplan.