Subject: Re: More participation from under-represented regions

From: Randy Presuhn <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 26 May 2013 16:28:22 -0700 (GMT-07:00)

Hi -

Watching this discussion scroll by on my screen, I'm amazed
how similar it is to discussions of evangelism in congregations.
Two things this religious institution might learn from other
religious institutions:

  (1) "need-based" evangelism.  Outreach efforts are more
      effective if they sincerely address specific needs of
      the target community.  Does face-to-face participation in
      the IETF offer things practitioners in under-represented
      regions feel they need?  As long as we focus on how it
      could help *us*, rather than what needs it would address
      for them, it'll be far less effective than it could be.

  (2) Watch out for "colonialist" attitudes, such as assuming
      that we know what the needs and priorities of the target
      communities are, rather than finding out.  This can require
      much more investment than just doing surveys, and may even
      reveal that certain models of "helping" might be culturally
      inappropriate, and consequently ineffective or counter-
      productive.

Randy