On Fri, May 24, 2013 at 8:14 AM, Melinda Shore <melinda.sh...@gmail.com>wrote:
> On 5/23/13 6:37 PM, Juliao Braga wrote: > > Maybe they can not submit drafts, but can > > contribute to foster the knowledge of those who produce drafts or > > working as reviewers. > > Anyone can submit a draft and anyone can review a draft. The > barrier to that sort of participation is extremely low. So > the question is why we aren't seeing more drafts, reviews, and > discussions from people in Central and South America, and > what we can do as an organization to change that. I have no > problem with meeting in Buenos Aires but I do not have reason > to think that having a meeting there will do anything to > increase active participation from that region. English is not a first language in many countries other than the US. Spanish is the predominant language in Central and South America. There are several cultural barriers as well such as people being hesitant to ask questions if they have not met people in real life. Not everything about the IETF is googlable or RTFM'ed. Maybe several co-located meetings or having people from the IETF speak at universities and regional ISOC chapters around the meeting might help. Also showcasing the good work done by their Latin American peers might help as well. -- Vinayak
