English spoken here (was: PowerPoint considered harmful)

[SM <[e-mail]>]

At 05:40 02-12-2012, Keith Moore wrote:
>p.s. I certainly acknowledge the difficulty in understanding 
>different dialects of English.  But it strikes me that part of the 
>problem is the high level of ambient noise

It is not about different dialects of English.  There are people in 
one part of the world who speak English.  There are people from other 
parts of the world which do not understand that English because of:

  (a) The way English is spoken

  (b) The speed at which English is spoken

  (c) The vocabulary used

The people face a high barrier for active participation at a 
meeting.  The one language that the two groups have in common is 
code.  There is also a barrier for participation on mailing lists as 
the people do not use email in the same way as the (North American) group.

Accommodating the group of people is not enough.  It is up to the 
group of people to say what they would like done to make the IETF 
easier for them.  It is up to the (North American) group to, if you 
excuse me, shut up and take what they say at face value instead of 
trying to prove them wrong.

Stephen Farrell wrote [1] the following:

   "Whatever. Its a reality."

Barry Leiba replied [2] that:

   'No, Stephen, this isn't a "whatever".  You're proposing an experiment
    for changing process.  I'm reminding you that what you're proposing is
    not a change in formal process, but something you can do *right now*,
    today, if you and a WGC want to.  Please don't dismiss that with
    "Whatever."'

Yes, I am using a bad example.  My excuse is that it is to illustrate 
the difference between two groups.

Regards,
-sm

1. http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ietf/current/msg76116.html
2. http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ietf/current/msg76120.html