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Re: [802SEC] +++10 Day EC Email Ballot+++ 802.1aq book signing



Geoff, 

Personally, I have no compunction about IEEE selling anything - standards, technical books, journals, society memberships, or baseball hats - at our meetings. I would be opposed to other vendors, unless exceptional circumstances warranted an exception. If we came up with some kind of sponsorship program that would bring in meaningful revenue without threatening our sense of fair play, then I'd want to consider that as well. I agree that on-site books sales is not a potential revenue source.

By the way, the IEEE Standards Information Network Press books are given external reviews prior to publication. I'm not certain the process is fully documented, but there is some oversight.

Roger

On May 24, 2012, at 9:27 PM, Geoff Thompson <thompson@ieee.org> wrote:

> Tony/Colleagues-
> 
> The problem that I see with what Tony wants to encourage becomes how to decide what is allowable and what is not.
> 
> Will we be open to all comers who allege that their book is about one of our standards?  How much of their book does it take?  Does the book have to be even-handed with respect to vendors?  Does the book have to be non-critical of the standard?  Are we going to limit this "privilege" to book sales
> 
> If we have criteria, what will be the approval process and who will make the call?  I see all of this as an unnecessary distraction to our primary business of producing consensus standards.
> 
> As for the prospect of making any money by doing it...
> I have some personal experience at trying to make money selling books by doing book signings.  The economics tends not to work.  In general these events don't sell enough books to cover the wholesale cost of the books plus the cost of shipping the books to the event.
> 
> Best regards,
>        Geoff
> 
> On 245//12 1:23 AM, Tony Jeffree wrote:
>> For the reasons Pat has expressed, I believe we should be encouraging more
>> of this kind of activity, and without regard to whether it is the IEEE or
>> A.N. Other publisher that has published the book, or whether or not the
>> authors are participants in the relevant working groups. As the years go
>> by, our standards become increasingly impenetrable to the uninitiated; we
>> do a great dis-service to our potential readership if we erect barriers to
>> activities that make them more understandable and accessible.
>> 
>> As an aside, here in the UK, where the BBC is a non-profit supported by a
>> mandatory license fee and is scrupulous about avoiding any appearance of
>> commercialism in its programming, they don't draw this kind of line when it
>> comes to authors and artists in general promoting their works on the air -
>> quite the contrary; when A.N. Author publishes a new book they get invited
>> onto chat shows to talk about it. Go figure.
>> 
>> Regards,
>> Tony
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On 24 May 2012 08:42, Pat Thaler<pthaler@broadcom.com>  wrote:
>> 
>>   
>>> Actually the term should be revenue making, not profit making. IEEE is a
>>> non-profit.
>>> 
>>> This book In particular was suggested because of discussions that I had
>>> with folks at the 802.1 interim about the difficulty of getting the book
>>> because it isn't being distributed in Europe yet and the need to understand
>>> this topic which is difficult for a novice to 802.1 bridging standards to
>>> learn by diving straight into the standard. Therefore, I feel that this
>>> activity is in IEEE 802's interest.
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: ***** IEEE 802 Executive Committee List ***** [mailto:
>>> STDS-802-SEC@ieee.org] On Behalf Of Tony Jeffree
>>> Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 10:03 AM
>>> To: STDS-802-SEC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
>>> Subject: Re: [802SEC] +++10 Day EC Email Ballot+++ 802.1aq book signing
>>> 
>>> Geoff -
>>> 
>>> We have had similar signing events in the past for books published by the
>>> IEEE on LAN topics, and have also had IEEE book stalls at our Plenaries in
>>> the past, selling a wider range of IEEE publications. And actually,
>>> developing/selling standards is also supposed to be an IEEE profit making
>>> operation - are you suggesting we are over the line there too?
>>> 
>>> Regards,
>>> Tony
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 23 May 2012 17:45, Geoff Thompson<thompson@ieee.org>  wrote:
>>> 
>>>     
>>>> Colleagues-
>>>> 
>>>> As usual, I am not allowed to vote on this.
>>>> I am uncomfortable with this though as being overly commercial.
>>>> I think this activity dances on the line.
>>>> 
>>>> This is a commercial promotion for a profit making operation within the
>>>> IEEE.
>>>> We have had numerous other books written by standards luminaries
>>>> specifically and equally focused about other standards.  They have often
>>>> been published by others than the IEEE.  I would find it difficult to
>>>> deny them equal opportunity to promote an equal (or better) product that
>>>> was focused on one of our efforts.
>>>> 
>>>> I don't think this is a clear call but I would rather we avoid the line
>>>> than dance over it.
>>>> 
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> 
>>>>    Geoff
>>>> 
>>>> On 235//12 7:01 AM, Tony Jeffree wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>       
>>>>> Paul has authorized me to run an email ballot on the following motion:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Motion:  Grant permission to IEEE-SA staff to organize, promote and
>>>>> conduct
>>>>> sales of a book on 802.1aq, including author signing, at the July 802
>>>>> plenary.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Moved: Jeffree Seconded: Thaler
>>>>> 
>>>>> Background:
>>>>> 
>>>>> This book, which is published through IEEE, was written by two members
>>>>>         
>>> of
>>>     
>>>>> the 802.1 WG who were contributors to the work on IEEE Std. 802.1aq
>>>>>         
>>> which
>>>     
>>>>> was approved by SASB in March 2012.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> This will be a 10-day ballot, closing on 3rd June 2012 AOE; as per
>>>>>         
>>> current
>>>     
>>>>> P&P I will terminate the ballot early if it is clear that the outcome
>>>>>         
>>> has
>>>     
>>>>> been decided.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>> Tony
>>>>> 
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>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>>         
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>>   
> 
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