[Pgi-wg] On importance of meeting minutes

[Oxana Smirnova]

Hi all,

I'd like to share my position on meeting notes.

Importance of taking minutes or similar kind of notes was recognised 
from the first days of the PGI, before it was even called PGI. Not that 
the notes were too informative, but Johannes did his best in his duty as 
a secretary.

Sadly, this practice has all but stopped recently, and I even see rather 
aggressive opposition towards minute-taking. I find it strange, at least.

I've been to countless number of working groups, boards and committees, 
and even the tiniest gender equality WG of my department has a secretary 
and minutes.

The need for taking minutes is obvious:
1. (and foremost) it allows active participation of group members who 
couldn't attend a meeting
2. it prevents decisions being contested or misinterpreted by providing 
documented evidence of decisions made
3. it prevents the group from re-discussing things which were already 
discussed, or if a need of a new discussion arises, there is always a 
reference

Now, I am sure all these three aspects are very relevant for the PGI.

Taking minutes is easy, people do it since the moment they invented 
written languages, and OGF certainly has many (all?) people with 
sufficient literacy levels around. I can do it from time to time, but 
unfortunately I am not available full-time for PGI, and definitely not 
for the meetings overseas.

Cheers,
Oxana
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