Some enlightenment on side-group work

[Don Day <dond@us.ibm.com>]

The DITA SIDSC group asked for clarification about how to work within OASIS
intent for subgroup or off-line activities. Such work is normal practice of
TCs or SCs that have very specialized tasks that only certain members need
concentrate on.  Seraphim's rollup for his SC is very well written, and
worth mentioning here for the broader DITA TC's awareness.

Generally, I think our TC has followed the gist of the guidelines fairly
well, but we could improve in these particular areas:

1. For minute takers, whenever noting that someone is to create a sub-group
call, make certain to state that this is a TC Action. Calls initiated
without a clear record of being at the TC's request could be construed as
creating IP issues outside of the scope of the TC and OASIS's authority.

2. For the person arranging the call, after canvassing for meeting times,
be sure to reply back to the list as to the time, date, call number, and
topic of the meeting so that anyone else interested may join at that time.
This is in the spirit of full transparency and openness of TC process, even
though in practice your call may still only have the folks who originally
responded to the request.

3. After the call, make sure that the key outcomes for the meeting get back
into the list, either by adding them to the description for the upload of
the resulting document or by dropping a note to the list.

You may read the Semiconductor group's email archives to follow that full
thread, however the following summary says it all (full message at
http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/dita-sidsc/200709/msg00033.html).

Regards,
--
Don Day
Chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee
Chair, IBM DITA Architects Board
Email: dond@us.ibm.com
11501 Burnet Rd. MS9033E015, Austin TX 78758
Phone: +1 512-244-2868 (home office)

"Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
 Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"
   --T.S. Eliot
----- Forwarded by Don Day/Austin/IBM on 09/27/2007 02:17 PM -----
                                                                           
             "Larsen, Seraphim                                             
             L"                                                            
             <seraphim.l.larse                                          To 
             n@intel.com>              <mary.mcrae@oasis-open.org>, Don    
                                       Day/Austin/IBM@IBMUS                
             09/27/2007 12:18                                           cc 
             PM                        <dita-sidsc@lists.oasis-open.org>   
                                                                   Subject 
                                       RE: [dita-sidsc] Groups - Action    
                                       Item Modified: #0028 How to share   
                                       Excel file                          
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           




OK, thanks Mary.

In summary, it seems that it's OK to have meetings outside the "regular
scheduled program", as long as:

    - The meeting is announced through the official SC channels
      (calendar or email list).

    - The meeting is open to all SC members.

    - Screen-sharing collaboration tools (such as LiveMeeting,
      NetMeeting, WebEx) can be used, but since documents may
      not be hosted on non-OASIS systems, hosted systems such
      as Google Documents and non-OASIS wikis cannot be used.

    - A summary of what transpired must be posted in the documents
      or email list.

    - All deliverables created must be posted to the official
      SC site (email list, Wiki, or document repository).


I think that's workable.


Thanks again for all the clarifications!  (and let me know if this final
summary of mine is wrong!)


Seraphim Larsen
Intel Corporation * ECG TechComm
Chandler, AZ * (480) 552-6504
My opinions only; I don't speak for Intel.