[xtm-wg] Chair's response/clarification: IDEAlliance and TopicMaps.org

["Eric Freese" <eric@isogen.com>]

A bit of clarification:

The decision was originally reached unilaterally, WITHOUT discussing it with
me and I was originally notified with 1 week's notice.  I appealed the
decision and, as can be seen, have been subsequently turned down.

Things that I discussed with Paul when I appealed the decision included the
fact the IDEAlliance never stated that there was a problem or that they
desired a greater role in things.  Paul and other IDEAlliance management
were in the room when the charter was developed and NEVER raised an issue
about how things were organized.  I, personally, think that this is the time
that TM.Org could have used IDEAlliance for marketing the finished spec, web
site maintenance, etc.  However, they stand by their original decision.

Paul admitted that the association with TopicMaps.Org costs them very little
on a resource scale, however, I believe that the turmoil over the last few
weeks weighed heavily on IDEAlliance's unilateral decision and they want to
distance themselves from it.

Para 3.7 of the charter states:

"IDEAlliance will serve as the initial Host Organization for TopicMaps.Org.
A change in host organization requires a two-thirds majority vote. The terms
and conditions of the relationship between TopicMaps.Org and the host
organization will be defined in a separate document that must be approved by
an absolute majority of the Participating Members."

I am not aware of any terms and conditions that were defined under the
previous chairs.

So now we are left in a tough spot.  I'm open to suggestions about new hosts
or how to proceed independently.

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Conn [mailto:pconn@gca.org]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2001 9:18 AM
> To: xtm-wg@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [xtm-wg] IDEAlliance and TopicMaps.org
>
>
> Dear TopicMaps.org members,
>
> IDEAlliance has recently reached the difficult decision to
> cease serving as
> the host organization to TopicMaps.org, effective today.  We
> strongly value
> and support the work that your group is doing, but do not see
> where we are
> adding any value.  This decision was reached after a great
> deal of internal
> deliberations over the last few weeks, and after discussion with the
> TopicMaps.org chair.
>
> >From the beginning, the TopicMaps.org group adopted a
> business model for
> managing the standards development, administration, and
> promotion processes
> that was vastly different from that which the other
> IDEAlliance groups have
> successfully used.  Typically, IDEAlliance carries responsibility and
> authority for much of the project management, administrative,
> budgetary, and
> marketing activities.  IDEAlliance is also the holder of intellectual
> property on behalf of our special membership groups in order
> to protect
> their interests.  Under the current model, IDEAlliance has
> none of these
> responsibilities and therefore neither provides nor receives
> much value, and
> we believe our resources can be better directed elsewhere.
>
> Ownership of the TopicMaps.org YahooGroups will be transferred to your
> chair, Eric Freese, and any remaining sponsorship funds we
> are holding will
> be returned to the sponsor companies.  Any outstanding TopicMaps.org
> materials such as web site, specification, charter, etc. that
> you maintain
> should be modified to remove references to IDEAlliance as
> host organization.
>
> I want you to understand that this, in no way, impacts the strong
> relationship that GCA has with your members.  We look forward
> to Topic Maps
> continuing to be a significant focus at our Knowledge
> Technologies and other
> conferences.  As we have for many years, we will continue to be strong
> advocates for topic maps technology and will continue to support the
> important work taking place in ISO SC 34, WG 3.
>
> Regards,
> Paul
>
> Paul F. Conn
> Vice President, Electronic Business Initiatives
> Graphic Communications Association
> 100 Daingerfield Road
> Alexandria, Virginia 22314, USA
> Phone:  +1 703-519-8173
> Mobile:  +1 703-626-6842
> Fax:  +1 703-548-2867
> pconn@gca.org
> www.gca.org
> Chief Technology Officer
> IDEAlliance
> pconn@idealliance.org
> www.idealliance.org
>
>
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