Participation in the eDoCreator demo 25 March

[Jon Bosak <bosak@pinax.com>]

Hello UBL TC (including Observers),

I have received an inquiry regarding the status of Observers at
the demo of the iSURF eDoCreator tools scheduled for the Atlantic
TC call 25 March.

The rules governing Observers are stated in the OASIS TC Process
(http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/process.php).  "Observer" is
defined as follows:

    "Observer" is an Eligible Person who is subscribed to the TC
    email list, and may attend TC meetings, but is not allowed to
    participate in TC email list discussions, participate or speak
    in TC meetings, or make Contributions to the TC. The process
    for becoming an Observer is defined in Section 2.4.

Section 2.4 says:

    An Eligible Person may become an Observer of a TC by
    registering as an Observer using the electronic collaboration
    tools provided by OASIS. If the Eligible Person is an employee
    or designee of an OASIS Organizational Member, the Primary
    Representative of that organization must be notified that the
    person has requested to become an Observer. The Observer is not
    a TC Member so has no attendance or participation requirements
    to maintain this status, other than to remain an Eligible
    Person.

And Section 2.10 says:

    TC meetings must be properly called and scheduled in advance
    using the OASIS electronic collaborative tools. Meetings
    scheduled or conducted in such a manner as to exclude the
    participation of any Member is [sic] subject to appeal.
    Meetings may be conducted face-to-face or via telephone
    conference or other electronic media that allow participation
    of all Members of the TC. In order to enable the openness of TC
    proceedings, meetings should be scheduled and conducted so as
    to permit the presence of as many TC Observers as is
    logistically feasible. Meeting minutes must be recorded and
    published to the TC's general email list and referenced on the
    TC web page.

UBL TC calls are meetings per the Process; therefore, Observers
are entitled to attend the demo as long as we can fit them onto
the call after Members are connected, although they can't say
anything beyond announcing their presence.

There is an upper limit to the number of people who can be
accommodated on the Skype-based bridge we're using, and probably
an upper limit on the number that can be accommodated by whatever
the iSURF folks are setting up.  So to determine whether there
will be a problem in accommodating participants beyond the number
of Members participating, I need to know the *total* number of
intended participants, both Members and Observers.

If you are a Member or Observer of the UBL TC and you intend to
call in for the demo 25 March, contact me off the list (if you are
an Observer, you cannot post to the list anyway) to let me know
your plan.  Observers who do not contact me in advance may not be
allowed on the call if we approach the limits of the conference
and demo systems.  Observers should be aware that they will be
required to announce their presence and will be listed in the
meeting minutes as Observers.

Jon

P.S. for people unfamiliar with the TC Process: The reason I am
being so formal about all this is that actual participation in an
OASIS TC has deep legal implications for the organization in which
a person is employed.  Participation as an Observer protects you
from incurring IPR obligations for your organization, but only if
we follow the rules.