OASIS Mailing List ArchivesView the OASIS mailing list archive below
or browse/search using MarkMail.

 


Help: OASIS Mailing Lists Help | MarkMail Help

dita-adoption message

[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]


Subject: Re: [dita-adoption] Decisions on future meetings and activities


My apologies for being slow to respond on this. As many of you know, I've had several (!) deaths in my family this year, including a brother in September.

I've been part of the Adoption TC since the beginning, albeit never a officer. I've attended most of the meeting, authored a whitepaper, posted materials on dita.xml.org, and more.

This TC started with a lot of energy: A Webinar, followed with 10 or so whitepapers about DITA 1.2. Then new OASIS rules came into effect.

The OASIS rules put in place circa 2010 really had an effect on this TC's work. We no longer could quickly author and publicize white papers, and a number of our active members (for example, Joe Gelb) no longer could participate without purchasing an expensive corporate membership.

Another factor in the slowing of the TC's productivity is that many meetings were cancelled. Both JoAnn and Gershon had crazy schedules, and I don't think there was a secretary in place at the time.

I do think that for a TC to be viable and productive, it's imperative that regularly scheduled meetings be held. Meeting should only be cancelled in advance, for major holidays or conferences. If chairs cannot attend, then the responsibility for conducting the meeting should be delegated to the secretary or sergeant-at-arms. (Honestly, I'm not even sure what a sergeant-at-arms is, but Eliot Kimber is such for the DITA TC, and he facilitated a meeting several years ago when neither the chair or secretary could attend.)

Vis-a-vis the question of what the DITA Adoption TC should do -- I agree with Jang Graat that many significant adoption work efforts will -- and must -- happen outside OASIS. Still, the DITA Adoption TC can do productive work. It has the ability to author non-normative materials and get them thoroughly vetted for technical accuracy by the DITA TC, something that cannot happen easily outside of OASIS.

I think we need to hunker down and consider what the TC should attempt to do in 2013, and how to get more people involved.

I'm willing to continue to attend meetings, whether they are once or twice a month.

Best,
Kris

Kristen James Eberlein
Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting
Co-chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee
Charter member, OASIS DITA Adoption Committee
www.eberleinconsulting.com
+1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)

On 10/3/2012 11:30 AM, JoAnn Hackos wrote:
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
Jordan Jones and I had a discussion this week about the future of the DITA Adoption TC. I have a very difficult schedule for the next two months and Jordan now has a conflict with another business meeting on Mondays. So—I will cancel the meeting for Monday.

Frank Miller has made progress with Chet Ensign to add OASIS links to our XLIFF feature article. Perhaps we can get it out for review. Of course, that means another 30-day delay while we wait for comments from the entire OASIS community.

Attendance at our meetings has been very low lately and very discouraging for me. It also seems impossible to get anyone to volunteer to help with writing articles, organizing and handling webinars, and generally doing the business of the community in an energetic way. I'm getting tired too. Despite that, I believe there is much we could contribute to the DITA community.

I would like to ask each of you for your feedback. 

  • Do you think there is a role for this committee in the future?
  • Are you interesting in continuing the work of the DITA Adoption committee?
  • If you are, will you attend future meetings and volunteer to support our activities?
  • Would you prefer to have the meetings once a month rather than every two weeks? Would that make attendance easier?
If I don't get responses, I'll conclude that you are no longer interested in participating.

Best regards,
JoAnn


JoAnn T. Hackos, PhD
President
Comtech Services Inc.
710 Kipling Street, Suite 400
Denver, CO 80215
303-232-7586





[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]