Future eGovernment activites at OASIS; 18 April discussion meeting

[James Bryce Clark <jamie.clark@oasis-open.org>]

   OASIS is working on the scope for the next phase of our 
activities to support electronic government.  This work includes an 
informal live discussion at our Symposium this coming week 
(described below).  We look forward to your feedback and participation.
   As a standards consortium, OASIS works hard to make sure that its 
programs and activities reflect the interests of our members, which 
define our standards programs.  As public administration needs 
evolve, from simple standards reviews to more complex requirements, 
interoperability and implementation, member-driven activities at 
OASIS will evolve in response.
   We've enjoyed the benefit of an active e-Government TC with wide 
participation.  (And our gratitude to John Borras, Harm-Jan van Burg 
and their respective governments for their leadership.)  Since 2002, 
the e-Gov TC conducted several useful studies of the suitability of 
available data standards.  These included some of the earliest 
careful considerations of key OASIS standards by user 
constituencies.  Several other standards organizations have modeled 
activities on our e-Gov TC.
   Government users continue to participate in many key OASIS 
projects:  but the types of collaboration needed have expanded. 
OASIS members with public administration interests now distribute 
themselves across multiple specific projects.  Based on recent 
feedback, this community may be better served by a general 
discussion forum, or several projects, than a single omnibus 
"standards-writing" committee.  We will close the original 
e-Government TC as a completed activity shortly.  Interested members 
of this practice community have  discussed alternative formats for 
ongoing information-sharing with each other, on this list, and with 
my colleagues Dr. Carol Cosgrove-Sacks and Pim van der Eijk.  One 
potential way to facilitate these future conversations is with an 
OASIS member section.  A draft charter/scope document is being sent 
to this list as a separate message, for your feedback and further 
discussion.

   A group of our active e-Gov stakeholders will meet at our OASIS 
Symposium in San Diego, beginning this Wednesday at 2:00 pm, to 
discuss requirements and organizational alternatives.[1]  Pim and I 
will join the encouragingly-large group already signed up for this 
live discussion.  If you are unable to attend, we would still 
appreciate the benefit of your views.  We will circulate a summary 
of the San Diego discussion, after this list is closed, to all those 
who advise us of their interest in our future plans.
   As always, thank you for your interest in and support of open 
standards.
   Regards, JBC

~ James Bryce Clark
~ Director of Standards Development, OASIS
~ jamie.clark@oasis-open.org

[1] http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/egov/200703/msg00001.html, 
http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/egov/200703/msg00006.html