Re: [security-services] Handling of acknowledgments

[Jeff Hodges <Jeff.Hodges@sun.com>]

"Eve L. Maler" wrote:
> 
> The issue of contributor lists came up a few times as we prepared for the
> big January publication date.  I would like to propose a consistent
> template for handling this issue that I hope is fair to all.
> 
> Currently, the various specs have a list of contributors on page 1, in most
> cases listing the main document editor as a "first among equals" in
> alphabetic order in that list but in one case listing the main editors
> separately above.  These lists are a little idiosyncratic, built up over
> time but not with the same criteria applied in all cases.
> 
> I suggest that we list the main editor(s) of each spec on page 1 as follows
> (along the lines of the core spec):
> 
> Editors:
>    [sort on last names]
>    Joe Blow, DahtCalm
>    Jane Row, IvyEdu


[JeffH:]

Joe and I agree that having a consistent treatment for all the
editors/contributors to the specs is a Good Thing. 

I suggest a build on your approach wherein both the Editors and Contributors
are listed on the first page, similar to the xmldsig spec
(http://www.w3.org/TR/xmldsig-core/) and to our present specs other than core,
with the addition of specific acknowledgements called out in the appendix as
you suggest (e.g. "Krishna contributed the xmldsig section"; in addition to a
separate list of the overall list of voting members). 

I don't think we need to do the 3-level breakdown that xmldsig/xmlenc do
between editors/authors/contributors (eg
http://www.w3.org/Encryption/2001/Contributor.html) since we haven't been
working all along with that framework, and our contributor lists (suggestion:
folks who've participated in specifying prose and/or schema that's been
reflected in the docs) aren't enormously long. But, leveraging the criteria
they specify for authors/contributors is likely useful for compiling our
acknowledgements. 



> Eve continued:
>
> A new appendix, Acknowledgments, would be added to each spec, which would
> read as follows:
> ======
> The editors would like to acknowledge the contributions of the OASIS SAML
> Technical Committee, whose voting members at the time of publication were:
> 
>    [sort on last names; list to be supplied by Steve Anderson]
>    Paul Apple, Foo Co.
>    Ann Bingham, Bar Inc.
>    Evan Cinch, Baz Company
>    ...
> 
> The editors would also like to thank the following people for their
> contributions:
> 
> [subject to judgment of editors and requests by others]
> o Mary Hadalittlelamb, former editor
> o Peter Pan, who wrote the first draft of the section on XYZ
> o John Doe, former chair of the Foo subcommittee
> ...
> ======
> 
> Whatever handling of contributor lists we agree on, it would be great if
> all the editors could be ready to implement it before last call.  Each
> draft we publish will get more and more widely read and circulated, so it
> would be nice to ensure that people get properly acknowledged for their work.
> 
>         Eve