Stewards Council Telecon: 2008 June 4

Call in number: 1-605-475-4333 access code: 181783

= Attending =


 * Christopher Allen
 * Andy Dale
 * Peter Davis
 * Kaliya Hamlin
 * Eugene Eric Kim
 * Fen Labalme
 * Brett McDowell
 * Joaquin Miller
 * Dale Olds
 * Dan Perry
 * Drummond Reed
 * Chris Reynolds
 * Marty Schleiff

= Agenda =

Community and Action Groups

 * 1) Process for sunsetting groups.  We have two inactive groups (Standards Gang and Identity Mashups).
 * 2) Process for moving forward with formally adding new groups.
 * 3) Have vote for real on the ones in the cue via e-mail and if needed phone follow up by Kaliya and Mary.
 * 4) What is the process how do we actually do this successfully? Do we need a new tool? Kaliya has proposed one - can some people investigate it and other options? Let's discuss it and by next month have something in place.
 * 5) Drummond posted a new proposal for streamlining the Action Group approval process.
 * 6) Marty Schleiff has raised a question with regard to the proposed Enterprise Architects AG: can membership in working groups be just by individual name and not require corporate affiliation?
 * 7) Transitioning the Stewards Chair

Static Website Makeover Team - 3 Week Effort
Over the summer there may be some events where the IC website will be getting attention (there are some announcements that will include references to it). So we want it to look good. Kaliya will be leading a Static Website improvement team for 3 week ACTION effort. Those who are interested in participating will stay on after the Wed call for 30min to divide the content collection effort up, articulate contractor leads and have and set a meeting on Friday and the following Monday morning.
 * 1) Week 1 - gather content and solidify site layout (scout contractors)
 * 2) Week 2 (starting Wednesday) - they do magic
 * 3) Week 3 - put it up - review fix errors.

IT Infrastructure

 * 1) Held Infrastructure meeting at IIW. Meeting notes
 * 2) Discuss move Identity Gang mailing list over to open list with IC mail address.
 * 3) Electric Embers hosting status update (in time for use by new groups and email forwarding cutover).

Other Community Processes (from informal Stewards meeting at IIW)

 * 1) Chris R. is working on a proposal for spending money - would like a committee of stewards to vet it and go over the proposed process later next week.
 * 2) Status of hiring outsourced non-profit services provider.
 * 3) Providing services to its Action Groups
 * 4) Best practices for IPR – this is an opportunity to put forward an option for best practices.
 * 5) Investigation of director's insurance - (Charles did it - was not looking likely).
 * 6) Mentoring and Incubation of new groups. Do we want to name this phase in the life of a group and support it happening.  Are there some people who would like to step forward and help some of the new groups get on their feet - synced up with the community?

= Summary =

Working Groups
Two Working Groups (Standards and Identity Mashup) seem to be inactive. We discussed the process of removing them. Joaquin reminded us of the Bylaws procedure (6.2), which states that lack of Wiki activity is an indicator of inactivity, and that it takes a vote of the Stewards Council to remove an inactive group. As a courtesy, Eugene suggested we contact the chairs of those Working Groups first to hear their response.

AI: Eugene will contact Dick (Standards) and Jon (Identity Mashup) about dissolving those groups.

Eugene also suggested we dissolve the Collaboration Working Group. He thinks that role is more operational and ad hoc and doesn't require a whole Working Group. Fen thinks the group should stay. Eugene and Fen will discuss this offline and will come up with a joint proposal. Brett stressed the importance of making it clear who to contact if you want access to our collaborative infrastructure.

If the Collaboration Working Group dissolves, Eugene will no longer be a Steward, meaning that we will need to elect a new Chair. Kaliya nominated Mary Ruddy, and Eugene seconded that. Formal procedures will require nominations over the mailing list.

Kaliya suggested that we look at alternative tools for doing online voting, such as Crabgrass. Mary has some experiences with those tools as well. They will write up their thoughts, but they're encouraging others to help research this as well. Chris Reynolds cautioned us about tools over-reminding people to vote. Joaquin reminded us to check the Bylaws to make sure we can do this. (We can.)

Last week, Drummond posted a proposal on the mailing list to streamline the Working Group approval process (per the discussion at our last phone call). According to Kaliya, Drummond is not going to push that we vote on this proposal for now.

Marty asked if Working Group members are required to list organizational affiliation. Do they even need to list members? Eugene said there were no such requirements, and that Working Groups could do what they want as long as they conformed to our Purpose and Principles. Brett suggested using pseudonyms on a membership list if people wanted to stay anonymous.

We need to vote on changing "Working Groups" to "Action Groups." Brett asked why. Mary summarized the reasons (which are also in last month's notes.) Chris Reynolds reminded us that we could use "Working Groups" to describe Stewards Council committees. Brett suggested terms such as "affiliates" or "forums." Chris Reynolds suggested "team." We can discuss these proposals during the two week discussion period. Eugene will post a summary of the reasons on the Wiki and on the list.

AI: Eugene will summarize reasons for the proposed name change of "Working Groups."

Operational Infrastructure
Kaliya has offered to take the lead on making over our web site, and she's looking for other volunteers. The goal is to get the new site up and running by end of the month. She's proposing a $2-3K budget to hire contractors for some of the work.

Eugene has proposed that we use Electric Embers to host our mailing lists. He will set that up.

AI: Eugene will set up Electric Embers account.

Drummond proposed that we organize a "swat team" to move Identity Gang list off of Google Groups and onto the new infrastructure. Mary offered to organize.

AI: Mary will corral a group to move the Identity Gang list to Identity Commons.

Chris Reynolds is putting together checklist for handling donations and is currently getting it vetted by colleagues. He's also putting together a matrix for spending money. This would contain thresholds -- percentages relative to money in the bank -- for whether or not we can spend a certain amount. Chris is getting this vetted as well. Once he gets both of these vetted, he will propose them to the Stewards Council.

AI: Mary will contact Jens about possible nonprofit management services.

Identity Commons Services
Brett pointed out that the identity space is becoming increasingly fractured. There's an opportunity for IC to become a one-stop shop for getting information and getting involved in this space. Do we want this? Brett noted that it may require structural changes if we do. Eugene wants to see the specifics that our current organizational structure would not be able to support.

Chris Allen noted that Identity Commons Working Groups can be membership organizations without requiring the entire organization to be a membership organization. Dan said that in these cases, we need to think about the income implications possibly imputing the organization.

We didn't have enough time to discuss these issues thoroughly over the phone, and so Brett will send a followup email and possibly set up a call to explore this topic some more.

At IIW, Charles Andre suggested that one service IC could provide to its affiliates is director's insurance, which is expensive. According to Mary, he explored this possibility, and it didn't look realistic, because underwriters want to evaluate each group on an individual basis.

Working Group Mentorship
Mary and Kaliya brought up the idea of formalizing the notion of mentors for new Working Groups. Eugene loved the idea of having this as a best practice, volunteering to serve as a mentor, and also encouraging Kaliya to share her own best practices for doing mentorship well.

Upcoming Ballots
We've got two sets of issues that will get put to vote in two parts. First are Working Groups:


 * Dissolve Standards, ID Mashup, and Collaboration Working Groups (pending discussion with their chairs).
 * Approve Working Groups in the queue.
 * Changing "Working Groups" to "Action Groups."

The second ballot will be:


 * Approve budget proposal from Chris.
 * Elect new Stewards Chair.