(j3.2006) INCITS mischief

[Dan Nagle]

Hello,

I just returned from the tri-annual potty training
at INCITS, and there's some news.

As of some future Doomsday, J3 can no longer have its own
web site.  We must use INCITS.  They will automagically
assign paper numbers, provide archive services, and so on.
(I raised enough of a stink so J3 will be one of the last
committees to be assimilated.)  Whether they understand
the differences between standing docs and regular docs
is unclear.  The protocols used to access the INCITS server
are not yet specified (at least, to me).  Whether and how
they will enforce J3's paper format rules is unclear.

How this affects the server during a meeting is unclear,
but I felt ducking and pleading ignorance later was better
than asking now.

How this affects the mailing lists is unclear.  I think
INCITS intends to maintain the lists, with strict enforcement
of membership rules.  How this affects the mailing list archives
is unclear.  What this does to J3's INCITS archive (the Black Hole
where I forward INCITS spam prior to deleting it from my computer)
is unclear.

The committee membership will be maintained by INCITS
on this new INCITS server.  A user id and password
will be required to access anything considered private.  INCITS
will decide what's public and what isn't (don't worry,
they have rules).

Minutes must be submitted to INCITS for approval within 30 days
of a meeting's end date and prior to being circulated to members,
even attendees.

Notices of membership jeopardy must be numbered committee
papers and must be included in the agenda of the upcoming
meeting (implying 30 day's notice).

INCITS "recommends" that we maintain daily sign-in papers
during multi-day meetings.  But there appears to be an escape hatch
whereby we can develop our own rules for our own circumstances.
Attendees can probably still order their own doughnuts.

In order to have a Friends of J3 list, we must specifically
vote on it at a meeting.  I think INCITS uses the term "friends"
differently than J3.  ;-)  But I didn't mention it because
J3's kind of friend may be illegal in the new scheme.

There's a new specific format for votes on ISO matters.
Failure to use the new format means our vote will not count
(and we'll be listed as "not voting").  This one is Van's headache,
not mine.  :-)

I view all this as the result of insufficient adult supervision.

-- 
Cheers!

Dan Nagle