[J3] (SC22WG5.6214) October meeting - Go Virtual/Mixed-mode, or be discriminatory

[Bill Long]

In last night’s news, I learned that  the (IMHO idiotic) Governor of Georgia decided to “open up” business there, setting up a second CAVID-19 wave for this fall. Which matters to many of us since SC20 is scheduled for November in Atlanta.   If the Governor in Nevada is similarly inclined, there is a stronger possibility that the October J3/WG5 meeting would be affected.   Fortunately, Summer (because of the high heat) is a slow time for Las Vegas anyway, so maybe there will not be the Georgia mistake repeated there.  Still, I agree with Vipul that we should have a backup plan is the wings just in case. 

As I understand the INCITS rules, there are limitations on participation and voting.  Anyone invited by the Chair can attend one "observer meeting” without any membership status,  Otherwise, participation is limited to principal voting members (who have paid the INCITS dues, or their organization has paid the dues), alternates of principal voting members (only one of the principal and his/her alternates can vote per issue), and emeritus members (who can attend and do work, but cannot vote). INCITS has requirements for emeritus status, but someone like Van, when he retires, would clearly qualify.  I assume “special” guests are also allowed (such as the chairs of PL22 and SC22). 

I believe WG5 participation is limited to people on the ISO list of “experts”.  That list is mainly composed of the names forwarded to ISO from member countries.  I believe that INCITS supplies the list for the US.  

Any remote participation scheme would need to take into account participation rules.  Because of the severe time zone issues, I’m inclined to support remote access meeting only in the context of an emergency situation like the COVID-19 pandemic.  And I’d like to see at least one face-to-face meeting in Las Vegas each year. 

Cheers,
Bill


> On May 3, 2020, at 5:22 PM, Vipul Parekh via J3 <j3 at mailman.j3-fortran.org> wrote:
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> On Sat, May 2, 2020 at 7:44 PM Steve Lionel via J3 <j3 at mailman.j3-fortran.org> wrote:
> On 5/2/2020 7:25 PM, Vipul Parekh via J3 wrote:
>> It will be highly remiss of both ISO and INCITS to not allow virtual participation in any governance and technical meetings during the rest of 2020 and likely through 2021, or at least until a time the risk assessments with COVID-19 outbreak have been lowered sufficiently and the public heath emergency declarations by international organizations such as W.H.O. and national bodies such as US C.D.C have been lifted.  To not do so will be highly discriminatory against those possible participants who, given their own personal health considerations or of those in their care or environs, are in a "high risk" category.
> ISO and INCITS already allow virtual participation, so this is not an issue.
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> My impression really is there is indeed some issues somewhere, if not with ISO and INCITS then perhaps they are with WG5, J3 in that both recent email frenzy as well as prior email discussions on J3/WG5 mailing lists have "implied" ISO/INCITS *may not bar* virtual attendance but that there might be constraints when it comes to *participation*.
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> There is a big difference here.  To allow for virtual attendance means these 2 orgs not only clear up any procedural hurdles there may be when it comes to a participant attending remotely (who can submit papers, talk, vote, conduct presentations, etc.) but that the orgs also extend appropriate resources to make virtual participation a success.  The resources may simply be suggestions and/or code-of-conduct guides and communication such as stressing to all groups the importance of inclusivity considerations on how to *properly* manage mixed-mode meetings e.g., the use of electronic views (shared screens, links, documents, images/buttons, etc.) instead of visual/verbal communications and gestures and other interpersonal interactions characteristic of face-to-face meetings to achieve progress on discussions.  And resources may also cover providing software/hardware and perhaps some funding.  Considering the dangers globally with life, limb, and livelihood during this COVID-19 pandemic, WG5 and J3 in conjunction with ISO and INCITS has to either "pull out all the stops" to enable virtual participation and try to make the remote attendee as involved and productive as in-person attendees.  Or consider postponement of all the activities and go idle.  The timeline for this may extend to all of 2020, perhaps 2021 and cut into 2022 even.
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> I have already started investigating what we would need to do this for the October meeting, should it happen. (I have heard suggestions ISO might extend the ban on in-person meetings further.) As has been discussed recently, the time zone issue is a real killer for WG5, not so much for J3 (except for Malcolm, who is a critical member of J3, and lives in Japan.) If nothing else we will need to restructure the (largely J3-oriented) schedule we follow that assumes everyone is present.
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> I had a productive talk the other day with Bryce Lelbach, PL22 chair, on how we can acquire the hardware we need to make this work. Both ISO and INCITS already offer the software.
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> That is very good to read.  It will be useful for everyone to keep in mind 2 aspects: 1) WG5 and J3 are hardly the first groups to face issues with time-zone differences and 2) to be flexible and adapt to the changing circumstances is what is incumbent upon everyone everywhere during this pandemic.  There are any number of lessons to be learned from other teams who achieve progress and success in spite of a wide geographical distribution of team members.
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> Toward this, I'm personally highly encouraged by Bryce Leibach's interest in and contributions to Fortran committees and I can already see his attendance and guidance at future Fortran meetings will be most valuable.  Thank you Bryce and welcome to Fortran.
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> Regards,
> Vipul Parekh

Bill Long                                                                       longb at cray.com
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