Meeting minutes
Which teleconference service?
Tzviya: we have the opportunity to switch to Zoom
<wendyreid> +1
<jorydotcom> 0
Angel: as long as the network works
<angel> 0
Ralph: do you require dialout to a local Chinese number, AnQi?
Angel: Zoom can provide dialout but other accounts I've tried don't have mainland China dialout numbers
Raph: I don't believe the MIT Zoom license has dialout
Angel: that means the network is the only option
<Ralph> +1 to Zoom
CEPC has been sent to the AC
<tzviya> https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Member/w3c-ac-members/2020JanMar/0034.html
Tzviya: ^^ Coralie's email
… so far we've gotten just two comments in GitHub; one
grammatical and the other requesting elaboration on ombudspeople
… the issue is that "ombuds" links only to the
glossary
… and concern that if someone really needed to contact
an ombuds they needed an easier-to-find link
<tzviya> https://github.com/w3c/PWETF/issues
Tzviya: we got some positive
feedback from DanA, TAG chair
… please feel free to comment on the issues
Judy: I think MIT has good coverage on ombuds
Ombudsperson update
Tzviya: in February Judy and
I talked with the Director of the International Ombuds Association
… he had some specific guidance, largely focused on
organizations rather than individuals
… he provided us a list of resources
Judy: Ralph and I are in
contact with two MIT offices
… one fairly new at MIT looking into situations that
might require some investigations
… I was about to look into how the MIT Ombuds office
might potentially be able to help W3C, perhaps in an advisory role
… we had planned to pick up those meetings [just as
MIT sent all employees to work from home]
… I'd love to sync up with Ralph to see what the
conditions are for both of those offices
Jory: do we know which of these MIT resources might be available to W3C in a future environment when W3C is separated from MIT?
Jeff: I'm pretty sure MIT
would be willing to advise us as we go through a transition
… but I'm quite certain that after the transition MIT
would not be willing to provide formal support
Ralph: I'm reminding myself of the new name of this office at MIT, it's related to the title nine office
<Ralph> MIT's new office is called "Institute Discrimination & Harassment Response Office"
<tzviya> https://idhr.mit.edu/
Ralph: As Judy said, if we
can track down the people in these offices, the ombuds office and the
title nine office, which might have become this IDHR office
… we know the role of an ombuds is not to investigate,
but to help
… the IDHR office does do investigatory work
… we're in the process of learning what kinds of help
they are willing to provide and under what circumstances
… but as Jeff suggested, in my conversations thus far,
they've been happy to help informally
… give me ideas on how to proceed when necessary,
without formal involvement
… a little bit of training/coaching
… we're in the process of reestablishing
communications with them
Tzviya: there's not a quick
solution; this will be a long-term project
… first phase will be initial research
… we might need interim solution for ombuds
… longer-term we'll need a new solution for ombuds in
the legal entity
… there's a great deal of research and exploration
needed
… and create plans for how W3C should move forward
Judy: we may indeed need an
interim solution as well as a long-term one
… I was happy to see there are systems set up from a
logical perspective
… and maybe those would help us create W3C systems
that are informed more by others' best practices
Tzviya: it seems there's a
dependency on single points of failure
… there's a lot that depends on so little
… this looks like a better path for us
Training update
Jory: I had the pleasure of
doing a "project review" version of the workshop to the W3C staff last
Thursday
… thanks to PLH's coordination
… got some really great feedback; the session seemed
well-received and the content was helpful
… we want to bolster the content with connections back
to W3C
… and to identify what problems this content solves as
well as what it doesn't solve
… I will incorporate the feedback into a next version
… PLH is working to get more feedback, especially on
the language
… we'll plan another session on the 10th
… and still hope to deliver it at TPAC
Tzviya: I looked through the
slides
… it looked great but extremely dense for one hour
… I'm happy to talk with you off-line on ways to
divide it up
Jory: that's one of the
plans for the 10th
… the material was originally developed for an
in-person workshop of 1.5 to 2 hours
… when I learned I had an hour, I decided to see how
much I could present
… one idea is to split it out into several
pre-recorded segments
… it's tough because we really did want to do this in
person
Tzviya: I'm happy to help, but sorry I can't be there on the 10th
Judy: thanks again, Jory;
the amount of content you were able to pack in was amazing
… and especially relevant to the kinds of things that
arise in W3C space
… I've been thinking about what factors help people
remember this kind of content "in the moment'
… I've been surprised with the followup to the [old]
MIT [harassment] training
… I've had to remind staff of that material
… if we're able to tie the content enough to W3C
context so people remember it when they need it, that would be great
… I've also been thinking about how to make this
relevant across language and cultural differences
… some of the vocabulary is not obvious to those for
whom English is a second language; they may not evey realize they
are missing something
<Ralph> [+1 thanks again to Jory for the premier session]
<jeff> Jory++
<jorydotcom> thank you!!
Tzivya: I heard great
feedback as well; thanks again Jory
… I'm really happy to help fine-tune it
Jory: it was recorded,
though we wouldn't want to share the recording broadly
… but for folks here who may want to provide feedback
we'd be OK sharing it
Tzviya: I'd like to see the recording
Meeting schedule
Tzviya: we're in that period
where clocks are changing
… the US has changed
… Europe switches this weekend
… the next meeting is scheduled for April 7
… I won't be able to attend that day
… should we continue bi-weekly or shift back to
monthly? should we stick with 1400 UTC ?
… or should we change the time?
Judy: I'd prefer to stay
with every-other-week rather than monthly
… it seems likely that things will continue to be
disrupted and I'd like some push to track down those MIT offices and
report back
… I have some flexibility with the time on Tuesdays
… we should get the WebEx/Zoom question sorted out
before the next call
Tzviya: is 1400 UTC ok for everybody?
<angel> ok with 14UTC
<jorydotcom> this works for me
Tzviya: I'll leave the Zoom question to AnQi and Ralph
<angel> quick answer to Ralph, yes, zoom should be fine for me
Tzviya: and specify in the next agenda which conferencing service we'll use
<jorydotcom> * related, I made a bot for Slack to share appreciative notes with your colleagues, my friend and I are looking for folks to test it. If you want to add it to your org or group workspace you can click the add to slack button here: https://github.com/workingdirectory/thanksbot
PWE in Unusual Times
Tzviya: what can we do to help in this very unusual time?
Judy: thanks for the topic
… I've been noticing different practices in several
calls
… some calls start the agenda with an around-the-table
session
… some people really want to talk about their current
challenges
… encouraging a practice of providing some time at the
start of calls for 'how are you doing?'
… need to be conscious of how much time it takes
… particularly as people transition to new work modes
Jory: +1 to Judy's
suggestions
… at Bocoup we started doing time-boxed 3-minute
check-ins at the beginning of our executive meetings
… "functionally, here's how I'm doing today"
… a tiny moment for a wellness check
<wendyreid> +1
Jory: and how emotional
state enters into the rest of the meeting
… I definitely recommend this
… another thing we built is a slack app "thanksbot"
… I'd love others testing it
… share moments of appreciation or thanks
… something your colleagues might not have noticed
… thanksbot sends a digest of thanks to the team
Tzviya: all great ideas
… I definitely think a few minutes at the beginning of
meetings helps
… we all need to be cognizant that people are under
unusual pressures
… W3C is largely a volunteer community
… people won't be meeting deadlines as they had before
… let's all be cognizant that deadlines will need to
shift
Jory: should we put out a
statement acknowledging that times are tough and there are a lot of
things competing for attention?
… "take it easy with each other"
Jeff: W3M has discussed this
… we're currently debating two approaches:
… 1. a generic CEO letter to ac-forum
… some said this would be depersonalized as everyone
is getting lots of emails already from many organizations
… 2. have personal contact from someone on the staff
they might remember
… more work, perhaps worthwhile under the
circumstances
… we were planning to do #2; we got feedback that
Asian culture would more appreciate a CEO letter
AnQi: a CEO letter would be
really appreciated
… I suggest a third approach:
… I'm seeing some organizations assembling on-line
resources to help people
… W3C has been known for remote work for over two
decades
… we must have developed some best practices for
working remotely that would be appreciated
<tzviya> angel++
AnQi: and also open some
tools to help people
… these could be valuable for people who don't have
them
Jeff: Ralph and PLH are
preparing a document on "continuous operations" for virtual meetings
… planned to distribute to Chairs this week
… maybe it could be distributed more widely
Judy: it might be helpful if
we are able to scale to other organizations but we need to be careful
about that
… some of what Angel says goes beyond the Continuity
of Operations document
… we might invite others in the W3C community to help
each other
… or a 24x7 channel for assistance
Tzviya: another area where
W3C is really strong is a11y
… the whole world is now on-line
… I saw a tweet from Shadi; the W3C is being
recognized now as a resource for a11y
… we can help
… every school is on-line now
… many students are not getting the resources they
need
Judy: I've worked a lot with PLH and Ralph to address some a11y issues in the Continuity of Operations document
<Zakim> Judy, you wanted to mention a few things on accessibility of remote
Judy: incorporating experience from our WAI meetings
<Ralph> [^^ not yet formally published, but available for review and comment]
Judy: we're starting
in-depth technical conversations in several groups to drive
interoperability in tele- and videoconferencing, including pushing out
the simple message of existing resources to use
… we do have resources that help several communities
AnQi: can we find channels
to amplify those documents?
… last week the UN released a list of remote working
tools
… can we use those channels to show our documents and
also help make those tools more accessible?
Judy: we're being invited to partner with UNESCO
<Zakim> Judy, you wanted to mention the UNESCO connection as well as others
Judy: there are a number of organizations we're starting to explore to partner with to get a simple message out
AnQi: I may be able to help in China to make those products more accessible
Judy: great; Roy has been
helping as well, more help would be really great
… Roy is working on translating our course as well
Tzviya: stay safe, stay healthy
<Ralph> [and stay physically distant, virtually present]