W3C

– DRAFT –
PWE

08 December 2020

Attendees

Present
Tess O'Connor (hober), Jeff Jaffe, Judy Brewer, Ralph Swick, Sheila Moussavi, Tzviya Siegman
Regrets
Wendy Reid
Chair
Tzviya
Scribe
Jeff, Ralph

Meeting minutes

previous 08-Sep

Review Roadmap

<tzviya> https://github.com/w3c/PWETF/wiki/PWE-Roadmap

Tzviya: it's been a while since we discussed our ^^ roadmap
… I suspect we're off-schedule
… Judy and I have taken up some of these
… looking at the role of Ombuds, redefining that role
… let's take a look a this and try to reassess the timeline
… we had an aggressive schedule, not considering how TPAC would impact us

Judy: I had been focusing more on CEPC training
… after the TPAC training we did I haven't been able to come back to Ombuds procedures and trainings until yesterday
… I think we've slipped 1 or 2 quarters
… most of the stuff that is Q3 or Q4 2020 should be Q1 and Q2 2021
… Ralph and I have some items that align with this chart
… I'm guessing end of Q2 or more realistic, start of Q3
… looking at the Ombuds program I'm equally worried about the CEPC Procedures
… I feel we need focused discusions in this group to dig into those next sessions
… we've had some good discussion on CEPC training; I think we can take that work off-line
… but we need discussion here on Ombuds

Tzviya: I agree; the Procedures and Ombuds Program go hand-in-hand
… I'm wondering if there are fresh ideas about how to approach this

Sheila: I have some experience with ombuds program
… I co-chaired an I&D group in a previous job and wrote an ombuds job description
… I'd be happy to take a look at this

Tzviya: thanks!
… the CEPC training we did was fine; we need to more of it
… it's worth this group looking at the roadmap and discussing whether this is [still] the right set of tasks
… feel free to edit the wiki off-line
… Judy, please edit the dates in the wiki

Judy: I have permission to slip the dates by 2 quarters?

Tzviya: yes

Jeff: regarding procedures for the roadmap,
… if someone violates CEPC right now the DIrector has authority to suspend participation
… in [northern hemisphere] summer, W3M cleared up the procedures
… when this was published some chairs asked for clarity on what chairs could do
… we never had clarity on that, as the Director had never delegated to chairs
… I suggest we add a line in the roadmap to identify what chairs are able to do in terms of procedures under CEPC
… and fill out who should be responsible for that and by when

Judy: maybe that should be a broader task to identify any existing procedures?
… we have micro-procedures in several places
… chairs can do some things that Team Contacts do

Jeff: #3 is determining the types of procedures needed

Tzviya: maybe these are GitHub issues that are editorial

Judy: a suggestion: for the Ombuds section of the Roadmap and the Procedures section, as we're in early December and may not have many more meetings this month I'd like to see if we can get a little more momentum in those sections
… confirm who is working on those so we know the first few tasks have assignees
… note that there's one item for which no one is assigned yet

Tzviya: by all means, anyone here please volunteer
… I'm delaying the request for volunteers until we talk more about merging with IDCG

Should PWE merge with IDCG

Tzviya: I've been speaking with the co-chairs of the IDCG about whether the two groups should merge

<tzviya> https://www.w3.org/2020/12/01-idcg-minutes.html#t02

Tzviya: see ^^ IDCG minutes from 1-Dec

Tzviya: we've had dwindling participation in PWE CG
… probably because we completed our most significant task: publishing CEPC
… our overall goal to make W3C more positive and inclusive is the same for PWE and IDCG
… though the tasks are different
… IDCG is working on the actions that come from the BLM [proposed] statement, building an Equity Review Board
… things like that
… since the membership largely overlaps and we're at points in both groups where things are shifting a bit
… chair changes
… we thought it might be a good time to merge the groups
… we can still have task forces
… there were no objections in the IDCG meeting; nearly unanimous

Sheila: I saw a question around workload
… whether there would be enough bandwidth to do the work of both groups if we combine them
… was there a resolution?

Tzviya: it's a great question
… mostly it's the same people doing the work
… my feeling is that by combining we might be able to share more easily

Ralph: I have not had the time to participate in IDCG.
… I've been reading the minutes
… combining would help me
… understand inclusion and diversity and how CEPC can help support
… no objection
… mildly in favor

Judy: I'd be interested in hearing from everyone here
… from my perspective there is clearly strongly shared interest and strongly overlapping participation
… two things I worry about were already mentioned: I'm not sure if I'm fully convinced yet]
… because the types of work are very different, to make progress on Ombuds and Procedures will be very focused and exacting and requires some common background, I worry that work will slow down even more
… but maybe a task force would allow it to proceed
… in IDCG I worry that the progress on BLM would get further subsumed

[what Judy said]

Tess: I think it makes sense to merge the groups

Tzviya: I understand the concerns about the progress of the Ombuds program
… I think if we merge the groups we have potential to attract more people to help with the Ombuds program

Tess: if the groups do merge, can we use the PWE meeting schedule and change the meeting time when the US changes clocks?

Tzviya: my intention is to send a doodle poll about meeting time
… the IDCG meeting time also doesn't work well for me
… probably the schedule will shift to something more friendly to the US West Coast

Sheila: merging makes sense to me
… one thing that would be nice to think about is the benefit of having two groups from a recruiting perspective is that it provides diverse ways for people to engage
… I think that can be addressed in how the group is pitched once the merged group is formed
… how we communicate the different work streams within it
… there are a few different ways that people can engage depending on their interests and background

Tzivya: we need a more formal charter too, to know what our goals are and what we hope to accomplish
… I've been talking with another volunteer to help draft that

Judy: I'm interested in what Sheila was raising in terms of naming
… and how we might see some of the more detailed work progressing
… whether we're recreating the same thing with an additional level of bureaucracy

Tzviya: poll -- should PWE merge with IDCG?

<Ralph> +1

<tzviya> +1

<sheila> +1

<Judy> 0

<Jeff> 0

<hober> +1

Tzviya: it looks like we will be merging; neither group had objections
… I'll be discussing with the co-chairs of IDCG; they're stepping down but have some volunteers who have expressed interest

AOB

Ombuds Program

Judy: let's look at the roadmap together
… Ralph and I had a task to look at the current MIT Ombuds
… I think the intention is to give more structure to that
… if there's time in the next meeting we should try to prepare something
… can we prepare a discussion for the next meeting?
… queue up what needs discussion in this group?

Tzviya: I'm willing to help

Judy: what about "define selection criteria for W3C Ombuds"? I'm thinking a pump-priming activity here
… is there a reason to have the two tasks: define the role and define the selection criteria as separate?

Sheila: they'll feed into each other a lot but will probably be sequenced

Jeff: the big question with the role is whether we envision it to be roughly what the role is today or drastically different
… there's a wide range of what Ombuds do in various organizations
… our current Ombuds role is, I think, best described as "facilitiator"
… if we're going to continue that role then it's fine for the discussions to proceed in parallel
… but if we're thinking of a drastically amped-up version of what Ombuds do, that will impact the selection criteria

Tzivya: right now we don't have any document on the role of an Ombuds
… whether we have an assumed understanding or not, we need to document it
… some of us understand what the role is today but we need to document it, even if it doesn't change
… Sheila and I are volunteering to do that
… the selection criteria will flow out of that

Judy: let's leave these as distinct tasks; that way we'll be able to sequence them
… my thoughts of defining the role is a bit more than documenting the current role
… thanks for working on this

Judy: on identifying the LE Ombuds needs ...
… I've had some preliminary discussions with Wendy Seltzer on this
… once we spin out from MIT would we need an investigational program
… I could resume that discussion with WSeltzer and Ralph
… happy for others to join us
… I've also had some discussions with WSeltzer and Bill Judge about LE resourcing; we've identified that as an open question
… I'm happy to move forward on those unless someone else has suggestions

Tzviya: happy to help

Judy: thanks; I'll update the wiki
… I won't attempt to get volunteers for "select new W3C Ombuds" and "plan W3C LE Ombuds selection"

Judy: under CEPC Procedures ...
… can we identify volunteers for the first one, "gather procedures from other organizations"?

Tzviya: we've gathered tons of information about other codes of conduct
… finding out how they are put into practice is harder; that information doesn't tend to be public
… ideas on how to capture that?

Judy: the procedures are much more back-office stuff; maybe the only way we'll get it is to have conversations with the organizations
… and they might be reluctant to share it for various reasons
… so this might require developing trust relationships to get some sets that are shareable

Tzviya: there's a Code of Conduct community in social media; I can start there and do some research
… for the legal review task we need to plan to hire an outside expert

Judy: I know some people; it's possible to find them

Next Meeting

Tzviya: per the calendar, our next meeting would be 22 December
… I'm guessing a lot of people won't be available then
… watch the public-pwe list for email
… I'm guessing that there will continue to be two mailing lists for a couple of months
… stay safe everyone

[adjourned]

Minutes manually created (not a transcript), formatted by scribe.perl version 124 (Wed Oct 28 18:08:33 2020 UTC).