Update on Community Group Reports

Community Groups are starting to publish drafts, I would like to give you an update on tools and resources associated with publication.

There are two deeds available, one for the CLA and one for the Final Specification Agreement (CLA deed, FSA deed). The deeds serve two purposes:

1. They define the copyright statement that appears in each specification.
2. They tell people what rights they get in short form (like the creative commons deeds).

There is a short list of report requirements based on the Community and Business Group process. That document is likely to change as we learn more from editors about their publications. Our goal is to keep the list of requirements very short.

The deeds and the requirements page are linked from the right side of the Reports page. (The rest of the Reports page is just a mockup for now.)

We have begun work on style sheets for reports; I expect to be able to share templates in early 2012.

The Systems Team has been working on a tool to publish Specifications (as defined in the license agreements). Publish here means “register a new or final report, and announce it.” The system does not register intermediate drafts (that is, those after the first draft and before the final specification). Groups can manage the draft series as they wish.

Here is how the publishing tool will work:

• Chairs are empowered to publish. If you haven’t yet picked a chair for your group, read how to choose your chair.
• Reports will be listed at the top of each group’s home page and on the Reports page.
• Publication of a new or final specification will automatically trigger an announcement in the group’s blog and on the group’s public mailing list. Note that group blog posts are also aggregated on the Community and Business Group home page.

We are also working on a tool to record final specification commitments. When a group announces a Final Specification, group participants will be invited to complete a form to make their final specification commitments. There will be one page per specification displaying which group participants have made the commitment and which have not.

I will let you know as each tool becomes available. Please contact Ian Jacobs if you have any questions.