Now that we're building momentum, it seemed like a good time to update
the general list with what's been going on in the boiler room.  It's
probably not obvious, but we spent quite a bit of time laying the
foundation upon which the broader community can build workable
solutions toward truly user-centric data portability.

In case you're allergic to operational discussions, you might want to
skip ahead to the "What You Can Do" section of this note.  Sometimes
the dust thrown up by the construction of the foundation can obscure
what needs to be done to advance the cause.  As the dust is settling,
you might consider throwing some cycles into working on areas of
interest.

Speaking to the foundation, we're pleased to announce that the
DataPortability Steering Action Group officer positions have been
ratified.  It started with defining a core set of operational
governance rules.  Once they were in place, we were able to paint by
the numbers to follow the path from nominations through voting to
ratification. With that, as of last night, here is the list of
officers:

  Chair - Daniela Barbosa
  Vice-Chair - Elias Bizannes
  Secretary - J. Trent Adams
  Treasurer - Brady Brim-DeForest

Further, these officers only represent the codified positions required
for the organization to function.  There are a total of 12 voting
members of the Steering Group who are continually engaged via email,
chat, and weekly teleconferences.  This group has worked tirelessly
together to help build the amazing foundation upon which we're now
able to build.  The voting members are (listed alphabetically by last
name):

    * J. Trent Adams
    * Daniela Barbosa
    * Elias Bizannes
    * Brady Brim-DeForest
    * Steven Greenberg
    * Brett McDowell
    * Drummond Reed
    * Chris Saad
    * Steve Repetti
    * Christian Scholz
    * Steve Williams
    * Phil Wolff

As a side note, these are the "voting" members who nominated
themselves from the full set of members on this list.  It's important
to remind everyone, however, that the Steering Group discussions and
meetings are open to all community members (i.e. anyone on receipt of
this email).  You can follow the discussion threads [1] and
teleconference agendas are generally posted a week in advance [2], so
please leap in when a topic piques your interest.

To be clear, the Steering Group is charted with simply managing the
organization.  The goal is to ensure the DataPortability Project has
everything it needs to succeed by erecting a functional framework
within which the community can effectively operate.  What is outside
the scope of the Steering Group is the actual work to accomplishing
our common objective.  The specific work is being defined and
performed by the community members within various Action Groups (aka
"standing committees") and Task Forces (aka "special committees").

What You Can Do

There are a zillion different ways anyone on this list can help
advance the collective ball.  A few formalized projects are already
under way, and it'd be helpful if you joined the parties:

  1. Mission / Vision Task Force [3]
      Chaired by Elias Bizannes, this Task Force is
      chartered with the formalization of an official
      set of guiding statements for the DataPortability
      Project as a whole.  If you're interested in
      discussing big picture items, this would be
      the perfect place to contribute.

  2. Governance Task Force [4]
      Chaired by Steve Greenberg, this Task Force is
      working on the next layer of operational
      framework needed to build on top of the core
      we've used to get where we are today.  For the
      folks on this list interested in the mechanics of
      collective decision-making, this is where you'd
      be a valuable asset.

  3. Communications Action Group [5]
      Chaired by Chris Saad, this ongoing Action
      Group has the huge responsibility for the
      communication of what the project as a
      whole is doing.  Under this banner are the web
      site, blogs, wiki, and discussion lists we
      use to keep the full community of interested
      participants on the same page.  Anyone who
      is interested in helping keep the lines of
      communication open are encouraged to
      lend their time and talent to the cause.

  4. Logo / Branding Task Force [6]
      Chaired by Brady Brim-DeForest, this
      Task Force is working specifically on the
      branding identity for the project.  This
      includes the logo (yes, again) and all of
      the associated tag lines and usage guides
      we can use moving forward.  If you're a logo
      jockey, marketing maven, or just someone
      with ideas, this is the place to showcase
      your talent.  There isn't a formalized
      discussion channel or wiki page, yet, so
      contact Brady directly (or announce your
      interest to this list).

  5. DataPortability Grid Tool Task Force [7]
      Chaired by Daniela Barbosa, this is a Task
      Force working on building a dynamic "grid"
      that indicates what companies and sites
      support what we can consider to be "data
      portability" technologies.  This work began
      at a recent workshop and has been a touch-
      point across multiple working groups.  As
      of now, the data compiled is being converted
      from spreadsheets into a MySQL database
      and PHP front end.  Anyone interested in
      working on making it a fully-functional tool
      are encouraged to contact Daniela or
      Trent directly.

  6. General Participation [8]
      As a general process, we're going to try to
      do a better job of maintaining the "Get
      Involved" page on the wiki.  This is a great
      starting point, and as new initiatives pop
      on the radar, we'll try to update this page
      so it's clear how to get involved, or at the
      very least stay up to date.

These are simply the initiatives, Action Groups, and Task Forces that
have already been ratified by the Steering Group.  That doesn't mean
that other work is being neglected or is otherwise unimportant.  Far
from it.  In fact, we hope that everyone on this list is actively
pursuing some interest related to the DataPortability Project cause.

To that point, if you've been generating interest in a project, you
might consider having it "ratified" as an "official" objective to be
tracked by the Steering Group.  If it's a short-duration project it
might make sense to light up a Task Force.  Otherwise, if it's mission
would be more ongoing, perhaps it should be an Action Group.  Either
way, I encourage you to contact anyone on the Steering Group to see
what's needed to get it on the docket.

We're still working out some of the guidelines that should clarify the
process in moving an idea from discussion through official
ratification.  We have a loose model we're following based on the
success of the few we've already put through their paces, but if
you're interested in helping tighten up the process, reach out to
Steve Greenberg and the Governance Task Force [4].

Finally, if you've read this far... many thanks.  We've been working
incredibly hard over the past 7 months or so and I'm humbled by what
we've accomplished.  It hasn't been easy, and there's so much still to
be done that it's kind of daunting.  I can honestly say, though, that
everyone on this journey so far has been an amazing contributor.  I'm
honored to be a part of the process.

Thanks again, and here's to the future.

- Trent

[1] http://groups.google.com/group/dataportabilityactionsteering
[2] http://wiki.dataportability.org/display/dpmain/Steering
[3] http://groups.google.com/group/dataportability-vision-task-force
[4] http://groups.google.com/group/dataportabilitygovernance
[5] http://wiki.dataportability.org/x/kIAt
[6] bradybd -[at]- gmail.com
[7] danielavbarbosa -[at]- gmail.com, jtrentadams -[at]- gmail.com
[8] http://wiki.dataportability.org/x/SAUR

---
J. Trent Adams
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