Joining the W3C listserv - instructions!

[Harry Halpin]

Everyone,

The W3C list-serv for the federated social web group is setup and
ready to go (public-xg-fede...@w3.org) and there's people
there already from the W3C. So, if you can, you should join that
list-serv, and we'll try to finish the migration from this list to the
W3C list by end of March.

I've updated the web-page for the Federated Social Web on the W3C's
side, so you can also follow the instructions there by just going
here:

http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/federatedsocialweb/#Invited

In brief, it's a two-step process that does involve a legal agreement.
The reason is that the W3C exists primarily to make sure patents
don't sneak into the standards the Web is based on, so we have to have
an agreement you will not recommend patents in standards, or if you
do, you agree to not ask for royalties from those that implement the
patents (such patents in codebases is of course still possible, as
long as that patent is not in a suggested standard for the W3C).

1) First step, get a W3C account:

http://www.w3.org/Help/Account/Request/Public

2) Second step, sign the W3C Royalty-Free Patent Agreement:

http://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/1/ieapp/

The key here is to select the right group - the "Federated Social Web
Incubator Group" from the drop-downlist.

We are working on simplifying this for the Community Group process,
but it will take another month or two for the lawyers to fully bake
things, and it seems to make sense to start now.

cheers,
harry

[B. Kip]

I applied awhile ago to join the Federated Social Web Incubator Group as an invited expert, but haven't heard anything back.  Am I signed up or do I need to do something else?