[jsr-314-open] revisiting the JSR-314 openness policy

[Dan Allen]

Several EG and community members, myself included, have requested--directly
or indirectly--for the openness policy of JSR-314 to be revisited. We are
concerned that the original goals have not been fully met and, therefore,
are not yet satisfied with the situation.

Certainly, the opening of the EG mailinglist for viewing by subscribers is a
step in the right direction, but it does not embrace the level of openness
that properly respects the community's role and expertise nor does it
effectively attract new participants. *It's also important to note that the
web archives stopped working in late June.*

We never addressed two key requirements that were identified and agreed on
in a previous thread (see
http://archives.java.sun.com/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0904&L=JSR-314-OPEN&P=2581):

1. We need a list focused on specification discussion that is
readable/writable by the public.
2. The lists we use should be indexable/accessible without requiring a login
.

Our first choice for request #1 is to allow all subscribed members of the
jsr-314-open list to post, with moderation of a person's inaugural post
(webbeans-dev uses this approach, for instance). The second choice would be
to have a separate list open to the community. In either case, both lists
should satisfy request #2.

The current solution, the jsr-314-open mailinglist, does not address either
of the above two requirements. (It's even difficult to reference a thread,
as indicated by the supporting link).

Additionally, having a moderator forward messages from the jsr-314-comments
e-mail alias is also a flawed arrangement. It causes extra work for the
moderator and confusion on behalf of the sender, the latter of whom gets
locked out from participating in the discussion he or she originates.

To muddy the waters further, the newly overhauled JCP site offers
EG-specific forums, JSR-314 included, that are open to the public:

http://wiki.jcp.org/boards/index.php?b=958

The forums meet the requirements above, with one possible exception. Based
on initial evaluation, it appears that the e-mail bridge, if it exists, may
not be enabled. I think we can all agree that having an e-mail bridge is an
implied requirement.

Let the following response by Jim Driscoll to an inquiry on the
java.netforums about whether there are public discussion boards for
JSF (
http://forums.java.net/jive/message.jspa?messageID=358786) provide
motivation to revisit the openness policy:

I'd love to have more actual users involved in the discussion of future
>> features, please do join in as much as possible. I'm not sure about the
>> read-only nature of the 314-open list - I may be wrong. If I'm right about
>> it being read only, and you have specific suggestions, file a spec bug/
>> rfe, and mail here, and I'll see to it that your points are heard on the
>> list.
>>
>
Clearly the read-only nature of the jsr-314-open list is acting as a barrier
to participation. It puts more work on the shoulders of EG members to carry
discussions back and forth, in the style of the game Telephone (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_whispers), which we all learned in
grade school quickly degrades the accuracy of the initial message. As a
result, a potential improvement to JSF dissolves.

I'd like to provide clarifications about the agreements that were made at
JavaOne that Ed cited in the forum post referenced above.

1. jsr-314-open at jcp.org is read only to non-EG members.  Non-EG members can
>> earn they way in at the discretion of the EG.
>>
>
Regardless of whether we have one list or two, we need somewhere for
community members to post in an unrestricted manner. Currently, the
community still has no unmoderated voice in the form of a mailinglist.

2. Feedback should be sent to jsr-314-comments at jcp.org.  This list is
>> moderated by one of the EG members, in a rotating fashion.  Currently
>> this is being done by Dan Allen.  The moderator will pass along content
>> to jsr-314-open at jcp.org at his or her discretion.
>>
>
This is a stopgap solution until we can have a real community feedback
channel. Forwarding messages is just messy and doesn't give the sender a
chance to participate.

As usual, anyone can apply to be on the EG once they join the JCP, but
>> we scrutinize membership carefully, especially for individual
>> JCP members. Organizational EG members have a little more weight.
>>
>
We should not consider individual JCP members as lesser participants than
organizations. Every participant in JSR-314 should be treated with equal
weight, regardless of whether they are John Smith, Barack Obama or Acme,
Inc.

Based on past discussions, the two changes to the openness policy of JSR-314
that were stated at the beginning of this message seem to have general
support from EG members. Does anyone have objections to these goals? If not,
are there specific barriers that we need to overcome to make this happen?
Ed, Roger - do you have suggestions for how best to pursue these goals?

-Dan

-- 
Dan Allen
Senior Software Engineer, Red Hat | Author of Seam in Action
Registered Linux User #231597

http://mojavelinux.com
http://mojavelinux.com/seaminaction
http://www.google.com/profiles/dan.j.allen
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