RE: Welcome & introductions

Hi Talent Signal Group,

It is great to meet everyone via email and I am looking forward to our first call on April 4. My name is Josh Westfall and I am the Senior Manager of Policy and Programs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Center for Education and Workforce. My colleague Jason Tyszko, Vice President at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation is also participating in this group. The Chamber Foundation’s work in this space began in 2014 with our signature program the Talent Pipeline Management (TPM),<https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/talent-pipeline-management> a demand-driven, employer-led approach to close the skills gap that builds talent supply chains aligned to dynamic business needs. From that work we realized that the concerns of today’s workforce are not just an employer engagement problem, but also a technology problem. This idea culminated in a 2017 report, “Clearer Signals<https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/sites/default/files/Clearer%20Signals.pdf>,” and the creation of the Job Data Exchange (JDX)<https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/workforce-development/JDX>, a set of open data tools and resources that leverage advancements made in data standards to transform how employers send better, clearer, faster signals about hiring requirements for in-demand jobs—including competencies—to education and workforce partners. Our team looks forward to working with this group to make a few refinements to the JobPosting Schema to improve how in-demand skills and competencies are signaled throughout the talent marketplace.

Best,

Joshua Westfall
Senior Manager, Policy & Programs
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation
Center for Education and Workforce

O: 202.463.5843
C: 202.845.3820

[usccf-education-workforce web logo]<http://www.uschamberfoundation.org/center-education-and-workforce>

uschamberfoundation.org/CEW<http://www.uschamberfoundation.org/center-education-and-workforce>

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From: Phil Barker <phil.barker@pjjk.co.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2019 11:04 AM
To: public-talent-signal@w3.org
Subject: Re: Welcome & introductions


Hello again. Thank you to those who have replied to this with an introduction. This is just a gentle reminder for those who maybe meant to get round to it later...
On 01/03/2019 12:31, Phil Barker wrote:

Hello everybody and welcome to the Talent Marketplace Signaling W3C Community Group<https://www.w3.org/community/talent-signal/> (let's call it TalentSignal for short). This is the public mailing list of the group. Messages here are visible to anyone whether or not they are a member of the group, so this is the best place for us to do our work in the open.

I am Phil Barker, and with backing from colleagues from the Job Data Exchange project (JDX<https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/workforce-development/JDX>) I proposed this community group. As this is a new group, I think that we should wait a short while longer before we start work in earnest so that more people can join the group. But there are a couple of things that I think might be useful to do while we are waiting.

I am going to assume that you have read the official description of the group and know roughly what you have joined up for, but let's get any queries about that sorted out before we start the work. If you have any questions about the purpose of this group please ask them here.

Also, it would be really useful to get some idea about who is in the group. The basic information of name and affiliation is recorded when you join, but I would be interested in a little more about what you hope this group will achieve for you.

I'll start.

Introduction.

I am an independent consultant in the area of technology enhanced learning and information systems for education. I am based in Scotland. I have worked on structured data to describe educational resources and outcomes for some years now, most lately the Learning Resource Metadata Initiative DCMI task group [LRMI<http://lrmi.dublincore.org/>], the Schema Course Extension community group [Course<https://www.w3.org/community/schema-course-extend/>], and the Educational and Occupational Credentials community group [EOCred<https://www.w3.org/community/eocred-schema/>].

I am being paid by the US Chambers of Commerce Foundation to work on TalentSignal in order to widen the scope of what has been achieved through the JDX project. My big-picture hope for all the work in this area is that better expression of job requirements in the same framework as can be used to describe qualifications and educational courses will lead to better articulation of what is required and what is being provided, and to improvements in educational and occupational prospects for individuals.

I hope that this group will be able to further this work by providing guidance on how to use existing schema.org terms to describe JobPostings and by proposing small refinements (e.g. improved definitions) to existing relevant schema.org types where we identify that they are needed. Where improved signaling cannot otherwise be achieved we can suggest new properties for schema.org. Of course the final decision on whether anything we do is adopted by schema.org rests with the schema.org steering group.

Best regards, Phil Barker. <http://people.pjjk.net/phil><http://people.pjjk.net/phil>


[TalentSignal] <https://www.w3.org/community/talent-signal/><https://www.w3.org/community/talent-signal/>
[JDX] <https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/workforce-development/JDX><https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/workforce-development/JDX>
[LRMI] <http://lrmi.dublincore.org/><http://lrmi.dublincore.org/>
[Course] <https://www.w3.org/community/schema-course-extend/><https://www.w3.org/community/schema-course-extend/>
[EOCred] <https://www.w3.org/community/eocred-schema/><https://www.w3.org/community/eocred-schema/>

--

Phil Barker<http://people.pjjk.net/phil>. http://people.pjjk.net/phil

CETIS LLP<https://www.cetis.org.uk>: a cooperative consultancy for innovation in education technology.
PJJK Limited<https://www.pjjk.co.uk>: technology to enhance learning; information systems for education.

CETIS is a co-operative limited liability partnership, registered in England number OC399090
PJJK Limited is registered in Scotland as a private limited company, number SC569282.
--

Phil Barker<http://people.pjjk.net/phil>. http://people.pjjk.net/phil

CETIS LLP<https://www.cetis.org.uk>: a cooperative consultancy for innovation in education technology.
PJJK Limited<https://www.pjjk.co.uk>: technology to enhance learning; information systems for education.

CETIS is a co-operative limited liability partnership, registered in England number OC399090
PJJK Limited is registered in Scotland as a private limited company, number SC569282.