reporters and observers

Good morning,

To summarize and expand from the call this week:
	- We have a total of 50 seats available for the f2f meeting next week. 
	- We now have about 40 people registered here:
		https://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/49311/tpwg-dc-f2f/

	If you have not registered, please do so RIGHT NOW. It will take under 5 minutes. If you sent email to me, Nick, or Matthias, that's great, but the way we're tracking this is by registration. I expect all interested WG members register by close of business today.

	- WG participants have priority over observers. 
	- Observers are invited by the chairs with approval by W3C staff. You are welcome to send suggestions to us, which is how most observers are invited. For all meetings to date, we have not had to turn anyone away. It looks like that will remain true for the DC f2f as well, but we will have very few empty seats. 
	- Observers are not part of the decision making of the group. For example, if the chairs ask for a show of hands to get a sense of where the room is on an issue, observers will not be part of that process, even something that is informal.
	- Observers may comment as part of discussion, at the chairs' discretion. Observers who choose to comment must be mindful of our value of civility. Ideally, observers offer (a) new information to fill knowledge gaps in the group, (b) new perspectives we have not considered. Observers voicing opinions like "I agree with X person" do not add much value. Observers returning to closed issues actually are negative value, as they take our time away from current issues. If I cut off an observer quickly, it is not to be rude, and I do understand there is no way to memorize everything we have discussed. But we will not have time to re-hash the last several months.
	- Observers should read the current drafts, as we also ask of WG members (see the agenda under participant preparations, http://www.w3.org/2011/tracking-protection/agenda-2012-10-04-dc.html) 
	- If an observer attends due to your request / recommendation:
		- It would be very helpful if you could convey any background information you find useful. We will start Tuesday with summaries of the current state of our work, but we all know there is much history that will not come across in 30 minutes. 
		- It would be very helpful if you could help him or her set up IRC. Feel free to use the #dnt channel to test that it works. Nick can help if you run into any trouble. 
		- Observers may find it helpful to ask "has the group considered ABC?" in IRC for quick feedback prior to raising a point to the group. Newer WG members may find that helpful too. 
		- A quick note to the chairs and W3C staff of who someone is (from the observer directly or from you) is a good idea. 
		- Forwarding this message to relevant observers is a fine thing, particularly if you know they are not reading this dlist.

	- The chairs decline to invite reporters to the f2f. We have participants with corporate media polices that require sign off from their press office before they talk to journalists. 
	- Public policy makers may be invited as observers, as we had in Belgium. 

I hope this is clear. Just to make sure, this means: please don't invite reporters, we'll only turn them away. It also means: please don't expect to just show up without registering, and please do encourage any observers you are interested in seeing attend to also register. Thanks!

Please let me know if you have questions / comments / requests. 

	Aleecia

Received on Friday, 6 April 2012 17:07:07 UTC