Tasks of Volunteers for USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee

[Moderator, John S. Quarterman]

                    Tasks of Volunteers

                            for

            USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee

Policy Committee

The Policy Committee makes policy decisions,  and  currently
consists of Alan G. Nemeth (USENIX President), John S. Quar-
terman (USENIX Institutional Representative to  IEEE  1003),
Shane  P.  McCarron  (IEEE  1003  Secretary),  and Grover P.
Righter (well-known IEEE 1003 participant).

     There are a few organisational positions:

Volunteer Organiser
     This person, currently Mark Colburn, is responsible for
     coordinating who is watching which committee.  Ideally,
     there will be at least one person  watching  each  IEEE
     1003  subcommittee, each /usr/group Technical Committee
     Working Group, X3J11, and special delegates to OSF  and
     Sun/AT&T.  These people need to know of each other, and
     people need to be found and  delegated  for  committees
     that are not covered.

Report Editor
     Shane McCarron has been writing quarterly  reports  for
     USENIX  after  each IEEE 1003 meeting for almost a year
     now.  Each Watchdog Committee member should  provide  a
     written  report  after  each  meeting for Shane to edit
     into a combined report.

Working Committee

The Watchdog Committee is neither a standards  body  in  the
sense of IEEE 1003 or X3J11, nor a pre-standards body in the
sense of the /usr/group Technical Committee.  Its purpose is
to keep track of standards bodies, not to become one.

     A typical Watchdog Committee volunteer should be  some-
one  who  is already attending a standards committee's meet-
ings, and who is willing to  add  USENIX  functions  to  the
tasks  already  being  performed.  USENIX does not pay these
volunteers, nor even reimburse expenses.

                     December 12, 1988

                           - 2 -

     There are five basic tasks that  a  volunteer  for  the
USENIX Watchdog Committee might be called on to do.

reporting
     The most basic task is to provide a written  report  to
     the  report  editor about significant activities in the
     committee being watched.  See the accompanying descrip-
     tion of what should be in such a report.

influencing
     Encourage written proposals by members of the committee
     being  watched,  and  otherwise  promote reasonable and
     productive technical discussion.

ombudsman
     Introduce ideas  or  even  proposals  from  people  and
     groups  who  can't  attend  meetings.  This may be done
     either at the discretion of the watcher or sometimes at
     the request of the Policy Committee.

recruiting
     Try to find people who should be participating in stan-
     dards  activities  and  encourage  them  to do so.  For
     example, if a particular technical area is  being  con-
     sidered in a committee, and you know of a group that is
     doing major work in that area, informing that group  of
     the  discussion  and  enouraging  them  to get involved
     would be good.

speaking for USENIX
     The least common task will be to speak for  USENIX.   A
     volunteer  may do this only when authorised to do so by
     the Policy  Committee,  and  needs  to  make  sure  the
     affected  standards group understands when this is hap-
     pening.

     The Policy Committee  may  decide  that  direct  action
needs  to be taken in a standards body, perhaps by presenta-
tion of a proposal, or by arguing  for  or  against  another
proposal.   In  this  case, the Policy Committee may ask the
watching volunteer(s) to  do  so  (the  volunteers  may,  of
course,  decide  not to do so).  Or the Policy Committee may
send one of its members to do so.

     The only specific directive from the  USENIX  Board  of
Directors  is to attempt to prevent standards from prohibit-
ing technical innovation, so most direct action  will  prob-
ably be related to that.  However, the Policy Committee also
has a  free  hand  to  take  any  other  action  that  seems
appropriate.

                     December 12, 1988

                           - 3 -

Contacts

To volunteer, or for further information, please contact:

USENIX Institutional Representative
     John S. Quarterman
     jsq at longway.tic.com
     +1-512-320-9031
     Texas Internet Consulting
     701 Brazos, Suite 500
     Austin, TX  78701-3243

Watchdog Volunteer Organiser
     Mark Colburn
     mark at naps.mn.org
     +1-612-224-9108
     NAPS International
     117 Mackubin St.
     Suite 1
     St. Paul, MN  55102

Watchdog Report Editor
     Shane P. McCarron
     ahby at bungia.mn.org
     uunet!bungia.mn.org!ahby
     +1-612-224-9239
     NAPS International
     117 Mackubin St.
     Suite 6
     St. Paul, MN  55102

                     December 12, 1988


Volume-Number: Volume 15, Number 46