Publishing Steering Committee Telco — Minutes
Date: 2018-09-07
See also the Agenda and the IRC Log
Attendees
Present: Ivan Herman, George Kerscher, Tzviya Siegman, Karen Myers, Dave Cramer, Liisa McCloy-Kelley, Garth Conboy, Bill Kasdorf
Regrets: Luc Audrain, Rachel Comerford
Guests: Richard Orme
Chair: Liisa McCloy-Kelley
Scribe(s): Dave Cramer
Content:
Dave Cramer: RRSAgent: make logs public
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: let’s get started
1. Epubcheck fundraising
Tzviya Siegman: Richard Orme from DAISY is here
… I sent a summary of my conversation with Richard and George last week
… I thought we’d offer a status update, and then open it up for questions
… We have a w3c website ready to go
… the donate button leads to the DAISY page
… which has paypal or stripe
… DAISY is testing the payment options right now
… testing should be finished next week
… then the companies that have already pledged can try out the payment system
… we hope to have the website live late next week
… I’ve talked to W Seltzer about an agreement to use logos of donors
… that’s about it from the funding perspective
… we also need to talk about the MOU and SOW
Richard Orme: you’ve said that those funds are held separately in DAISY’s account, then they will be passed to the SC/Luc
George Kerscher: the donate button takes you to a form, and you can choose invoice, wire transfer, cheque, or paypal/stripe
… that page can also upload your logo and the permissions for the logo
Richard Orme: at first, that will be a manual process
Tzviya Siegman: and people can remain anonymous?
Richard Orme: we don’t have anything specific on that. Do we need to check that?
Tzviya Siegman: We do need to allow for that; maybe just not requiring logo
Richard Orme: things might come up as we’re coding
Bill Kasdorf: I’ve raised the option of a pledge option, due to bureaucracy
… maybe requesting an invoice would serve that purpose
… Richard, have you found pledging useful?
Richard Orme: We’re acting as trusted holder of funds
… as far as pledges go, that raises questions of follow-up.
… maybe there’s a way of accommodating that
… so I don’t have anything specific to propose
Bill Kasdorf: I’m fine with this
Richard Orme: if it doesn’t work out, an invoice can be voided
… For Tzviya and Luc, encouraging people to get an invoice is like pledging. We can unwind as needed.
Ivan Herman: two things on the web page
… 1. it has a long URL, if we have a better name we can use it
… 2. that URL is not linked from anything; at some point we need publicity
Tzviya Siegman: https://www.w3.org/publishing/epubcheck_fundraising
Tzviya Siegman: I don’t think the URL Is terrible
Tzviya Siegman: we could do a blog post on the main w3c blog; we could tweet about it, we could blog on epubsecrets
Ivan Herman: all of the above
… Bill’s epub outreach could talk about it
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: we use all of those ways of getting the word to the street
… we can reach out to the press
Dave Cramer: (sound of bandsaw)
Bill Kasdorf: my group doesn’t know about the press
… maybe w3t should handle that?
Richard Orme: another suggestion is for orgs that do donate we can provide them copy to share
Ivan Herman: I can’t comment on the press thing
… is it a link we want on the publishing activity home page?
… how long a life do we want to give to this?
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: it needs to be long enough that we get money
Tzviya Siegman: at least a few months
Ivan Herman: should be on p@w3c home page
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: by press I mean someone should send an email to M Kowalski, for example
Karen Myers: I wasn’t sure if ralph had made introductions to Coralie, who oversees media relations
… I could follow up with Ralph
Tzviya Siegman: I know Coralie; I could coordinate with her
Ivan Herman: let’s do that.
Karen Myers: +1
Bill Kasdorf: could someone give me a heads up when that info goes out?
Tzviya Siegman: it will be an email to the SC
Bill Kasdorf: we should provide our contact emails to Luc, so he can send it
Tzviya Siegman: Luc is on holiday
Bill Kasdorf: we don’t want to wait
… will some other chair do that?
… there was a sentiment that it should come officially from the leadership of the BG
Tzviya Siegman: it’s fine if it comes from you
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: it would be fine coming from you
Ivan Herman: b.t.w., I will also be out of reach starting Wednesday…
Bill Kasdorf: each person in coordination group have their own contacts, emails would come from many different people
Ivan Herman: I’m also disappearing on Wednesday :)
Ivan Herman: I’ll give you access to the website repo while I’m away
Tzviya Siegman: the next area is an MOU and SOW
… usually these docs are between the org with the money and the contractor
… in this case both are DAISY
Tzviya Siegman: we were talking about MOU/SOW with DAISY
… the plan is that the MOU, which will be lightweight
… stating the general agreement
… an agreement between SC and DAISY to protect both parties, outlined in the plan from DAISY
… we could have SC sign it
… the SOW is a schedule with deliverables, and when money gets released
… so X dollars when EPUBCHeck supports EPUB 3.2, etc
… we’ll propose a start date
… October 1
… does this plan sound OK?
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: I think Luc should sign
Tzviya Siegman: I think that would good, but he’ll need to check with his management
George Kerscher: we would be anticipating getting staffed up Oct 1, but docs wouldn’t formally be signed between the 24th and the 1st
Dave Cramer: are we signing things before we have money?
Tzviya Siegman: we do have a substantial amount committed, and we expect more quickly
Richard Orme: the amount that’s pledged in the moment is more than the price of Phase 1
… that’s where we can get the go-ahead
… if the pledges don’t come through, I don’t think we can kick off the work
… this does encourage the pledgers :)
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: of the folks on the call who have gotten pledges, we don’t think it’s going to be hard, do we?
Tzviya Siegman: garth is the only one on the call with a pledge, as many people are missing today
Garth Conboy: we are good for it; it’s just a process
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: then you can help us test the process by giving yourself an invoice
Garth Conboy: I can be the guinea pig. I’ll be surprised if it takes less than six weeks
Richard Orme: this means that Oct 1 is at risk, because the funds might not yet be available
… we can see how things were going, so maybe it’s not completely gloomy
Richard Orme: we want to avoid starting something and then pulling the plug
Tzviya Siegman: this is a call to action for the rest of us to get those pledges in
George Kerscher: is the MOU and SOW, is that sitting with Tzviya and Richard? Is the SOW tzviya and avneesh? Me? Richard?
Tzviya Siegman: if someone wants to volunteer I’m happy to give it up
George Kerscher: I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to do this
Tzviya Siegman: I do have the Wiley templates for this. I can set up a call with Avneesh.
… I think that covers everything with DAISY. Thank you, Richard! I’ll be in touch about our next call.
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: thanks from all of us!
Richard Orme: thanks everyone!
Dave Cramer: (Richard leaves the call)
2. TPI membership transitions
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: as we’re doing the outreach, let’s keep in mind that we want to keep TPI members involved
… we talked last time that there was a list of TPI members, which Ralph had?
… any way we can get that list?
Karen Myers: let me take that up again with Ralph. I don’t see a problem.
… Next week Ralph and I are meeting with some people in NY
… we still have time in our schedules W-F next week
Ivan Herman: Ralph was on a management retreat last week
Dave Cramer: (Liisa’s Dog: bark)
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: anything else around TPI membership?
Karen Myers: what would be useful to hear is that, as we go to Japan, are there any other perspectives on business cases from the Japanese perspective?
… I’m trying to finalize some messaging points for Alan, who will be at the workshop
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: when you’re doing this outreach, do you start with full membership, or do you start with just publishing?
Karen Myers: both, depending on the audience
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: I think starting with publishing is better
… the Japanese audience is very focused on EPUB 3, lots of what we did is for them
… they’re also reliant on ISO certification
… they do have strong business needs
Bill Kasdorf: Daihei and Yoshii-san are very supportive and eager to help
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: not at working group level, but practical stuff that they want
… you could get them engaged on the BG and then expand
… get them on the publishing case, then extend to web payments etc, new markets and direct sales
George Kerscher: I’ve approached institute for museum and library services on hosting a conf on libraries, digipub, and a11y
… they promised me a draft concept paper
… the library community, in terms of what they are using for delivery of digital books, is an interesting arena
… I’m not sure how that translates into w3c membership
… our work is proactive in specs and development
… and after the fact is ISO and NISO affirming what we’ve done
… the groundbreaking work is at w3c
… in the US the K-12 market is in digital publishing, but it’s not as clear that they’re focused on EPUB
… and how these digital publications move into learning systems is an interesting topic
… those are areas that should be of interest to a lot of people
… and with WP that integration with online reading is front and center
Karen Myers: thanks
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: A few conversations I’ve had with people who didn’t come with us in the TPI world
… orgs that didn’t have time or their IDPF membership lapsed, they were afraid of paying back dues
… I talked to someone with a vendor, who asked about conferences
… the IDPF conference was good for them
… they felt they were getting news, and they loved the conference, and they could connect with people
… do we want to do a conference?
2.1. EPUB conference
Karen Myers: I agree, I’m sorry we didn’t do something for the fall
… we should resurrect this idea
… Jeff wants a publishing champion to drive and organize the community
… we should bring this up
… mapping out what kind of conference would be most relevant
… . what would be our sweet spot to make vendors want to exhibit
Tzviya Siegman: we need to be wary of conference overload. maybe we can partner or have a day at an existing conference
… I like partnering with EDRlab
Ivan Herman: +1 to tzviya
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: there is not an ebook conference in the US
… DBW is about marketing
… ebookcraft is in Toronto
Ivan Herman: you mentioned ebookcraft, but isn’t it possible to talk to them to make it bigger?
… and they already have a certain practice
George Kerscher: a conference strategy should be developed.
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: +1 to George
Karen Myers: +1 conference goals and strategy needed
Dave Cramer: ebookcraft is perfect. don’t mess with it.
Ivan Herman: we need to have a better idea of what we want to do.
… people around us are the wrong people to organize a business-oriented conference
… we have to decide what we want
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: I think we should figure out what we think people need
… but what would vendors need?
… it might not like what we did with IDPF
… I don’t think it’s C-level
… we need to make it effective for people in decision-making, or people up to their elbows
George Kerscher: We’re going to AHG and doing a track on EPUB
… and we’re developing presentations for CSUN
… and this all about promotion and adoption of EPUB
Tzviya Siegman: two comments
… one thing that made IDPF successful was the BEA tie-in
… there was lots of foot traffic for two events
… 2nd: a conf about the work we do might be a fool’s errand
… people are going to focused conferences, on subjects like A11Y or UX
… not just talking about standards or EPUB in general
… we could tell vendors to find their niche
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: anything else to cover today, or talk about in the BG?
Ivan Herman: at some point, we will have address the issues about the relationship between BG and SC
… but it’s closely related to the publishing champion
Liisa McCloy-Kelley: agreed
… email me if you have agenda items for BG on Tuesday
RRSAgent: draft minutes