Re: Web Philosophy

[Ronald Bourret <rpbourret@rpbourret.com>]

Ann Navarro wrote:
> 
> At 12:12 PM 3/27/01, Ronald Bourret wrote:
> >(b) have enough time to contribute at the level of a WG member,
> >(c) have enough money to attend (flight, hotel, etc.) the WG meetings.
> >
> 
> Ok, but if you don't have (b) and (c) available, how do you expect to be
> able to participate? At what level?

Participating on public mailing lists, reading specs and giving
feedback, etc. are all reasonable levels of participation. These require
time (but not the 20-50% required of a WG member) and very little money
(except to finance that time).

The argument frequently repeated on xml-dev is that people who
participate at this level aren't getting their input taken seriously and
don't know enough about what's going on due to the semi-closed nature of
WG's. My experiences (noted elsewhere) is that it depends a lot on the
group you're dealing with. I personally find the confidentiality rules
annoying, but I also understand the need for them at some level.

-- 
Ronald Bourret
Programming, Writing, and Training
XML, Databases, and Schemas
http://www.rpbourret.com