e-Conferencing Committee - Proposed Direction Clarification

Background

The original objectives focused on bringing the tools for conducting electronic meetings and the process / procedures together in a concise guideline. The project team decided to concentrate on synchronous meeting types in an effort to create a complete deliverable in time for Section's Congress 1999. The synchronous meeting guideline has proven to be a valuable asset in the operation of Region 3 and continues to offer promise to many organizations within IEEE.

The current objectives of the e-conferencing Committee are ...

• Complete the e-conf asynchronous meeting guidelines
• Support the Region 3  e-conf ExCom Meeting 29 January 2000
• Evaluate emerging technologies

Direction

Based on observations, the preparation for the upcoming R3 ExCom e-conferences, and the original thinking of the e-conf Project coupled with the ideas expressed in the "Practical Internet Groupware" by Jon Udell (the first four chapters of the book are on line at https://www.ora.com/catalog/pracintgr/chapter/index.html ),  the following direction for the e-conferencing Committee is proposed.

The single most important truth that has been revealed in this project ...

the way we work together using the Internet requires not only a change in tools but a change in methodology  as well.

The focus in reality has always been with the development of tools and methodology to facilitate the close working relationship of all entities within Region 3. Therefore the objective is to develop a single guideline that defines collaborative work using the Internet. Committees can choose the type of collaboration they require but the guideline needs to encompass the spectrum of collaborative work. The current work can be folded in nicely into the overall guideline.

Instead of simply completing the asynchronous meeting guideline the following is proposed:

• Development of Region 3 Guidelines for performing collaborative work using the Internet

• Merge the existing Synchronous Meeting Guideline

            https://www.ewh.ieee.org/reg/3/e-conf/guidelines/ 

• Merge the existing Asynchronous Meeting Guideline WIP

• Include project management activities in the guideline

• Provide for document storage and retention guidelines

The first step is to design the framework for the guideline and then populate it. The development of the detail of the guideline should be a collaborative effort with involvement of the entire Region 3 ExCom.

This development is in keeping with the philosophy of "eating our own dogfood" which has become a cornerstone.

 last edited 01/22/2000 14:01