[A11ybok] [a11yBoK] policy for invitations?

[Karl Groves]

> I'm delighted that this discussion is gaining momentum, since obviously,
> more brains should foster more interesting ideas :-) Nevertheless, there's a
> also a balance to find between "not enough" and "too many" participants, in
> order to remain productive.
> That's why I'm asking: what do you consider as appropriate regarding
> invitations of other participants? I know at least one person who should be
> a part of this, and I'm likely to receive requests from other people who'll
> show high interest in this discussion.
> So what would you recommend?
> (Karl, as this is your initiative, I'll follow your rules if there's no
> consensus).

I don't consider this my initiative. I'm just happy to host the
discussion. If this A11yBOK idea really takes off and becomes a formal
effort, it will need to come from a number of people all willing to
work together and it will be everyone's initiative. In that regard,
maybe even this list needs to be temporary in nature while we flesh
out the details of who would be involved, what they would do and how
it would get done.

In the first incarnation of this list, we saw a quick burst of
interest and some discussion surrounding the A11yBOK and then the
enthusiasm waned quickly.  That's fine because it meant that the
general consensus was that the list participants were either
unwilling/ unable to undertake the effort or didn't see it as
logistically feasible at that time.

I think the first order of business on this particular list is for
everyone on the list to do some self-exploration to determine if they
are personally able to devote the time to an A11yBOK and qualified to
take part in some way.  Regarding the time thing: Olivier's blog post
makes a good point that this is an effort that would need funding.
How much funding, funding for what & who obviously remains to be seen,
but I'd expect for an effort like this to succeed that there would be
some compensation for participating.   For me, personally, my
employment arrangement with Deque basically means I'm unable to hold
any pecuniary interest in any company or get any income from doing
accessibility work, but I can't see them having any problem with me
volunteering.

So everyone should examine their own situation to make sure they can
dedicate what's needed to this. Stay on the list if you can do it and
unsubscribe if you can't.  If you want to stick around to see what's
going on and then decide later whether you do it, that's fine too.
What something like this requires, IMO, are folks who (as John Foliot
likes to put it) can pick up a shovel and start digging.

The second order of business, IMO, should be for us to brainstorm
funding opportunities.  This would also necessitate a discussion of
scope, but I think both discussions probably should remain at a high
level.  Discussions like this always tend to get too involved in the
minutia.  From my perspective, the only consensus we've built so far
is that we believe an A11yBOK needs to exist.   We still don't have a
handle on anything else and I can't see anything done without funding.

Karl


-- 
Karl Groves
www.karlgroves.com
@karlgroves
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karlgroves