2021-02-17 All Members Meeting Notes

Agenda 

• Recording

• Presentation (PDF):

Notes

Remarks from John Jordan

• David Luchuk shared a message from Executive Director, John Jordan who signalled that 2021 is off to a good start for Trust over IP. 
• A roadmap of priority deliverables for Q1 and Q2 has been developed, and excellent work is being done at the Communications Committee on a variety of products including an editorial calendar.
• We are committing leadership and expertise to developing an ecosystem governance framework for the Good Health Pass Collaborative. This work will take place through a taskforce under the Ecosystem Foundry WG and all members are encouraged to contribute.
• We have also received a consultation report from the Ontario Digital Service that was partly informed by the input of Trust over IP members. This report demonstrates that the Government of Ontario is preparing to play its appropriate role in establishing a secure digital marketplace for services founded on digital identity.
• There are many exciting things happening in our community. We need to better understand the barriers that prevent members from fully participating and thereby benefitting from being part of this community. 

Good Health Pass Taskforce - Launch

• David Luchuk explained that, following the Feb 9 launch of the Good Health Pass Collaborative, Trust over IP is proceeding with the launch of its Good Health Pass Taskforce on Tuesday Feb 23. An announcement will be made to the All Members mailing list and a self-subscription calendar option will be created in Groups.io.
•  Drummond Reed observed that Trust over IP was created to solve hard problems and Good Health Pass is our "graduate exam." He highlighted 7 specific challenges that need to be solved to meet the pressing demand to re-open travel internationally. He also confirmed that, to the greatest extent possible, these efforts will align with the WHO Smart Vaccination Certification group.
• Glenn Morgan indicated that challenges in the travel industry go beyond the vaccination and test credentials, and now include complex Passenger Locator Forms required by countries that each apply different requirements and criteria.
• Drummond Reed agreed this set of key issues, along with the question of how to deal with paper credentials in the same operational model, need to be addressed by the Good Health Pass Collaborative with the help of our taskforce.
• To this end, Kaliya Young indicated she is considering the need for a "summit" on paper credentials as part of the Covid Credentials Initiative.
•  Glenn Morgan raised the question of creating a globally recognized identity scoring system to support international travel.
• Daniel Bachenheimer indicated that a draft system has been developing for that purpose, including both identity authentication and assurance levels. 
• Drummond Reed observed that identity assurance needs to take place at multiple stages in a traveler's journey, and these questions would be considered by the Trust over IP taskforce.

Communications - Editorial Calendar

• David Luchuk described work underway at the Communications Committee under the leadership of Chair John Jordan and Vice-Chairs Ajay Madhok, Will Groah and David Lucatch.
• In addition to the development of an overall Strategy for the Foundation, the Committee is also working on an Editorial Calendar that will frame the monthly release of themed, re-usable and modular content that can be used on various platforms. 
• David Luchuk invited all members to consider making contributions to this work, which will require energy and creativity from many individuals in order to support the editorial calendar. 

ToIP Whitepaper v2 - Update

• David Luchuk described the need to revise and update the ToIP Whitepaper that has been widely read and shared since the Foundation's launch in May 2020.
• This document sets the frame for our work and needs to evolve along with our progress on deliverables and concepts. Additionally, a revised version will be informed by the expected completion of key deliverables including technical specifications and design principles.
• David Luchuk indicated this revision to the ToIP Whitepaper was another example of an opportunity for members to contribute directly to important work at the Foundation.

Open Discussion - Barriers to Engagement

• David Luchuk discussed the aim and intention of Trust over IP to be open, welcoming and completely accessible to all its members. He acknowledged that the publication of a shared calendar and ability for members to self-subscribe to meetings is an overdue improvement and committed to progressing on these issues.
• David Luchuk also recognized the need to clarify how IP/licensing provisions of the membership agreement work so that all members feel comfortable contributing what they intend to our deliverables. Finally, he raised the possibility that members may have a hard time entering mid-stream debates/discussions that are highly technical and involve expert members.
• The floor was opened for all members to raise barriers to broader engagement and discuss possible solutions.
• Kaliya Young suggested that Trust over IP would benefit from recognizing that 2/3 of work in this space is happening outside this Foundation. There is a need to listen to the professionals in other organizations who are advancing important parts of the V/C and SSI movements. There is a lot of activity happening. Trust over IP needs to be some more listening and understanding than is the case presently.
• Sumiran Garg indicated that membership orientation and access to mailing lists and Slack help with engagement. However, she suggested that the membership process and documentation can be overwhelming and leave new members with more questions than answers. She also observed that it is hard to know who is leading Working Groups because the wiki is confusing and some pages are out-of-date. The fact Working Group meetings are accessible to non-members also raises the question of why join at all. Finally, she shared that failing to engage with members risks meaning there is no community at Trust over IP at all; just a crowd.
• Darrell O'Donnell suggested that the diversity of perspectives and expertise in the Foundation is a strength we need to be able to leverage. However, processes on some Working Groups is very tech-heavy. Immediate obstacles to progress are created as soon as GitHub pull requests are necessary in order to evolve a deliverable. Our work needs to be approachable, inclusive and traceable. We need to prioritize getting input from our diverse membership over technical tooling.
• Carly Huitema indicated she has found the Trust over IP group to be very welcoming. She recognized that IP/licensing confusion can create important barriers to participation and suggested members look to the Research TF for gain clarity on how this works in practice. She acknowledged that GitHub can be a problem because it does not seem to fit the notion of technology serving us. Finally, she suggested the wiki be treated as an entry point to our work and greater effort be made to maintaining the pages and links.
• Drummond Reed suggested that the Foundation will soon see its first round of deliverables produced out of multiple Working Groups and that members will be called on the provide community-review for as many as 10 (or more) products. Our members and the best and first audience for deliverables and this is a crucial opportunity and need to increased participation.
• Riley Reed indicated that he also feels there is aneed to make the wiki a better resource. It is difficult to find on the website and can be confusing to navigate. Trust over IP needs to make it as easy as possible for members to participate a-synchronously. This includes easy access to recordings, consistency in meeting pages and integration with Slack.