Re: [www-vrml] Tim BL Is Baffled, Too

[Brian Hay <bhay@construct3d.com>]

Neil TREVETT wrote:

>  >> I wrote a wishlist of features I'd like to see in VRML many years 
> ago. Most of the list still stands -- only a few have been implemented 
> in current X3D.
>
> In the end - decisions get made by those that show up.  It pains me that 
> X3D is not getting the benefit of your insights and experience. 

I feel there are two equally valid points here, which contribute to the 
sense of community disenfranchisement in some.

1) As Neil implied, I don't feel we (non consortium members) have the 
right to complain after the fact if we don't make the effort to become 
DIRECTLY, ACTIVELY and REGULARLY involved in published consortium 
working group processes.

2) As Miriam states however, long-standing community participants 
(consortium members or not) HAVE provided input and feedback through 
historically valid channels (www-vrml mailing list) only to have that 
input seemingly disregarded.

From the core spec developers point of view it must be a nightmare to 
try to review and include all input from a mailing list.

But obviously there must be some well-defined process for development of 
such a comprehensive spec but that process needs to be open, transparent 
and inclusive.

Maybe all that's required is a clear and published process for community 
contibution that's advertised at every opportunity (e.g. web3d.org home 
page, all mailing list correspondence, regular reminders on different 
forums). People need to feel this is a community effort.

Part of the problem is that there's no one central place we can go to 
look in on debate, issues and contibute ideas and code. Efforts seem to 
be scattered over web3d.org, xj3d.org, yumatech, www-vrml and various 
x3d mailing lists. This doesn't make it easy for new community members.

Contrast this with many other open-source efforts. For example, the PHP 
Drupal CMS at http://www.drupal.org. Here you have WEB access to the CVS 
(concurrent versioning system) so you don't need to be a CVS dweeb to 
see what's going on. CVS also provides a history and rollback capability 
for developers. Also there's a web-based project issue tracker (trouble 
ticket system) where anyone can report bugs, suggest features, take on a 
development task etc and the rest of the community can provide comment. 
No code gets committed to Drupal until it has been reviewed.

Drupal is typical of many open-source efforts. There's no reason why 
such a system can't be used for an ISO specification also. The 
technology is free, robust and relatively easy to setup.

Such measures I feel would greatly enhance community participation, 
transparency and accountability, plus provide a "living history" of 
X3D's evolution for future community members. As it stands right now, 
newbies see this monumental spec but (apart from mailing list archives) 
 there's precious little information on how it came to be.


--

Regards,
Brian Hay.
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