Proposed new working group: Collaboration

After input from a number of people (thanks) and discussion with the  
proposed working group chairs, here is a new version of the proposed  
charter. Changes to the charter specifically include talking about  
what this working group is *not* to discuss.

I have heard indirectly that some individuals are not happy with the  
name of the wg. I am not married to this name. It was just something I  
came up with as we agree we should NOT call it "enhanced cooperation".  
If not anyone comes up with a better name, I propose we live with this  
for now, and then change the name if someone comes up with something  
better. I do not personally want this discussion on what the name is  
block the creation of the wg. We need it, me thinks, in Dubai.

     Patrik, holder of the pen


Collaboration Working Group

Suggested chairs:

   Martin Boyle, Nominet
   Maria Häll, Swedish Government


The RIPE community decision-making processes are open to anyone,  
meaning that anyone with an interest can suggest policy, take part in  
reviewing documents and participate on mailing lists and at RIPE  
Meetings. To encourage participation from people and organisations  
outside the traditional RIPE community, a number of special outreach  
programs have been developed, including a series of "Governmental  
Roundtable Meetings", at which RIPE community members and government  
representatives can meet and discuss common areas of interest.  
Government representatives participate in RIPE Meetings, and the RIPE  
NCC actively reaches out to governments and others in the public  
sector to inform them on issues related to the RIPE community and  
engage them on issues related to RIPE and RIPE NCC activities.

The Collaboration Working Group is a forum for discussion focusing on  
collaboration between the private and public sectors on Internet  
matters. This kind of collaboration has taken on increased prominence  
in recent years, as the wider Internet community strives to ensure  
that all voices are heard and the interests of all parties are  
considered. Fostering more open dialogue between all stakeholders is  
vital to ensuring the continued stability of the Internet.

The working group discusses the following:

1. Topics raised by working group participants that are of interest to  
both the public and private sectors. Topics are NOT to overlap with  
issues discussed in other working groups. This working group should  
complement the other working groups.

2. The RIPE NCC's current outreach activities will be reported, and  
the RIPE NCC will seek advice and guidance on future activities. This  
to make the discussions more focused as the current only forum is the ripe-list at ripe.net 
  mailing list.

3. The working group will develop and clarify the RIPE community's  
position on issues that are of relevance to the public sector or on  
which a community position has been sought. These discussions are to  
be more focused in a working group targeted for these kind of  
discussions.

4. The working group will be responsible for maintenance of the RIPE  
Document produced by the Enhanced Cooperation Task Force, describing  
the RIPE community, existing policy development processes and outreach  
programs. This working group does explicitly NOT have change control  
over the PDP itself, just change control of the document that describe  
it.

The working group is also an important channel through which the RIPE  
community can communicate with others in the "Information Society".  
The chairs are not to become special "Ambassadors" for RIPE. Their  
role is the same as other wg chairs at RIPE, which implies they of  
course could be asked now and then what the status of the wg is. The  
process by which RIPE and RIPE NCC respectively coordinate with other  
bodies (such as NRO) and communicate (mostly via RIPE NCC or the chair  
of RIPE) is not changing by creation and existence of this wg.