| title | description | published | date | tags | editor | dateCreated |
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IETF Working Group Roles |
Beyond chairs, there are a variety of roles that can support a working groups day-to-day operations and overall effectiveness. |
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2023-09-21 23:01:46 UTC |
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2023-09-21 23:00:01 UTC |
The Secretary’s job is to record WG decisions and help organize group activities at a high level. For example, the Secretary may help identify session note takers, but the role responsibilities do not include taking notes directly. Secretaries are designated by WG Chairs. More information about the WG Secretary role is available in Section 6.2 of RFC 2418. Further information is also available in an expired Internet-Draft which even though it never achieved IETF consensus, may provide useful guidance. Serving as a WG Secretary may provide useful insight and experience for individuals considering serving as a WG Chair.
Every Working Group session has notes taken to ensure important discussion points and decisions are recorded. The approach to taking notes varies by group and individual, and as most group sessions are now recorded, they do not need to be verbatim. Thus, note takers should be familiar with the general topics and individuals involved in a group, but they do not need to be deep experts. Note takers are usually volunteer or several volunteers by group chairs, often identified at the start of a session.
Working session scribes help bridge in-person sessions for remote participations, particularly those who aren’t able to follow along with video. They can convey actions taken in the room via group chat, and also convey questions or comments from remote participants to the in-person session. In-depth technical knowledge generally is not required and Working Group chairs are always happy to have volunteers at the beginning of sessions.
WG Consultants have specific technical background appropriate to the WG and experience in Internet architecture and IETF process. At the discretion of the responsible Area Director, a Consultant may be assigned to a working group. Working Group Designate Working Group Chairs may assign individuals as Designates in the IETF Datatracker, so they can take actions usually reserved for group Chairs in Datatracker or other IETF Tools (such as Meetecho).