[arg_discuss] ARG SIG in 2007

[Adam Martin]

I am sorry for how I've handled the whitepaper. It was a very difficult process.

So, looking ahead... the whitepaper has triggered a lot of people to
speak up on important issues and a lot of good comments and ideas have
come up. Some of these are specific to the whitepaper, some of them
are activities for the SIG at large, and some are meta-issues around
the SIG, IGDA, etc.

I've talked at length with Jason (IGDA executive director) about all
this. As far as IGDA is concerned, we should view the ARG SIG as an
inclusive entity devoted to the advancement of ARG development, and
are free to grow it in whatever direction we want. If you look at the
other SIGs, you'll see that they are all run bottom-up, deciding their
own directions and activities. The IGDA mainly sets a common SIG
framework, an umbrella providing common services and support.

Coming to the end of the first year of this SIG's existence, it's a
good time to re-assess the purpose and direction of the group. The
IGDA is keen for us to take this opportunity to more carefully and
fully define our goals and directions for the coming year, as well as
our overall vision and purpose. We thought the best way to do this
might be a scheduled online chat on IRC or Skype that would enable
everyone/anyone to attend, whether just to listen in, or to put forth
their own ideas, or to explore whatever ideas and issues come up.

I'd like to provisionally schedule this for sometime in the new year,
perhaps the second or third week of January (once everyone's back from
holidays) - would that be OK for everyone interested? For those who
will be at GDC this year, we can have a follow-up meeting face to
face in March, but since most people won't be there I'd like to do the
main discussion online first. This also gives us a chance to use the
GDC group gathering as a review for how things are going with whatever
initiatives come out of the January chat.

To be completely clear: this is all open to everyone. People who just
want to listen to what's said are as welcome as those who have lots
they want to say.

We should be able to talk about anything you bring up, but at a
minimum we need to cover:
- target audience for the SIG's work (who are publications aimed at,
list traffic, etc)
- tangible goals for the SIG (what do we want to achieve during the coming year)
- refresh of the SIG leadership (we're short-handed and need some more people)
- SIG membership (who is in the SIG now, who should be in the SIG, and
what steps can we take to make that happen)
- projects for 2007 (what do we want to do? new publications? new
whitepaper? etc)

It's been remarked a couple of times that there's been a distinct lack
of leadership on the first couple of items on that list. This is
entirely true. It's up to the SIG members to decide what those should
be, rather than for any one person to dictate it. Everything is up for
discussion and critical dialog.

The energy and enthusiasm among us all is very encouraging. Let's
focus all this and do great things to advance ARGs in 2007!

BTW, I'll send further details on scheduling an online chat once we've
cleared the holidays.

Cheers,
Adam