CalConnect XXXI - September 29-October 3, 2014

CalConnect Interoperability Test Event – Monday-Wednesday
CalConnect Conference – Wednesday-Friday

Bedford

Monday, September 29, 2014 to Friday, October 03, 2014

Recent Changes:

Information is current to 23 September
TC TASKS and TC PUSH session swapped; TC TASKS Topical Agenda updated

CalConnect XXXI, consisting of a CalConnect Interoperability Test Event and a CalConnect Conference (Members Meeting), will be held in Bedford, United Kingdom on September 29 - October 3, 2014, hosted by Youcanbook.me (formerly Softly Software).

The Interoperability Test Event will take place all day Monday and Tuesday September 29-30, and Wednesday morning October 1, ending at noon. The Conference will begin with lunch at 12:00 on Wednesday October 1, and last through Friday October 3.

An informal Introductory Q & A about CalConnect, intended for first-time attendees, will be scheduled at 11:00 on Wednesday the 1st for first-time attendees.

CalConnect Interoperability Test Event:

The Interoperability Test Events are open to both members and non-members as participants or as observers; please see Next CalConnect Interoperability Test Event for current information. Check back often as this will be updated as more information becomes available.

Please Note: You do not need finished or polished code to participate in the Interoperability testing; in fact as soon as you have something working at all, testing against other participants can help debugging and code development, especially in identifying red herrings and wrong decisions.

CalConnect Conference XXXI: The CalConnect Conference will offer Technical Committee sessions, to which all members and observers are welcome, informal BOFs (Birds of a Feather sessions), plus additional sessions and committee meetings.

Friday afternoon will be the full Plenary meeting of the Consortium, open to all participants. This session will include report-outs from all Technical Committees, and establishment of future goals and directions for the Consortium.

Special Events: Two workshops will be held during the conference on Thursday and Friday mornings at 0830-1000, on History and Comment Feeds in iCalendar and on Groups Sharing and Scheduling respectively; see Workshops. Additional, a demo will be held during the TC FREEBUSY session on Thursday at 1100-1200 of inter-system consensus scheduling. The demo will feature multiple clients running on different servers (and implementations) performing consensus scheduling, based on VPOLL, iSCHEDULE, and jCAL.

Local Information: Our hosts have provided a website with specific local information for us including accommodation options, travel, restaurants, and a map of the central Bedford area. Please see http://calconnect31.youcanbookme.com/. Specific pages are also linked from the relevant sections below.

International Visitors

Citizens of the United States, European Union nations, or most Commonwealth nations do not require a visa to visit the United Kingdom. If you are unsure, the following link provides detailed information for visitors to the United Kingdom: https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa.

Registration Information

Please see Registration and Payment Options to choose your registration type and payment option for the CalConnect Conference and/or the CalConnect Interoperability Test Event. Note that you must register separately for the Conference and for the Test Event, but you may request a combined invoice. You may register at any time for the next event.

Special Registration Fees for first-time attendees: For CalConnect XXXI, we are offering a special one-time-only combined registration fee of $600 per participant for the Interoperability Test Event and the CalConnect Conference. This rate is only available to first-time-attendees from non-members. You must still execute separate registration forms for the Interoperability Test Event and the Conference but enter $600 as the amount on the Interoperability Test Event Registration, and $0 on the Conference Registration, for each person being registered.

Location

The Interoperability Test Event and the Conference will take place in the Castle Room at The Higgins Art Gallery and Museum, Castle Lane, Bedford, United Kingdom. The venue is a few minutes walk of the conference hotel. See http://calconnect31.youcanbookme.com/venue.html for a view of The Higgins and a map of the central Bedford area.

Transportation

Airport Information: The most convenient airport to Bedford is London Luton Airport. London Luton serves European and U.K. destinations, and is recommended for European travelers arriving by air.

For those arriving from more distant locations, you would probably fly into either London Heathrow or London Gatwick. While either will work, London Gatwick is somewhat more convenient in terms of ground transportation to Bedford.

Ground Transportation:

Rental Cars and Taxis: All three airports have rental car facilities and taxis available.

From London Luton: Direct public transportation is available from London Luton via train and bus.

From London Gatwick: You can take the First Capitol Connect train directly to Bedford from London Gatwick via St. Pancras International station.

From London Heathrow: There is no direct train service from Heathrow. If you wish public transportation take the London Express to Paddington Station, transfer to St. Pancras Station, and take the train north to Bedford.

Additional Information: Our hosts have provided a page on transportation alternatives with more detailed information; see http://calconnect31.youcanbookme.com/transport.html. They are also willing to help arrange shared rides for those arriving at compatible times, a link is available from the page to provide them your arrival information. If a shared ride cannot be arranged, we will inform you in time to make other arrangements.

Returning from Bedford: We will attempt to arrange shared transport back to the major departure locations after the event and will poll everyone during the week to identify departure information and sharing possibilities.

Lodging

The conference hotel for this event is the Bedford Swan, The Embankment, Bedford. There is no guaranteed room rate, so you may book directly via their website at http://www.bedfordswanhotel.co.uk/. If you wish to stay at the conference hotel we recommend booking as soon as possible; rates will undoubtedly rise closer to the event. (The hotel cancellation policy is 4 p.m. date of arrival.) The Swan is about a 5 minute walk from the conference venue.

Alternative Accommodation: If the Swan is not available or you prefer an alternative, our hosts have provided information about several hotels and B&Bs: http://calconnect31.youcanbookme.com/accommodation.html. All offer free Wifi. Be sure you book a room with breakfast or plan to otherwise have breakfast before you arrive at The Higgins each morning as we are not serving breakfast at the event.

Test Event Schedule

The Interoperability Test Event begins at 0830 Monday morning and runs all day Monday and Tuesday, plus Wednesday morning. The Conference begins with lunch on Wednesday and runs through Friday afternoon.

Please note: The Conference Schedule below is provisional. Once Topical Agendas are finalized we may need to make changes in session lengths and schedule location.

Please note: In accordance with our custom for European meetings we will not offer breakfast other than coffee service and rolls, as breakfast is generally part of your hotel booking.

CALCONNECT INTEROPERABILITY TEST EVENT

Monday 29 September
0800-0830 Coffee & Rolls
0830-1000 Testing
1000-1030 Break and Refreshments
1030-1200 Testing
1200-1300 Lunch
1300-1430 BOF or Testing
1430-1530 Testing
1530-1600 Break and Refreshments
1600-1800 Testing

1915-2130 Interop Test Dinner
TBD

Tuesday 30 September
0800-0830 Coffee & Rolls
0830-1000 Testing
1000-1030 Break and Refreshments
1030-1200 Testing
1200-1300 Lunch
1300-1430 BOF or Testing
1430-1530 Testing
1530-1600 Break and Refreshments
1600-1800 Testing

Wednesday 1 October
0800-0830 Coffee & Rolls
0830-1000 Testing
1000-1030 Break and Refreshments
1030-1200 Testing
1200 End of Testing

1200-1300 Lunch/Opening1

Conference Schedule

CALCONNECT CONFERENCE XXXI

Wednesday 1 October
1100-1200 Introduction to CalConnect2
1200-1300 Lunch
1300-1415 Opening
1415-1430 TC IOPTEST Reports
1430-1530 TC TASKS
1530-1600 Break and Refreshments
1600-1700 TC FSC
1700-1800 Host Session - Youcanbook.me

1800-2000 Welcome Reception3
The Embankment
The Embankment, Bedford

Thursday 2 October
0800-0830 Coffee & Rolls
0830-1000 Workshop: History & Comment Feeds in iCalendar
1000-1030 Break and Refreshments
1030-1100 CalConnect Discussions
1100-1200 TC FREEBUSY
1200-1300 Lunch
1300-1500 TC CALDAV
1500-1530 TC EVENTPUB
1530-1600 Break and Refreshments
1600-1630 TC ISCHEDULE
1630-1800 TC SHARING

1915-2200 Group Dinner4
d’Parys
45 De Parys Avenue, Bedford

Friday 3 October
0800-0830 Coffee & Rolls
0830-1000 Workshop: Groups Sharing and Scheduling
1000-1030 Break and Refreshments
1030-1100 BOF: C&S Architecture
1100-1200 TC PUSH
1200-1300 Lunch
1300-1430 TC API
1430-1500 TC WRAPUP
1500-1600 CalConnect Plenary Session
1600 Close of Meeting

1The Wednesday lunch is for all participants in the Interop Testing and/or Conference
2The Introduction to CalConnect is an optional informal Q&A session for new attendees (observers or new member representatives)
3All Conference and/or Test Event participants are invited to the Wednesday evening reception
4All Conference participants are invited to the group dinner on Thursday.

Morning coffee, lunch, and morning and afternoon breaks will be served to all participants in the Test Event and Conference and are included in your registration fees.

Topical Agendas

CalConnect Discussions Thu 1030-1100
1. Health Care Workshop Report
2. Steering Committee Resolution and Follow-on

Host Session - Youcanbook.me Wed 1700-1800

Opening Session Wed 1300-1415
1. Welcome and Logistics
2. Introudctions
3. New Member Presentations
4. Overview of the Conference
5. CalConnect and the IETF - Update

TC API Fri 1300-1430
1. Introduction
1.1 Charter
1.2 Summary
1.2.1 Other people are doing this as well
2. Progress and Status Update
2.1. Overview on the abstract API
2.2. Demo Trial Implementation
3. Future
4. Open Discussions

TC CALDAV Thu 1300-1500
1. Introduction
1.1 Charter
1.2 Summary
2. Progress and Status Update
3. Work in Progress
3.1 Server information resource
3.2 Scheduling Object Drafts
3.3 Proposals for new work
4. Review and Update Charter and Milestones
5. Moving Forward
5.1 Plan of Action
5.2 Next Conference Call

TC EVENTPUB Thu 1500-1530
1. Introduction
1.2 Summarybr> 2 Draft progress
2.1 New "conference" property
3. Open Discussions

TC FREEBUSY Wed 1100-1200
1. Review of Charter
2. Brief description of VPOLL
2.1 Poll-modes
3. Progress report
3.1 Draft progress
3.2 Interop status report
4. Demonstration
5. Next steps
6. Next call

TC FSC Wed 1600-1700
1. Introduction
2 Summary
3. Progress and Status Update
3.1 Invitations 3.1.1 Calendar Sharing
3.1.2 Contact Sharing
3.2 Protocol issues
3.2.1 Efficiency
3.2.2 Security
4. Open Discussions
5. Charter Review

TC IOPTEST Wed 1415-1430
Review of interop test participant findings

TC ISCHEDULE Thu 1600-1630
1. Introduction
1.1 Charter
1.2 Summary
2. Calendar User Addresses and iSchedule (identity crisis resolution)
2.1 Discuss "base" iSchedule vs identity crisis "add-on"
3. Review and Update Charter and Milestones
4. Moving Forward
4.1 Plan of Action
4.2 Next Conference Calls

TC PUSH Fri 1100-1200
1. Introduction
1.1 Summary
2. Progress and Status Update
2.1 Present new protocols + diagrams
2.2 Demo
3. Open discussion
3.1 Protocol 1 - bootstrapping
3.2 Protocol 2 - data model
4. Next steps

TC SHARING Thu 1630-1800
1. Overview of revised specifications
1.1 WebDAV User Notifications
1.2 WebDAV Collection Sharing
1.3 Calendar Sharing
1.4 Addressbook Sharing
2. Open Issues
2.1 Addressbook Collection vs. Group sharing
3. Next steps
4. Next call

TC TASKS Wed 1430-1530
1. Introduction
1.1 Recap Charter
2. Recap work to date
3. Progress since last roundtable 3.1 Comments and History
3.2 Task Assignments and VPOLL
3.3 Draft status
3.3.1 Task Extensions
3.3.2 Relationship Changes
3.3.3 Discussion
4. Implementations and Interop Testing
4.1 Promote use of CATEGORIES
4.2 Do we need an ontology?
4.3 q-name name spaces managed in an (IANA) registry?
5. Next steps

Workshop: Groups - Sharing and Scheduling Fri 0830-1000
1. Introduction
2. Examples of group scheduling modes
3. Examples of group sharing modes
4. Existing group handling in iCalendar
5. Problems with recurring events and tracking group membership changes over time
5. Discussion
6. How to move forward

Workshop: History and Comment feeds in iCalendar Thu 0830-1000
1. Introduction
2. Use cases for history/comment feeds
3. Examples of existing versioning/comment feed technology
4. Dealing with recurring events
5. Security, privacy, and legal implications
6. Discussion
7. How to move forward

Workshops and BOFs

Workshop: History and Comments feeds in iCalendar Thursday 0830-1000:

In shared calendar environments, in particular, it is useful to know who changed an event or task, when the change was made, and what those changes were. Whilst a sophisticated "versioning" system could cover that, a lightweight approach may be better. In addition, users often want to be able to comment publicly or privately on an event or task, generating a "stream" of comments that can be reviewed (rather than just having the last comment visible as is typically the case today).

The purpose of this workshop is to discuss each of these issues in more depth with the goal of determining possible solutions to these problems. Consideration will be made for scaleability, useability, and the desire not to reinvent the wheel wherever possible.

Workshop: Groups Sharing and Scheduling Friday 0830-1000:

Much of the focus of scheduling and sharing of calendar data has been for use by "individuals". However, in many "enterprise" and "social" environments, individuals often have a common "purpose" that can be represented by placing those related individuals into a "group". When groups exist, it would be convenient to be able to schedule or share data with all members of the group, and have changes to the group membership over time impact the scheduling and sharing states.

For example, a company might setup a group for a specific project that a number of individuals are working one. A team meeting for project members is scheduled every week. When a new team member arrives, they are added to the group. At that point it would be convenient if they were also automatically added as an attendee of the weekly team meeting. Similarly, if an individual is no longer associated with the project and removed from the group, they should be automatically removed as an attendee of the team meeting.

The purpose of this workshop is to discuss how automatic management of group attendees and group sharees could be achieved on a CalDAV server and, in more general terms, via iTIP. We will examine different use cases, or "modes", of group scheduling and sharing with a view to addressing concerns of scaleability in particular.