You don't need to be a member of CalConnect to implement a standard. You need to be a member of CalConnect to influence a standard.
Welcome to CalConnectSM. We are a non-profit partnership between vendors and users of collaboration systems and tools, in particular calendaring and scheduling.
Our purpose is to improve all aspects of collaboration services, in particular calendaring and scheduling. We do this by improving existing standards, developing new standards, offering interoperability testing, collaborating with other organizations with similar goals, and conducting periodic conferences where engineers and customers meet and interact in a collegial atmosphere. We liaise with other major international standards organizations such as ISO and OASIS.
Virtually every important calendaring or calendaring-related standard since the late 2000s has been authored, edited and/or coedited by members of a CalConnect Technical Committee. We invite you to learn more about CalConnect, and we hope you will become a participating member.
If you have any questions, please use the contact form, or e-mail us directly at contact@calconnect.org.
Overview
CalConnect is focused on the interoperable exchange of calendaring and scheduling information between dissimilar programs, platforms, and technologies. Our mission is to promote general understanding of and provide mechanisms to allow interoperable calendaring and scheduling methodologies, tools and applications to enter the mainstream of computing. An early overview presentation is available at this link: CalConnect, Calendaring Interoperability and Calendaring Standards and a ten-year review at An Anecdotal History of CalConnect. A list of Calendaring standards, specifications, and standards-related activities to date may be found here: Calendaring Standards.
CalConnect's major activities are:
- Promote calendaring and scheduling to the information technology industry and the general public
- Promote and support collaboration between CalConnect members to achieve and improve interoperability
- Promote design and implementation of open calendaring and scheduling standards
- Develop and publish specifications and standards, and liaise or co-publish with other standards bodies
- Organize and conduct Technical Committees, CalConnect Conferences, Interoperability Testing opportunities, and other CalConnect activities in pursuit of its goals
CalConnect was incorporated in the State of California as a California Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation, at the beginning of 2004 as The Calendaring and Scheduling Consortium, and is recognized as a 501(C)6 tax-exempt mutual benefit association by the Federal government.
Background
Under the auspices of the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) significant work was done on Calendaring and Scheduling standards in the 1990s and early 2000s. in recent years. CalConnect built upon this work, extending existing specifications and developing new ones, conducting interoperability testing, and by promoting the widespread adoption and implementation of these and future Calendaring and Scheduling standards and the general acceptance and use of interoperable Calendaring and Scheduling among the internet-using community. More recently CalConnect has expanced its domain to collaboration standards and technologies, in particular contacts and date and time management.
Membership
Membership in CalConnecct is open to any organization interested in furthering our goals upon submission and acceptance of a membership application and payment of the appropriate dues. CalConnect invites members from
- Producers and vendors of Calendaring and Scheduling, and related, applications, products and services
- Open source organizations interested in Calendaring and Scheduling and related implementations
- Academic Institutions
- Customers interested in Calendaring and Scheduling and interested in supporting the goals of CalConnect and influencing the direction of technology evolution
- Standards-setting organizations
- Interested individuals
Technical Committees and oversight
The technical affairs and direction of the Consortium is directed by the Technical Coordination Committee, which is comprised of the chairs of the TCs and is chaird by the Chair of the TCC, under the oversight of the Board of Directors. CalConnect establishes Technical Committees as necessary, open to all members of CalConnect and headed by chairs from members. Technical Committees will have a well-focused charter and a specific timeframe in which to accomplish their work.
CalConnect Events
CalConnect holds two or three Conferences per year, generally spaced evenly through the year. These conferences consist of testing opportunities, working sessions, and more genereal sessions on ongoing and new work. CalConnect conferences are generally four days, with either the first or last day available for special events.
Work Products
Work in progress is restricted to CalConnect members. However, all completed work products are intended to be publicly and freely available and posted on the CalConnect website or submitted to other standards bodies for further progression.