Review CMWG collaboration infrastructure

[cassgvp]

Detail

The refreshed CMWG (initiated by the DARE UK 2025 award) should review and agree upon a core collaboration infrastructure.

This issue it to note the infrastructure to be reviewed, outcomes of relevant meeting conversations and decisions made going forwards. The below checklist represents the current state, with the relevant parts of meeting notes included in comments.

Actions

1. Meeting cadence

• Monthly meeting (please prioritise) for active decision making
• Fortnightly Optional Co-Working (a time to speak and work with Co-Chairs on community deliverables) - @isharma-97 please confirm meeting invites are correct.

2. Video call platform

• MS Teams hosted by @isharma-97 at MFT.
• Zoom license have been discussed (MFT are awaiting license). Not clear yet if/when zoom would be used over Teams.

3. Collaborative documentation

• MFT Sharepoint is used for confidential materials

• Cryptdrive is used for internal working docs (code and office format with reviewing)

• Legacy material on google drive - move over to cryptdrive

• Transparency policy ([community review requested] UK TRE CMWG Transparency Policy #148 ) updated with storage conventions

• Relevant discussion:

  • Google docs is banned on Manchester NFT
  • Framapad is used by The Turing Way as better accessibility for screen readers
  • HackMD is valued for markdown, tagging, and syncing to GitHub
  • Agreed to stick with HackMD for now while we review the options
  • Looks like MS Teams might be necessary for restricted access docs
  • Cass will also need a Manchester NFT email to build community mapping workflow (Sharepoint lists)
  • Cryptdrive is emerging as an appropriate tool for this.

4. Slack

• Maintain as usual for the community and Co-Chair comms. no evidence of a need to migrate the community from there at the moment.
• Maintainers: @cassgvp check and record here

5. GitHub

• Review org and repo membership
• Add/downgrade/remove members where necessary
• Review issues and project boards
• Publish copy for the CMWG repo
• Confirm desirability to use issues to guide meeting agendas

6. Sharing credentials

• For management of passwords etc.
• Other similar groups are using KeyBase - note this is no longer being updated.

Actions

• Review requirements of Manchester NFT
• Confirm acceptable solution

7. Events registrations

• Previously using Luma
• This has been acceptable and continues to be free
• No indication of a requirement to move away from this.
• Review whether registration/attendance information is sufficient to track engagement (likely yes, in combination with zoom export)

Actions

• Review Luma engagement data export to confirm suitability.

[cassgvp]

I've emailed slack feedback to ask them to transfer ownership of the workspace to me.

[cassgvp]

Discussion on this issue (from meeting notes):

Meeting 2025-10-21

• Continue meeting every two weeks — fortnightly agreed as good for volunteer CMWG members. Cass to take over agenda setting.
• Claire not on Slack.
• Notes previously kept in Framapad (set up by Jim, intended to last one year).
• Claire getting a Zoom licence through procurement.
• SharePoint: Google banned; Claire drafting in Trust SharePoint; Claire to set one up.
• Tool for sharing credentials (passwords): raised as a tech-stack topic for another meeting — Keybase in use by RCM Coop and Corvus Coop.
• Tech stack flagged for a dedicated meeting: Keybase (limits etc.), Google Drive cleandown, Framapad (why used, tagging/organisation), LUMA and UKTRE Gmail, GitHub project board, Slack admin ownership, HackMD team.
• Ask Najmeh if happy for the group to continue using her Teams until Zoom is sorted — done.

Meeting 2025-11-03

• Collaboration infrastructure (issue Review CMWG collaboration infrastructure #144 itself referenced): Slack — David replied on slack workspace ownership.
• Claire's Zoom licence approved. - Confirm
• Transparency policy discussion: "open by default, closed by exception" phrasing preferred (Tudor).

Meeting 2025-12-02

• Tech stack: Cryptpad instead of HackMD and Google Docs. Accounts needed to edit privately. Cryptpad for internal, Google Docs for public-facing. Concern noted about "techno stress" for public users of Cryptpad. Action: document that Cryptpad is used internally, with justification. Question raised on whether Cryptpad is an appropriate place for confidential working, and on archiving policy (GitHub as main repository).
• Transparency policy: agreed to publish "open for comment" on GitHub — done. Shared to UKTRE mailing list and Slack — done.

Meeting 2026-02-10

• Tech stack: Cryptpad confirmed as the tool in use (earliest mention in this set).
• Community mapping infrastructure discussion (Baserow, Seatable considered) — privacy/security criteria noted: open export format, GDPR/data-controller status, host ISO 27001 compliance.

Meeting 2026-03-10

• Simon to make Cass an admin on the JISC mailing list for UK-TRE (and conference organisers).
• Crypt drive: contact requests sent to Cass by Madalyn and James.
• Sync time: Simon finds fortnightly proper meetings good, co-working less useful. Suggestion of a clear message on how to make it easier to attend at least one meeting if not on Slack.

Meeting 2026-06-02

• New monthly meeting schedule agreed in principle: Isha to make meeting link open with Cass as co-host. Format — specific decision activities ("the committee approves X, Y, Z"), papers in advance, minimal live discussion time, ongoing discussion on Slack with people tagged, tracking progress, reporting timelines TBC.
• Domain: UK TRE domain currently paid for by Simon (annual). Preference to avoid transferring to a corporate org to keep control; Simon to ask whether someone can be added to co-manage the domain.
• Moving admin permissions: Simon also admin on JISC, possibly Slack, Luma — all need to be handed over. Co-Chair changeovers will require an obligations form signed with MFT.
• Moving materials to Cryptdrive: list documents to be moved, review presentations.
• Sunsetting issue to be transferred from the alan-turing-institute repo to UKTRE GitHub (Cass action). - done

Meeting 2026-06-09

• Isha made an owner on the Slack workspace.
• Cass investigating getting Isha added as an owner on JISC. Current owners listed: D. Scobbie (Cass to check if still wants to be an owner), Madalyn Hardaker, S. P. Li, Cassandra Gould van Praag. - Confirmed as not currently active. @isharma-97 to enquire with them directly.

Meeting 2026-06-23

• Kumu licence confirmed can be paid by card. Isha to purchase, next week, 1 year in advance or monthly as preferred.
• Cass back on MFT SharePoint.
• UKTRE GitHub: Isha sent invite to UKTRE org and UKTRE CMWG repo. Actions — update README; review issues. - done
• SharePoint: need directory structures for mapping data, qual interviews, other bits. @isharma-97 to set upProposed structure: events / assets / project-management (comms, finance, reporting, meeting-notes) / research (ethics, mapping, interviews).

Meeting 2026-07-10

• Community mapping GitHub data has been downloaded (Isha working on this); to be combined with Slack data.
• @manics download the JISC mail data. - done @isharma-97 - please add Sharepoint link
• Question raised on whether UK TRE website has been updated/upgraded and duplications removed.
• Note: not a scheduled meeting.

Meeting 2026-07-14

• Reminder that only confidential information should be saved on SharePoint; this is the appropriate space for WIP docs to work on together.
• Co-working moved to fortnightly; need to decide how to communicate about holding space (email + Slack).

Meeting 2026-07-21

• COC minimally update or change? Decision: Maintain current CoC with updated reporting lines, to avoid triggering an approval. Current CoC also has good provenance. @cassgvp Update and Move to main repo root. - done
• Community documentation audit #172 Documentation audit: Cass to turn into a document to archive on the repo.
• Review CMWG collaboration infrastructure #144 Collaboration infrastructure: @cassgvp to update issue with decisions made. SharePoint access to confirm — Claire, Cass, Isha. Cryptpad for all docs Co-Chairs might need to access (restricted). GitHub for public.
• [community review requested] UK TRE CMWG Transparency Policy #148 Transparency Policy: moved to Cryptpad from Google Drive — done. No major concerns in feedback. @hardakerm to incorporate reviewer comments, tag on Slack when ready for review.