Minutes posted for September 2019 asynchronous meeting

The RDA Steering Committee held its first asynchronous meeting from 16-19 September 2019 (17-20 September 2019 in Oceania), using Basecamp software.

Minutes for that meeting have been posted on the RSC website.

Asynchronous meetings have become necessary because the time zones for RSC conference call participants go fully around the globe and thus are always a hardship for someone. An asynchronous meeting is fully managed online, and allows for participants to make online comments when convenient in their time zone. Participants also check in and respond to the comments of others throughout the meeting dates.

The RDA Board, facing the same time zone challenges, provided an example for the RSC to follow. The RSC decided to test this technique in September so we could discuss it and make further plans at our face-to-face meeting in October. We hope to schedule quarterly meetings--three asynchronously and one face-to-face--each year.

Through more frequent meetings, the RSC intends to be more responsive to changes that are needed in RDA. In the past, major changes were were restricted to once a year, following the annual meeting. With more frequent meetings, needed changes will be able to be implemented more quickly in regularly scheduled releases.