Join the Community

Looking to help with the software specifications? Want to help with requirements for a new feature for the InCommon Federation?

At InCommon, we have multiple options for you to participate in and learn:

• Our advisory groups provide guidance, feedback and suggestions to us about our division at Internet2 as well as InCommon services and software. They also spin up new working groups every year.
• Our working groups look at requirements or investigate a problem or technology. There are software and service-related working groups. This is great place to get your feet wet, meet some people, and help the community move the ball forward.

See our wiki for a complete list of available community groups.

Learn About New Groups

A good way to keep up to speed on working groups and other issues is to join the InCommon participants email list. Send mail to sympa@incommon.org with the subject line, Subscribe Participants. That’s also a good place to pose questions and get help from the community.

Much of the community work is done, not surprisingly, by email. Here are some email lists that we recommend you join. To join, email sympa@incommon.org with the subject: subscribe <name of list>:

• InCommon Participants (participants@incommon.org) is where community members discuss issues and problems of common interest. You’ll also receive announcements of webinars, notification of community reviews of working group reports, and other key information.
• InCommon Operations Notifications (inc-ops-notifications@incommon.org) is the official technical announcement list. Site administrators are automatically subscribed, but others may join.
• All working groups have open email lists. Visit the wiki page for information on active working groups and associated email lists.
• InCommon Certificate Users (cert-users@incommon.org) is a place to ask questions and compare notes with fellow cert service subscribers.
• The eduroam-admins list (eduroam-admins@internet2.edu) provides a discussion area for those who administer eduroam in their organizations. Note – to subscribe to this list, send email to sympa@internet2.edu with the subject line: subscribe eduroam-admins.
• Newsletters – Internet2 has a number of community newsletters, including the periodic Trust and Identity News. A list, along with information on how to subscribe, are on the Internet2 website.

Interested in participating on one of our development teams or contributing code? Send email to help@incommon.org and review the Community Contributions policies and agreement on our InCommon Policies and Documents page.

The community is always looking for case studies to review and learn from. Have a good one? Let us know and we’ll work with you to get it edited (optional) and published.

Part of the fun is to help someone else solve a problem or learn a new skill. Take a look at ways you can pitch in to help a peer. For more information, contact us.

• Join the developer or user lists for our software and contribute your ideas. To get connected, search for the name of the software or service that interests you (“grouper” or “comanage” for example). You’ll find the lists in two places
  • InCommon Federation and Certificate-related lists: lists.incommon.org.
  • Software and eduroam-related lists: lists.internet2.edu
• Join the InCommon Academy training team and help others while learning more about the topic and who’s doing what.
• Blog, present at a meeting or during a webinar. We can help you get your story published or heard.
• Keep up with what’s going on by joining the InCommon Participants email list. It’s a good place to pose questions and get help from the community too.

Our Internet2 Trust and Identity Program Advisory Group, the InCommon Steering Committee, and our service-related advisory groups are the engines for our direction and work. We agree on a map forward and then follow it, together. If you want to be in the driver’s seat, this is the place to be.

Join an advisory group. Help drive the bus.

Send us your thoughts and questions and we’ll talk.