The Information Sharing and Analysis Organization Standards Organization (ISAO SO) hosted an in-person meeting with working group leadership on the Denver University campus in Denver, Colorado, and via webinar, on Thursday, March 29, 2018.
The meeting kicked off with a few brief administrative notes from ISAO SO Director of Lifecycle Management Marlis Cook, and then immediately moved into a strategic discussion that was led by ISAO SO Executive Director Dr. Greg White.
The strategic discussion initially began by emphasizing how the ISAO SO vision continues to work at advancing the information sharing ecosystem through voluntary and consensus driven input from the community. Dr. White shared how recent discussions he’s had with state and local governments (to form ISAOs) have created an exciting prospect of expanding the ISAO ecosystem with State, Local, Tribal and Territories (SLTTs) governments. A few SLTTs have reached out to the ISAO SO for guidance, which in turn will encourage other sector-based industries to form ISAOs. Dr. White also expressed a need to look at partnerships that could help expand the ecosystem and build bridges between organizations so they see each other as public/private partners.
The meeting also included an update from ISAO SO Deputy Director Allen Shreffler on the Second Annual International Information Sharing Conference that will be held Sept. 11-12, 2018, in Tysons, Virginia. Several of the chairs volunteered to participate on committees that will select the speakers/topics and determine the Hall of Fame award winners.
Natalie Sjelin, director of support for the ISAO SO, wrapped up the meeting by providing an overview of ISAO support services, including the new ISAO Ecosystem Spotlight webinar series that launched on March 21, 2018. She emphasized how the Spotlight series will continue to spotlight timely and relevant topics to engage, not only new and emerging ISAOs, but the entire information sharing community. Sjelin also highlighted outreach efforts to connect with the 80 identified ISAOs in the ecosystem, including the 54 currently listed on the ISAO SO website, ISAO.org.
Additionally, Sjelin encouraged the Working Group chairs to provide feedback on the Resource Library and Marketplace found on ISAO.org. Both Web pages are in the process of review to ensure information continues to be timely and relevant for the information sharing ecosystem. Support discussions closed with a lifecycle management update from the support team and chairs on the status of seven documents currently under development. The meeting closed with a question and answer session.
Working Group chairs are volunteers that come from a variety of backgrounds: multiple industry sectors, government and academia. The ISAO SO strives to meet quarterly with Working Group chairs, alternating in-person and virtual meetings, in a continued effort to guide working groups on the standards development cycle and document creation.
Nearly 200 experts from various industry sectors, government and academia volunteer in Working Groups for the ISAO SO. It’s not too late to participate in a working group, and for those who would like to join, Working Group applications can be found on the Working Groups Overview page.
