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• Open meetings (Mike/all, 10 minutes)

Notes

Note from Julia, the meeting will stay on 11AM on a Friday.

Regarding the first item on the agenda, the group discussed what do we as members of the SG want to focus on - lots of initiatives going on that we should think abut and talk about them and share our thoughts on them. How the SG can be involved and what our role can be. Help streamline the LG group, make decisions in this group and make recommendations for the LG group. How do people feel about that?

VI: Sees the SG members as active participants in the initiatives identified for 2019. Proposed the have SG members act as liaisons to the existing groups and report back to SG, as well as make sure the work of those groups stays aligned with the strategic directions. As a member of the SG as well as the LG, VI works on the ontology group, chairs the VIVO 2019 conference, and is interested in exploring ways of working closer with different communities on initiatives that are in alignment with the directions of the VIVO project.

PA: he is focusing on product evolution group and trying to move that forward. As member of the product evolution he can bring back what is being discussed there. He feels like SG work is talking about issues, asking policy questions on which they need feedback. Particular projects are interesting to different people since we all care about different things. Talking about product evolution, wikidata, funding prospects - grants. Do you see  a SG as a place to check in on or roles in other groups? It would be interesting to do a poll on how many TF, IG, Action Planing Groups, are active. 

MC: 3 things on his plate, first being action planning: people shepherding these initiatives come and talk to SG to get us updated on the various initiatives. The work on the five groups formed at the last year meeting at Duke University needs to end on March 1st. These 5 groups need to produce a final report as part of the work they have done. Some of those, like product evolution will become IG obviously. All other need to report on what they did. If needed more of these groups can continue.
Second, alignment: development, product evolution, need to align with the statement of direction. We have a map that shows where we are and where we want to go. We need to be clear about our directions. It starts with the fly-in and we will know we succeeded and at the end of the year. 
Thurd thing is that this SG needs to step up to be able to steer.  The heart of the project needs to be in this group so he wishes that we get more engaged.
 
MN: he feels that Mike said already what he feels. He felt connected to this project at the meeting that we had a year ago at Duke. The meeting at Duke was very useful to understand the stakes. He would like to endorse the idea to foster the different ways to build project. We should be looking to build these kind of experiences to build a relationship. 

DJ: agrees with VI idea of having SG members serve as liaisons to the various groups. Asking for deliverable from the five groups is a good idea. He is involved with the membership group. People from business side fit more but he is trying to help. DJ is actively writing papers, presents at conferences, thinking of different directions of VIVO: research intelligence and similar things. 

Grant pursuing option by SG members was raised by VI and suggestion was made that DJ may be one of the people best positioned to help with grant witting. JT will schedule a phone call with DJ.

JT says that she wants us to focus on the critical path development initiatives and this group as well as the LG have direct input on that. We need to stay ahead on the need of all these groups and support them. 

VI: did we answer the Qs on the agenda? People can react to a proposal of few ideas to get the feeling of the group members on what the focus should be.

MC: we have one Q that should be on our mind: what should the LG discussing? We as a SG should be feeding them with ideas and agenda. 

Mike on Open Meetings: people are allowed to attend meetings. We have some meetings that have restricted meeting attendance, like the SG and LG meetings. Even though the meeting notes are open to all, these two groups have restricted attendance. In all other meetings of the VIVO project attendance by anyone is a welcome occasion and newcomers should be welcomed and not shunned. 

Action items:

1. JT to contact the five groups and remind them to prepare a final report on the work they have done in the past year.

2. JT to schedule a phone call with DJ to discuss grant options

3. JT to send a proposal of few ideas to get clear feedback from all SG members on what the focus should be