Attempting to get on the JSR 286 (Portlet Spec) Expert Group: Part 1

After a fair bit of work at the coal face, I've decided to try and head off some of my personal nightmares at the pass. I've sent the following mail to JSR 286:

Dear Sir / Madam,

I am writing to request information on how to join the JSR 168 Expert Group.

I am an Agile Developer / Architect working for one of the worlds most respected Consultancies, as well as a JCP individual member of the last 4 years. I am also both a Sun certified J2EE Architect and Java 5 programmer.

I have extensive and recent experience of JSR 168 Portlet development (most recently with Websphere Portal Server 5.0.1) as well as the more established web and enterprise API’s (Servlet / JSP / JEE / EJB), frameworks (e.g. Struts and JSF) within, and external to the Portal model. In addition, I used to be a member of the Sun Microsystems Software Practice in the UK and consulted on some of the most important Sun Portal Server deployments of recent years.

What interests me most is the consideration of a open and standardised method of inter-portlet communication - an area which I understand this specification intends to address. I have “in the field” experience with IBM’s click to action and “wires” technology. In addition, I have experience of the WSRP specification. As an employee of a consultancy / systems integrator I believe I have a valuable role to play in representing consumers of the specification, both developers who use it, and also users who want their portals to be capable of richer, platform-independent functionality. As an ex employee of a vendor, I can also appreciate that the specification is not only suited for a single audience. I can help achieve this balance.

I am keen to participate as fully as possible and have no qualms about putting in whatever work will be required to fulfil my role as a contributor to this important specification.

I hope you feel as enthusiastic as I do and look forward to progressing this further. I hope I haven’t missed the boat to be a member of this exciting team.

Kind Regards,

Andrew

Fingers crossed...