Affinity Groups

This page describes the "affinity groups" concept emerging in NCAnet partners conversations. Partners agreed to move forward with this concept at their August 2012 meeting.

One way that NCAnet partners are organizing their interactions and activities is through affinity groups. These groups provide a way for partners to structure their NCA-related activities around common issues or areas of interest. Affinity groups are open to all NCAnet partners, and partners may participate in as many affinity groups as they wish. NCAnet partners need not be involved in any affinity groups to be a member of or contribute to NCAnet. If your organization has not yet signed up for affinity groups, please use the form below to do so.

Affinity groups can be formed by any NCAnet members who have mutual interest in a specified technical or professional topic. To suggest a topic, one or more NCAnet partners should prepare a short statement describing the topical focus of group, any already-confirmed members, proposed activities for the group, and the chair or co-chairs of the group. They should submit the description to the steering committee, who circulate the description to the collection of NCAnet partners for discussion. If no partner objects to formation of the group within two weeks, the group is considered approved and the chair or co-chairs should draw up a more formal charter for the group (see draft model charter below).

Existing affinity groups include the following. Click on each page to read the group's description and for information about how to access online forums for each group.