If you are familiar with the process but want to know more about how to participate, please read the Getting Involved page.
The new jcp.org web site was launched on 16 June 2009. It introduced a number of new features on the site:
A revision to the web site was launched on 11 November 2009. The features introduced then are:
If you are not already a Spec Lead, participating on an Expert Group and have not already done so, you should register for the site. Click the "Register for Site" link, fill out the form and submit it. You'll be prompted to check your e-mail Inbox for a confirmation message; follow the instructions in that message to complete your registration.
Once you've registered, you can create a personalized list of JSRs that interest you, access the discussion boards, and, if you're are an employee of an organization which is already a JCP Member, you can request to be associated with that Membership.
To request to be associated with an existing JCP Member, log in. Then click "My Profile" under "My JCP". This will take you to the "View Profile page where you can review and update your contact information. Near the top of the page is a link labeled "Request Member association". Click this link and fill out the form, selecting the JCP Member which you represent from a list. When the form is submitted, the primary contact of that JCP Member will get a message asking them to confirm your status as an official representative of that Membership.
Once you are officially representing a JCP Member, whether by joining as an new Member or associating yourself to an existing Member successfully, another link will appear on your "View Profile" page: "View Membership Info". Click this link to see a bunch of information about the JCP Member you represent: who else is representing the Member and on which JSRs they serve as Specification Lead or Expert group member, which agreements were signed and their anniversary dates, who is listed as your Member's primary contact (the person who votes in the annual elections).
Editing your watch list
To add a JSR to your watch list, enter the number of the JSR you want to add in the search box, click "search". The JSR should appear in the "search results" box. Select the JSR(s) you want to add from that list, then click "add". The JSR(s) you have selected will be added to the "Saved selections" list. When you are satisfied with the list you've created, click "submit" to update the "My JSRs" section.
JSR
Just under the tab, you have three options for presenting the JSR proposal information:
Update
Just under the tab, you have four options for viewing the Updates that the Specification Lead and Expert Group have provided directly to the community:
Expert Group
If you are not on a particular JSR's Expert Group, you will be returned to the My JSRs list or prompted to log in when trying to access this tab. This tab is private to the people who are serving as Experts on that JSR's Expert Group. the layout of the EG tab is substantially similar to the Update tab: there is a page which the Spec Lead may edit, a file repository, and a link to the Expert Group-private discussion board.
Administration
If you are the Spec Lead of a particular JSR, you will also see the Administration tab. From this tab, you can perform a number of tasks:
General Discussion boards
At launch there were eight general discussion boards, which each covered a larger topic than just one JSR. They are:
Using the boards
When you view a given discussion board, you can click the "new thread" link to start your own thread, or you can click on the title of any of the existing threads to read that thread. When you start your own thread, you enter a title for the thread and then the body of the comment. Click "post" when you've finished. The new thread will appear. When you click on the title of an existing thread, the first page of messages in that thread will appear. Next to each message is a set of icons that give you some control over your postings and ways to respond to the postings of others. You can edit or delete your message in the thread. If it is someone else's message, you can reply to their message or reply while quoting the message in question. The reply interface is nearly identical to the add new thread interface; when you've finished entering your message, click "post" to submit it.
Using the boards via e-mail
Many Expert Groups wish to conduct their communications primarily through e-mail. Both the observers and EG-private boards also generate e-mail messages. This allows the people using those boards to choose to use either the board's web interface, or just to interact with the board via e-mail, where it functions like a standard mailing list, or some combination of the two. For instance, if you are on the Expert Group for JSR 500, you could send mail to jsr-500-eg@jcp.org. This message would be distributed to everyone else on the Expert Group via e-mail, as well as being entered in the discussion board for future reference.
Hand-in-hand with the discussion boards are wiki pages which you can create and edit.
Accessing the wiki
To get to the wiki, you must login on the left navigation bar. Then click "My Discussions". This will take you to the list of discussion boards. But at the top is a selection of pull-down menus; one of them is "Wiki". Click "wiki" or select "Wiki home" from the pull-down menu to see the top page.
Creating a page
To create a page in the wiki, select "Create Page" from the wiki pull-down menu. You'll be presented with a form for submitting the page title, summary, and contents. When you've finished entering your new page, click "save" to add it to the wiki.
Editing an existing page
To edit an existing page, view that page and click the "Edit" icon (looks like a notepad & pencil) to bring up the edit screen, which looks just like the create a page screen except that you can't change the title of the page. An alternative method of getting to the edit screen is to select "List Pages" from the wiki pull-down menu, then click the "edit" icon to the right of the listing for the page you want to edit, without first going to the page itself.
As you browse the discussion boards and wiki pages, you will see the "RSS" icon. Clicking that icon will give you a feed for you to give to your preferred RSS reader. Note, however, that SSL must be enabled in your reader in order for it to receive the feed. Individual discussion boards, general wiki pages and individual wiki pages all have feeds to which you can subscribe.
You can now "rate" discussion board and wiki content with a "star" rating. Simply browse to a jcp.org wiki page or a discussion board. You'll see the five starsthere. Clicking the respective stars adds your rating to an aggregated rating of the content by all users of the JCP web site. One star represents something terrible, which you dislike intensely. Two stars would be something that you just didn't like. Three stars means you felt it was OK: not good, not bad, just OK. Four stars means you liked it, and five stars means you really love it.