Workgroup:Amendments to Open Community Governance Policy

Purpose
The purpose of this workgroup is to catalyse discussion and activity around refining the Open Community Governance Policy.

The workgroup was established after the second WikiEducator community Council meeting in response to item "Amendments to Open Community Governance Policy".

Objectives
The process will result in


 * 1) a 2nd draft of the Open Community Governance Policy for presentation and review at the next WikiEducator Community Council Meeting (c. mid-March 2010)
 * 2) a workgroup report.

Leadership style

 * Convenor: Kim Tucker

"Tight-loose-tight": near month change (October 2009 - March 2010) an e-mail will be circulated to remind participants of the task(s) at hand and to stimulate discussion. Discussions will be open and unmoderated (unless need arises) on the wiki with occasional postings to relevant mailing lists if significant developments are ready for wider comment. Towards the end of each month, the draft will be amended in accordance with resolved issues.

An issue may be resolved if there is strong support for a particular wording, or no objections are raised within 21 days of the proposed change's posting. An issue may remain unresolved for longer if the convenor or others feel some or further discussion is needed.

If there are strong opposing opinions, a "vote" will be called among the members of this workgroup. Each member will be required to indicate their position on the issue tracker, and a decision will be made to finalise the version for review at the next WikiEducator Community Council meeting.

Close to deadlines the convener and/or other key participants may make quick changes on unchallenged or undiscussed issues. So, watch the issue tracker and 2nd draft pages, be alert and react quickly to last minute changes if necessary.

...and, we'll make it up as we go along :-)

Skills required to achieve workgroup objectives

 * We are looking for individuals with knowledge and experience of community or corporate governance, ideally in an open on-line environment with international collaborators and participants.

Note: These skills are not a requirement to join, but skills we expect to develop and pursue towards our workgroup objective.

Participants
The workgroup is open to anyone who is interested in participating constructively. Start by signing up to this workgroup by adding your signature to the list below.

Comments are welcome from non-members on the associated discussion pages.

Note: This charter applies to all members participating in this workgroup (whether or not they appear in this section).

Member responsibilities
Members of this workgroup agree to:


 * Regularly visit the work group pages, especially the Issues page
 * Watch the pages linked to above (in the navigation template) and react to e-mail alerts on changes (enable e-mail alerts in "my preferences")
 * Contribute to discussions constructively
 * Strive for consensus on relevant items.

Members and signatures
Approval of charter by members of Council

The following table is for WikiEducator Community Council members to indicate approval of this Community Workgroup charter:

To approve this charter, as a WikiEducator Community Council member, "sign" above by adding the following 

 before the last couple of lines of the table which, when editing, look like this: 
 * Add your signature here
 * }
 * }



Workgroup participants and charter acceptance by participants of this workgroup

To join the workgroup as a participant and optionally indicate your acceptance of the charter as a workgroup member, add your signature to the table below following the example of previous signatories:

Additional workgroup roles
The workgroup begins with all participants as "collaborators". Additional special roles may be defined and assumed as required during the process. Such additional roles may include:


 * Convenor: Kim Tucker 14:05, 29 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Start the process with a proposed draft charter
 * Post key questions or messages to stimulate discussion (during the first week of each month)
 * Mark resolved issues at the end of each month.


 * Editor:
 * Make the changes to Draft 2 in accordance with resolved issues on the issue tracker.


 * Reviewer:
 * Review milestone versions


 * etc.

Resources to achieve Workgroup objectives
This is a volunteer workgroup which will not be applying for funding unless some special need is agreed upon. Some participants' time may be funded independently by their institutions (etc.).

The amount of time required of participants is unspecified. As a minimum, it will be appreciated if each member could set aside an hour or two each week to comment on any developments and engage in the discussions. Extra time may be spent reading up on governance practice to help us develop something sound, progressive, robust and stable.

The amount of work required is small compared with the great work put into the first draft.

Useful Resources

 * Please add links on the Resources page for this workgroup.

Scope of commitment required of workgroup participants

 * Timeline: October 2009 - mid-March 2010
 * 16 October 2009: members of this working group have commented and accepted this charter (sign above), submit it to the WikiEducator Community Council (WCC).
 * N.B. Comments and discussion of Draft 2 may begin before this date.
 * 30 October 2009: WCC approves the charter.
 * At the end of each month (but mid-December 2009): ask "how are we doing, and how may we improve the process?
 * 31 January 2010: aim to have a semi-final version of Draft 2 for wider comment before the Third WikiEducator Council Meeting.
 * 19 February: draft workgroup report.
 * mid-March: finalise these two documents.
 * Time requirement (estimate): 1 - 2 hours per week per participant.
 * This will vary depending on the directions the discussions, the level of interest of individual participants and where we are in terms of completing the task(s) in relation to the timeline above.
 * Meetings
 * Interactions will be asynchronous via e-mail and wiki discussions.
 * Visit the watched wiki pages (and their discussion tabs) at least once a week.

Ground rules (the process)

 * Keep the WikiEducator values in mind (see front page).

The process will start with an open invitation to comment on issues raised so far. Hopefully, any major issues will be highlighted immediately for special attention.

Principle: Address the big issues early in the process.

For major issues, dedicated discussion threads may be started.

Minor issues may be resolved quickly at any time. Their resolution should be mentioned on the Issue Tracker for future reference.

The issue tracker serves as the central place to keep track of all issues (e.g. consolidating discussion which spans multiple discussion tabs).

The Timeline above briefly describes a proposed process.

Dedicated Mailing List: ... (to be set up only if needed - until then use the 'discussion' tabs on the relevant WikiEducator pages and the issue tracker).

Decision-making: Strive for consensus:


 * What is Consensus?
 * Consensus
 * Consensus in WikiEducator (a work in progress)

but be pragmatic:


 * See for example "Decision Making" in the Apache "How it works" document, and
 * Improvise.

The project plan
See Timeline above.

Evaluating workgroup success
In mid-December we will ask "How are we doing?" and if not on track discuss whether we need any special interventions.

The workgroup report will comment on the group's progress and any learning points along the way.

The final Draft 2 will be evaluated by the WikiEducator Community Council (WCC) at the Third WCC Meeting.

Approval
Participant approval of this charter may be indicated by adding your signature (i.e. ' ~ ' without the quotes) in the second column of the table above (under Participants).