Workgroup:Procedure for nominating nominated members/Code of Conduct

Purpose
The purpose of this workgroup is to facilitate the development of procedures for nominating the nominated members of the WikiEducator Community Council.

This workgroup was established after the Third WikiEducator Community Council Meeting during which the need for procedures for nominating the nominated members of the WE CC was discussed in detail based on the motion' to appoint a Community Workgroup to draft and propose the procedures for nominating nominated members of Council in accordance with our Policy for Community Workgroups and Open Community Governance Policy (V2). The Workgroup shall consider the advice and guidelines provided by Council during this meeting and prepare a submission for Council to consider for approval by special resolution or general meeting. The procedures must be approved and in place to facilitate the nomination of nominated members for the next term of office commencing on 24 September 2010.' A majority of the Council has voted to approve above motion. The motion has been approved with a presumptive note from the Chair that the workgroup must consider nomination procedures that aim to address the substantive concerns raised by voting members. Hence the purpose of this workgroup.

Specified outputs

 * a charter for the work group
 * first draft procedures for nominating the nominated members of the WikiEducator Community Council (to initiate discussions in the workgroup)
 * second draft procedures for nominating the nominated members of the WikiEducator Community Council (for placing before the WE CC)
 * support resources
 * reports of the workgroup

Objectives
The process will result in


 * 1) a 1st Draft of the procedures for nominating the nominated members of the WikiEducator Community Council for presentation and review at the next WikiEducator Community Council Meeting (to be announced)
 * 2) a workgroup report.

Leadership style

 * Convenor:

The current draft will be amended in accordance with resolved issues and unchallenged proposed wordings. 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.
 * the convenor will facilitate the development of a 1st draft in accordance with the WE CC decision to initiate discussions in the work group.
 * fortnightly e-mails will be circulated to remind participants of the task(s) at hand and to stimulate discussion.

An issue may be resolved if there is strong support for a particular wording, or no objections are raised within 14 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 (such as the next community council meeting) the convener and/or other key participants may make quick changes on unchallenged or undiscussed issues. So, watch the issue tracker and 1st draft pages, be alert and react quickly to last minute changes if necessary.

Skills required to achieve workgroup objectives

 * We are looking for individuals with knowledge and experience of peer production in a wiki environment involving a diversity of participants.
 * If you feel you have some special knowledge or experience of relevance, please participate and share.

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.

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:
 * Start the process with a proposed draft procedures for nominating the nominated members of the WikiEducator Community Council
 * Post key questions or messages to stimulate discussion (around beginning/end of each month)
 * Mark resolved issues.


 * 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.

The amount of work required is not estimated at present.

Useful Resources

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

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.

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).