Finalised constitution draft

Author: erget

constitution.adoc

@@ -1,22 +1,5 @@
 = CF Constitution
 
-// TODOs
-// Add: What bodies exist? How do they interact? What are their duties? What other things are there to do?
-// What are the "responsibilities/duties" of the different stakeholders?
-// How do we ensure that there is a moderator who processes a ticket?
-// Move tenses: None of this "will be", etc. - this is *what we do now*.
-// Possible sections to add: a) Meetings and releases; b) Roles and responsibilities
-////
-Stuff we know we want to implement in CONTRIBUTING.md
-Streamline moderation process by:
-1. Replace the moderator of discussions on GitHub (currently a "member of the conventions committee, or another suitably qualified person") with a member of the of the Conventions Committee or a volunteer whom they have selected. 
-2. Replace the mandatory 3 week period of silence between the beginning of discussion on GitHub and the summary of the proposal's discussion by a 5 week discussion period with no mandatory silence.
-This period can be extended if necessary.
-3. Replace the mandatory 3 week period of silence after the moderator summarises the state of discussion by a 1 week period that can be extended if necessary.
-
-Also needed in this document are stuff about moderator's role, etc. and how to assign people
-////
-
 == Introduction
 
 The CF Conventions' mission is to benefit of its users by enabling them to encode data products that are unambiguous, concise, understandable, and interoperable.
@@ -32,8 +15,6 @@ The following groups are involved in the CF governance processes:
 * CF Governance Panel
 * Conventions Committee
 * Standard Name Committee
-* Project teams
-* Community at large
 
 The following sections describe the specific roles of people in these groups.
 
@@ -44,6 +25,16 @@ The officers in each group are:
 * Other members who contribute to the work of the group.
 This may include officers who are appointed by the group in order to have responsibility for specific tasks.
 
+All bodies involved in the CF governance process carry out debates and make decisions in a way that is visible and transparent to all interested parties.
+They maintain permanent, public records of these items and all versions of all documents they are responsible for.
+
+In addition, the following groups exist or can be created as needed in order to support the progress and evolutions of the CF Conventions:
+
+* Project teams
+* Community at large
+
+These groups do not have officers and have no commitment to maintain records.
+
 == Composition of groups involved in CF governance
 
 Each year, at the Annual Meeting, the term of the longest serving member in the Governance Panel and each Committee ends.
@@ -82,8 +73,8 @@ Its duties include:
 
 ==== The Conventions Committee
 
-The Conventions Committee is develops and maintains the CF Conventions on behalf of the user community.
-It ensures that the CF Conventions evolve in line with the mission and philosophy of CF and the needs of the user community
+The Conventions Committee develops and maintains the CF Conventions on behalf of the user community.
+It ensures that the CF Conventions evolve in line with the mission and philosophy of CF and the needs of the user community.
 It also ensures that the Conventions remain coherent, implementable, and verifiable.
 
 Its duties include:
@@ -104,39 +95,30 @@ The moderator has the duty to
 * summarise the ongoing discussion periodically;
 * manage the voting process to accept or reject the proposal when a motion is raised to adopt the proposal's text.
 
-===== Publishing new versions of the CF Conventions
+===== Approving or rejecting proposed changes to the CF Conventions
 
-The CF Conventions are updated, if outstanding changes have been accepted, at the conclusion of the Annual Meeting.
-Exceptionally, updates can be released acyclically if there is a pressing need.
-
-// TODO: Finish below here
-=== Terms of reference of the standard names committee
-
-The standard names committee will be responsible for the definition of CF standard names and of any other aspects of controlled vocabulary in the appendices to the CF netCDF standard that it agrees with the conventions committee should be within its remit.
-
-The standard names committee will be responsible for maintaining the standard name table.
-The standard names committee and the conventions committee will together define the format of the standard name table.
-
-The standard names committee will have an interest in working towards interoperability with other vocabulary maintainers.
+When a member of the CF community feels that a proposed change has been sufficiently discussed and refined, they may make a motion to adopt it.
+If this motion is seconded by a member of the Conventions Committee, others within the community have three weeks to voice concerns against its adoption.
+If after three weeks no concerns have been voiced, the motion qualifies as approved and is accepted for publishing in the next release of hte Conventions.
+If objections are voiced, at the end of the three weeks a vote is held on whether to accept the proposal.
+The proposal is then accepted or rejected based on simple majority.
 
-The committees will ensure that appropriate means are made available for making proposals and carrying out debates in a way which is visible and open to participation by all interested parties, and for retaining a permanent public record of debates and of any decisions made.
-
-The committee will ensure that the standard, any supporting documents and resources, and the procedures for proposing and deciding changes are kept up-to-date and made publicly available.
+===== Publishing new versions of the CF Conventions
 
-// Migrated from Daniel's text
-The release frequency and canonical source of the Standard Name Tables will be recorded.
-Based off of historical evidence it seems realistic to plan monthly releases via GitHub.
+The CF Conventions are updated, if changes have been accepted, at the conclusion of the Annual Meeting.
+Exceptionally, updates can be released acyclically if there is a pressing need.
 
-// From DaL, integrate
-The Standard Names Committee:
+==== The Standard Names Committee
 
-* Evaluates proposed standard names; and
-* Publishes new versions of the Standard Names as needed.
+The Standard Names Committee defines CF standard names and maintains controlled vocabulary in the appendices to the CF Conventions.
+It pursues pursues interoperability with other controlled vocabularies and ontologies.
+Its duties include:
 
-The Standard Names Committee is composed of a total of nine members.
+* maintaining the contents and format of the standard name table;
+* evaluating proposed standard names;
+* publishing new versions of the standard names table as needed.
 
-// Everything below here to EOF is from Daniel and to be integrated
-== Project teams
+==== Project teams
 
 Project teams can be created by the CF Governance Panel and any of the existing Committees.
 They have a specific mandate and scope and are entrusted with completing specific tasks within a limited duration.
@@ -146,12 +128,12 @@ If it has not been able to complete all of its tasks, a new project team can be
 
 Examples for tasks that might be completed by an project team are:
 
-* Migrating between technical platforms (e.g. Trac to GitHub);
-* Upgrading the CF Checker;
-* Setting up DOI usage in CF;
-* Other tasks as needed.
+* migrating between technical platforms (e.g. Trac to GitHub);
+* upgrading the CF Checker;
+* setting up DOI usage in CF;
+* other tasks as needed.
 
-== Community at large
+==== Community at large
 
 The CF Conventions are designed to benefit their user community and the community at large is invited to contribute to the Conventions and the Standard Name Tables by participating in online discussions, attending meetings, proposing changes, or taking part in any other way they deem appropriate and useful.
 Community members participate on a best effort basis and have no responsibility to fulfil.