Re: Arabeyes Charter Proposal

["Chahine M. Hamila" <mch at chaham dot com>]

Tayeb. Here's the amended charter, keeping Isam's and Mohamed's suggestion. I assume
it is passed now then.
Salaam,
Chahine


Arabeyes Charter
================


Roles and Responsibilities
of the Core Team
--------------------------

  General Coordinator
    - Coordinate with core team
    - Maintain the site, cvs, bug tracker, etc.
    - Resolve conflict, should they arise
    - Maintain meeting minutes and agendas
    - Moderate meetings and schedules

  Localization Coordinator
    - Manage translation teams
    - Set priorities and deadlines
    - Coordinate with related i18n coordinators of other projects

  Public Relations and Recruitment
    - Campaign educational institutions and rally for support
    - Recruit new volunteers into the project
    - Represent Arabeyes in public and to the media
    - Initiate external contacts with companies and other projects
    - Serve as mentor to new members of the project
    - Enhance Arabeyes’ image and prestige

  Research and Development Coordinator
    - Coordinate development projects to ensure harmony and
      staying in focus
    - Set development priorities and deadlines
    - Serve as liaison to technical committees and standardization
      organizations
    - Define the research directions

Core Collective Responsibilities
--------------------------------

  - Approve individual project licenses
  - Coordinate external relations
  - Motivate volunteers
  - Propose and implement policies (technial and otherwise)


Policy Proposal Procedure
-------------------------

  1. Write formal proposal
  2. The General Coordinator adds item to meeting agenda
  3. Give a reasonable delay for discussion (via core mailing list)
  4. Schedule a voting deadline and render votes

Voting Procedures
----------------

  All votes will be rendered during a the core team meetin. If a member
  is unable to attend, they may email the GC with their vote(s).

A. Basic rules
   1. In the event of a tie, the General Coordinator invokes a parting vote.
   2. No one can be individually forced to do whatever he doesn’t want to.
   3. Decisions made by the Core Team are not discussable by non Core members, even
when they might appear arbitrary or unjustified. People can politely ask for
clarifications or make suggestions, and it will be at the Core Team’s discretion to
answer or not, or even forbid any discussion about it.
   4. Successful votes take effect immediately. A voted issue can be brought back on
the table if a shift in majority appears.
   5. A vote can be ‘for’, ‘against’, or ‘neutral’.

B. General decisions:

  1. General decisions are taken by simple majority votes.
  2. All non explicitly written voting exceptions will abide by this section.

C. Project decisions:

  Project decisions are essentially taken by each Project Coordinator within a system
he manages in the frame of the project he manages.
  Core Votes as in B.1 take precedence over Core Coordinators’s decisions which in
turn take precedence over the project coordinator’s decisions. An exception is when
the project is owned by the coordinator, i.e. the project coordinator is the main
author, in which case rule A.2 applies.

D. Inclusion of a new member in the core team:
  1. Inclusion of a new member in the core team will be proposed in answer to
specific needs.
  2. This procedure cannot succeed without the presence AND a favorable vote by 3/4
of the core team.
  3. If a member of the core team puts his own membership in the balance against the
inclusion, a vote according to rules B will have to take place. If the vote succeeds,
the successful inclusion by a following vote according to rule D.2 of the new member
will automatically exclude the subject of the first vote. If this first vote fails,
the inclusion procedure aborts.

E. Exclusion of a core member:
  A successful vote undertaken according to rules B is enough for excluding a member.

F. Core Coordinators elections:
   Elections of Core Coordinators abide by rules B.
   Core Coordinators are tacitly reconducted every year unless a core member
expresses will for an explicit vote.
   Elections are also triggered by important changes in the Core Team.
   Candidates for Coordinator positions are done within the Core Team, and voters are
all Core Team members.
   Potential non core member who would like to run for a Coordinator position would
have to be approved as possible candidates by the Core Team first according to rules
D. In case of approval, the success in elections makes her/his admission in Core Team
automatic and definitive.

G. Project Coordinators:
   Project coordinators are first nominated according to rules B.
   A Project Coordinator can set the rules of organization and functionning of the
project as he sees fit, including nominating another project coordinator. This last
initiative though would have to go through the approval of the Core Team.

H. Licenses
  License are accepted on a case per case basis according to a vote by rules B.


Annex:

- Proposed coordinators for the years 2002-2003 and tacitly reconducted later unless
someone states he wants explicit elections.

Mohamed Elzubeir : General Coordinator
Isam Bayazidi : L10N Coordinator
Nadim Shaikli: Public Relations and Recruitment
Chahine Hamila (and Mohamed Elzubeir?): RnD Coordinator

- There will most probably be unwritten usage over time. Though it is important to
follow such practices, none of them will be considered mandatory unless validated, by
vote or by plebiscit, as a a written part of this charter.

- Founding members of Arabeyes have no right per se. The status of being a ‘founding
member’ has no value. Relevance is in regard to the work being done in Arabeyes.