Re: steering committee vs foundation

[Kjartan Maraas <kmaraas online no>]

Bart Decrem wrote:
> 
> Hi everybody,
> 
> There's been a ton of interesting postings about the right way to
> address the international issue and corporate representation, and the
> membership issue and I wanted to propose the following structure:
> 
> 1- Gnome Steering Committee:
> --------------------------
> The Steering Committee would be the forum to discuss the overall
> technical discussion of the Gnome project.  It would also coordinate
> releases.  So it's responsibilities would be identical to those of
> today's steering committee.  The Steering Committee would be elected by
> all the members of the Gnome community as a slate.  The slate would be
> proposed by the outgoing steering committee but any member could propose
> an alternative slate.  All slates that have at least 5 signatories would
> be on the election ballot.  Elections would be held electronically once
> a year.  Membership would be determined as follows:
> - A committee from the current steering committee would go through the
> Gnome hackers mailing list and the CVS account list and make the most
> inclusive list of members of the Gnome community, and post that list on
> a web site.
> - Anyone who's not on that list and wants to be a member would send off
> a brief email to the committee describing how they're contributing to
> Gnome.  The criterion for membership would be to have made 'meaningful
> contributions to Gnome for at least 2 months', which would be
> interpreted liberally by the committee - in other words, very rarely
> would people be denied membership.  The idea would be that basically
> people become members by asking to be members, with some minimal
> threshold.  There would be no membership fee, and no rules for corporate
> affiliations (so if you're working at a company on Gnome and you care
> enough to be aked to be a member, then you're a member).
> The Gome Steering Committee would not be affiliated with a legal entity
> and so it would be a worldwide virtual entity.  This solves the
> US/Europe problem.
> 

I think this sounds perfectly reasonable. Good thinking :)

> 2- Gnome Foundation (USA):
> ------------------------
> The Gnome Foundation we are creating in the US would have a board of
> directors that is self-appointed (much in the way most non-profit boards
> are appointed and just like many of the standards bodies).  The board
> would include a balance of Gnome hackers, including several members of
> the Gnome Steering Commitee (including the Chair of the Steering
> Committee), and corporate representatives.  The Foundation would be the
> main forum where corporations who are interested in Gnome get to talk
> among themselves and with representatives of the Steering Committee
> about the technical direction of Gnome.  The Foundation would also focus
> on promoting Gnome, setting up technical conferences etc.  The
> Foundation would have paying corporate members.  There could also be
> Gnome Foundations in Europe, Asia or where ever.
> 
> How does that sound?
> 
Like a plan. You have my vote ;)

Cheers
Kjartan