[okfn-coord] Governance: Network members

Thu Nov 5 19:22:37 UTC 2009

2009/10/27 Becky Hogge <becky.hogge at gmail.com>:
> 2009/10/20 Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org>:
>> This is a longish email but it's about something important so I'd ask
>> all of you to please read it if you can.
>>
> Thanks for pulling this together. The proposal looks sound, and if the
> aim is to offer an intuitive governance structure that functions to
> move projects forward and also keep the Board abreast of progress,
> then I'm all for it.

That's right. I also think it is a way to broaden the bunch of people
"officially" involved with the OKFN.

> To get a clear picture of what this would mean to OKF, I'd like it if
> you could talk us through how we would progress this. My specific
> questions:
>
> 1) Which projects / people would be on the list of Network Members now?

Good question but my suggestion would be:

a) all volunteers named on <http://www.okfn.org/about/people>
b) Selected active people on projects/wg (intend to have at least one
from every project/wg)
c) Perhaps a few additional individuals we think merit it (e.g. Rob Myers ...)

> 2) Who would this mean would sit on the proposed Project Committee?

For project committee we'd seek to get one person from each
project/working group.

> 3) What kind of annual timetable would these guys work to - how often
> would they meet, and how often would they report to the Board?

The project committee would meet once a month i think as part of our
tuesday evening irc. Rather than them formally reporting to the board
I think at least one board member (e.g. me) would be a project
committee member and would report back to the board.

> 4) Woud this setup imply any change to our governing documents?

I assume you mean our memorandum/articles of association? I don't
think so. Network Members won't be "official" members of the OKF
Limited -- and even if we did want to the articles state:

"The number of Members of the Company shall be unlimited and the
Directors may from time to time determine such classes of membership
as the Directors shall see fit providing that the classification of
such membership if designed to further the aims and objects of the
Company."

So for example we could create this as a class of member but one
without any voting rights in relation to the board.

> I'm also keen to know whether OKF's consulting work would continue to
> happen outside of this group. Would aid.info be a network member? Or
> are they a client?

I think we should restrict membership to individuals to start with.
However I think you are getting at a more important issue of an
inside/outside distinction (and potential conflicts of interest). For
the project committee I'm not sure this is such a big deal and I think
our consulting guidelines may help deal with this.

Rufus