Steering Group Seeding Options

Steering Group Seeding Options for Voting This page collects the various options for seeding the DataPortability Project Steering Group to be voted upon.  The voting process will be: This page should be modified as necessary during the discussions held elsewhere (e.g. chat, discussion list, etc.). The options will be fixed as of July 7th at 00:01 GMT so that there is enough time for evaluation prior to voting. Votes can be sent in reply to a "Call for Votes: Steering Group Seeding" email sent to the Steering Group discussion list, or counted during the scheduled Steering Group teleconference on July 9th at 23:00 GMT. All votes must be in by 24:00 GMT on July 9th at which time the decision will be made which option is adopted. NOTE: These options only deal with "seeding" the Steering Group membership.  Once seeded, these members will be empowered to implement the already ratified Governance Model.  This includes implementing a mechanism for managing ongoing Steering Group membership.

Seeding Options:

Option A: Steering Group is Seeded with Previous Teleconference Participants

The initial roll of MEMBERS of the STEERING GROUP shall initially be seeded with everyone who attended at least two of the regularly scheduled Steering Action Group teleconference calls between April 1 2008 and June 1 2008 and who opts-in to join the STEERING GROUP by contacting the STEERING GROUP mailing list.

Attendee List:

• Adams, J. Trent
• Brim-DeForest, Brady
• Greenberg, Steve
• McDowell, Brett
• Trigiani, Mary
• Scholtz, Christian
• Wolff, Phil
• Barbosa, Daniela
• Bizannes, Elias
• Rudin, David
• Saad, Chris
• Reed, Drummond

NOTE: This was the initial proposal by the Governance Task Force.  It was not ratified by the Steering Group, but is provided as an option for the sake of completeness for comparison to the other options.

Option B: Steering Group is Seeded with the Founders

The Steering Group is seeded with the original founders of the DataPortability Project (nee Workgroup).

Founders:

• Chris Saad
• Elias Bizannes
• Ben Metcalfe
• Daniela Barbosa
• Paul Jones
• Marjolein Hoestra
• Ashley Angell

Option C: Steering Group Members are Elected by Plenary

Note: A vote for this option is on the concept, not the specific provisions laid down below. The specific provisions are an illustration, but they may be changed later on, should this be the desired option.

• The PLENARY is the set of all people who have voting membership in DataPortability.org.

• A person becomes an active member of the PLENARY by posting a message to a dataportability-voting mailing list (to be set up) declaring their intention to be a member.

• Membership in the STEERING group is determined by a vote of the PLENARY.

• The STEERING group shall consist of no fewer than four, and no more than twelve people.

• The term of service for a member of the STEERING group shall be one year from the date of election or appointment.

• An ACTING SECRETARY (TBD) of the STEERING group shall announce elections no less than two weeks before voting opens. The announcement shall be posted to the dataportability-announce mailing list, and shall include both the opening and closing dates of the ballot.

• Candidates declare themselves or are nominated after the vote has been announced, but not less than one week before voting opens.

• The ballot for STEERING group members shall remain open for no less than one week.

• Any active member of the PLENARY may nominate themselves or another active member to be a candidate for membership in the STEERING group by posting to dataportability-vote (to be set up).

• STEERING group nominations and voting shall be accomplished by posting messages to dataportability-vote.

• The SECRETARY of the STEERING group shall determine and publish the form of STEERING group election votes, and shall have final authority over whether a particular message does or does not meet these criteria.

• People who have joined the PLENARY no less than one week before the election opens are considered eligible to vote.

• Each member of the PLENARY shall have TWO votes to cast for candidates. They may cast both votes for one candidate, or one vote for each of two candidate. A member may also choose to cast only one vote.
  • Drummond alternative: Each member of the PLENARY shall have TWELVE VOTES. They may cast votes for one candidate, or one vote for each candidate. A member may also choose to cast only one vote**

• In the event that a member casts more than two votes, the first two votes (as determined by the message timestamps) shall be considered official their official vote.

• The SECRETARY may, at his or her sole discretion, choose to disqualify votes because the intent of the voter is unclear, there was a technical problem with the transmission of the vote message, or a violation of eligibility has occurred.

• Within 48 hours after the close of voting, the current SECRETARY of the STEERING group shall tally the votes and declare the outcome.

• Candidates are ranked according to the total number of votes that they received and, beginning with the candidate who received the most votes, each open seat is assigned to a candidate according to that order until all seats are filled or all candidates are assigned.

• In the event that fewer candidates than the number of open seats received votes, the remaining seats are to be left empty.

Option D: Steering Group is Seeded with the Founders + Members Elected by Plenary 

The Steering Group is seeded with the original founders of the DataPortability Project as per Option B immediately, and elections according to Option C will be held for additional members within 3 months.

Option E: Steering Group is Seeded with the Founders + Previous Teleconference Participants as in Option A

The Steering Group is seeded with the original founders of the DataPortability Project as per Option B and Previous teleconference Participants as in Option A immediately, and elections according to Option C will be held for additional members within 3 months.