ED A51:  Proposal for Clarifying TEI Organization (Cover note for
draft proposal for document TEI SC A15)
 
Since the beginning of the project, we have operated with a slightly
unusual structure in that members of the steering committee have served
on working committees, chaired work groups, and even served as editor in
chief of the Guidelines.  Similarly, we have had overlaps in the
membership of many other groups in the project.  Our experience with
such overlapping membership has been mixed; in particular the fact that
one editor is formally a member of the steering committee, while the
other is not, has has sometimes led to a certain confusion about the
role of the editors in guiding the policy of the project.
 
With the imminent completion of the Guidelines and the consensus of
the steering committee and editors that the TEI should continue in
operation at least for several more  years in order to extend and
revise the Guidelines and to encourage their widespread use, the
time has come to reconsider the organization of the project, and in
particular to clarify  the roles of the steering committee and
editors.  I propose, therefore, that we clarify the relationship
between the editors and the steering committee, as further described
below.
 
Appended is a draft resolution (phrased with all the formality demanded
by Robert's Rules of  Order), drawn up by MSM and NI, which if
approved would become document TEI SC A15.  This draft proposes to
clarify the roles of steering committee and editors by formally
devolving the responsibility for the ordinary running of the project
upon an 'executive committee' to be composed of the steering
committee proper and the editors.  In effect, the proposal provides
that the work of the steering committee will continue as in the past,
but that the editors will be formally enfranchised in the ordinary
decision-making, thus ending the invidious distinction now made
between the two editors.
 
This proposal is not as revolutionary or earth-shattering as it might
at first appear. The  Memorandum of Understanding itself specifies
that policy questions are to be decided by the steering committee
"with the editors":
 
  The function of the steering committee will be to appoint the
  editor(s), to monitor the work of editor(s) and drafting committees,
  to consider and settle policy questions with the editors, to present
  the text to the advisory board of participating organizations for
  approval, and to authorize the publication of the final text.
 
This proposal, therefore, amounts to a suggestion that we formalize
this arrangement more clearly, in a way which explicitly enfranchises
the editors on matters of policy but not on the naming of new
editors, and which avoids attempting to redefine the membership of the
steering committee itself, since that is specified in the Memorandum
of Understanding itself.
 
---- [draft of TEI SC A15]