Since there was some confusion at the meeting on roles, I thought I'd clarify some things with respect to participation at TC meetings. The following is my opinion and I'll use my own terms since I think it helps for people not familiar with OASIS. People should read the OASIS policies and consult OASIS staff for actual rules.
I view participants as following into one of several main categories, some of which have subcategories:
- TC Members
- Observers
- Staff
- Other
I'll address them out of order.
"Other" - there is no other category. If someone is not in Member, Observer, Staff - then they are not allowed on the call. So if there are 'unknown' people on the call, their roles have to be clarified. The lawyers are anal on this for intellectual property issues as well as meeting ANSI standards on being an accredited SDO (standards development organization).
"Staff" - Employees of the OASIS non-profit. They help with everything, but don't contribute technical content and don't vote,
"Observer" - is a 'read only' role. They are not allowed to speak at TC meetings as they have not agreed to follow OASIS rules on contributing (and speaking is contributing verbally). Some of the people who signed up as Observers may want to consider one of the subcategories of Member.
"TC Member" - I put the TC in because "Member" is an overloaded term. Your company can be an OASIS Member (or you as an individual can be an OASIS member) and you can be a member of other TC's or OASIS Open Projects, but still not be a member of this TC. This distinction is because companies can decided to participate is some TC's and not others for intellectual property reasons. There are subcategories of TC Member:
- Member
- Member with voting rights at the moment
- Member wo voting rights at the moment
- Permanent Non-Voting Member (PNVM)
PNVM means you want to attend, you want to participate, but you don't want to vote and you don't want to be held to the two-meting rule. It is important for people to consider being PNVM because it's important for quorum. Ie PVNM's don't count for quorum just like member wo voting right doesn't count. PVNM's don't have to worry ab about 'accidentally' getting voting rights and then screwing up quorum when they don't attend. It also makes secretary's life easier for people who attend intermittently since PNVM's (and the secretary tracking voting rights and quorum) don't have to worry about the miss-2/attend-2 status. My gut is some the observers, and some of the members, might want to consider being PVNM's.
Members are the 'normal' participants. They are divided into voting and non-voting based on 'participation' which is defined by two meetings in a row. Other than the startup case, you get voting rights by attending two meetings in a row. Note you get them 'after' the meeting. Ie you can't vote at your second meeting but you can vote in an eballot just after the second meeting. You lose voting right is you miss two meetings in a row.
I hope that helps more than it hurts.
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Duncan Sparrell
Chief Cyber Curmudgeion
sFractal Consulting LLC
Oakton VA
703-828-8646
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