W3C Publishing Business Group Charter
Mission
The mission of the Publishing Business Group (“Publishing BG”) is to foster ongoing participation by members of the publishing industry and overall ecosystem[1] in the development of the Web for publishing, and to serve as a conduit for feedback between the publishing ecosystem and W3C. The Publishing BG has a role in fostering and advancing the adoption and continued development of EPUB 3. The Publishing BG also collaborates with W3C staff to sponsor and advance additional activities that help lead the Web to its full potential for publishing (events, webinars, training, marketing and promotion, etc.).
Scope
The Publishing BG shall seek to foster ongoing participation by members of the publishing ecosystem, including W3C Transitional Publishing Industry Members (TPI Members)[2], and serve as a conduit for feedback between the publishing industry and W3C.
The Publishing BG shall help ensure that W3C is actively involved with publishing activities, and provide requirements and review comments and proposed changes to publishing-related specifications developed in W3C WGs and/or CGs.
Close coordination between the Publishing BG, the EPUB 3 Community Group (EPUB 3 CG), and the Publishing Working Group (PWG) is critical. The Publishing BG shall provide oversight and approval to publications of the EPUB 3 Community Group other than Editor’s Drafts. The Publishing BG shall also advise the W3C on the selection of chairs for Working and Interest groups in its purview, as well as helping write the charters of such groups.
Process
Choosing a Chair
This group chooses their Chair(s) and can replace the Chair(s) at any time using whatever means they prefer.
Participants dissatisfied with the selected Chairs may ask the Community Development Lead to intervene. The Community Development Lead, after evaluation, may take any action including no action.
Steering Committee
The Publishing BG shall choose a Steering Committee, so that a smaller, more focused group of core contributors may help coordinate and facilitate the work of the EPUB3 CG, Publishing BG, and WG. The steering committee has no independent authority; formal decision-making remains in the Publishing BG as a whole. The membership of the Steering Committee shall include the chairs of all working groups, interest groups, and community groups associated with Publishing @W3C (provided those chairs are members of the Publishing BG), and ex officio members include the W3C’s Publishing Champion, the W3C staff contacts for each group, and other members as chosen by the Business Group, up to a maximum of 16 members.
Decision process
The Publishing BG will adhere to the W3C Process Document section 3.3 and W3C tradition by seeking to make decisions that reflect a consensus. When the group discusses an issue on the mailing list and there is a call from the group for assessing consensus, after due consideration of different opinions, the Chairs should record a decision and any objections.
Participants may call for an online vote if they feel the Chairs have not accurately determined the consensus of the group, or if the Chairs refuse to assess consensus. The call for a vote must specify the duration of the vote, which must be at least 7 days and should be no more than 14 days. The Chairs must start the vote within 7 days of the request. The decision will be based on the majority of the ballots cast.
It is the Chairs’ responsibility to ensure that the decision process is fair, respects the consensus of the Publishing BG, and does not unreasonably favor or discriminate against any group participant or their employer.
Amending the Charter
This charter may be amended at any time by a simple majority vote of BG members.
Communication
The Publishing BG will communicate via the mailing list public-publishingbg@w3.org [archive]. The group may also choose to use a wiki, Google Docs, and GitHub.
All Github repositories attached to the Business Group must contain a copy of the CONTRIBUTING and LICENSE files.
Community and Business Group Process and Patent Policy
The group operates under the Community and Business Group Process. Terms of this charter that conflict with those of the Community and Business Group Process are void.