This material is a draft for discussion only. It may be altered at any time.

This is an interim process for use until such time as any new process may be created for use in its place.

W3C

W3C Process

W3C Editorial Review Board Process

The World Wide Web Consortium is chartered to work with its members to develop technical specifications. This document describes the process by which an "Editorial Review Board" may be set up to help a document editor arrive at a specification which is technically sound, fair, and addresses the needs of the members.

Call for nominations

The W3C membership is informed of the call for nominations via electronic mail to the address registered by the member organization. This electronic mail may part of or later repeated in an article in the W3C newsletter.

The call for nomination shall include

  1. A short description of the charter of the ERB to be formed;
  2. The number of board members required, normally around 7;
  3. The expected duration of operation of the ERB;
  4. The closing date for nominations;
  5. The required level of availability for ERB members;
  6. The email address to which ERB nominations should be sent.
Nominations may only be made by Advisory Committee members. Self nomination will be allowed. No one should be nominated without their prior consent. Nominees do not necessarily have to be employees of W3C member organizations.

When the closing date arrives, if their are insufficient nominees to fill the ERB, or there are only one or two more nominees than members required, elections may at the discretion of the Director be waived and the nominated individuals deemed to form the ERB. This will be communicated to members as above. Otherwise, the call for vote will be communicated to members.

Call for vote

The call for a vote shall include
  1. A list of the nominees
  2. A form for reply by email
  3. The address to which the form should be sent
  4. The date for close of voting
and shall be communicated to members as above.

The ballot results shall be confidential to Consortium staff.

Not more than one week after the close of voting, the Director shall announce the constitution of the board. The Director shall chose a chairperson or ask the board to elect one at its first meeting at his or her discretion.

ERB operation

The ERB shall meet regularly with a frequency defined in the call or as modified by the ERB from time to time.

Members unable to attend teleconferences should email the chair 24 hours before the meeting.

Members hould be given at least 4 weeks notice of physical meetings. They should confirm their attendance or otherwise with both the chair and the meeting organizer at least 3 days in advance to enable arrangements to be made.

Members of the ERB who consistently fail to make appearance on the board may be replaced at the request of the editor and discretion of the director with other nominees, or failing that, with other members of the community.

Any W3C staff member acting as editor shall ex officio be a member of the ERB.

ERB Closure

An ERB will be closed when its success criteria have been met, or it as a body decides to cease operations. It may aslo exceptionally be closed at the discretion of the Director if it fails to produce a charter defining its goals, or if insufficient Consortium resources are available to support it, under priorities and advice of the Advisory Committee.

A continuing ERB shall be reelected by the same process as for election every one to two years.

W3C
Tim BL, J Miller, D Connolly et al June 1996
Lats mod 960627