Hi all,
I've been overdue in publishing proposed bylaws for GO::DH. You can
now see them here:
http://www.globaloutlookdh.org/proposed-bylaws/
Because GO::DH is an experiment in global community building (and
ADHO SIG development) we began the year without bylaws and set
establishing some as a main task for the founding executive. Over
the course of the last six months or so, the executive and the
smaller steering group of officers has been developing a set of
bylaws to establish governance, elections, and all the other things
a community needs if it is to thrive.
The initial work was led by Barbara Bordalejo, who did some research
on the bylaws and comparable scholarly societies and communities.
She wrote a first draft based on those at digitalmedievalist.org.
These were then heavily revised by the steering group, the bylaws
committee, and subsequently the larger executive. The results of
that process is available at the website.
Since we currently don't have any bylaws, the approval process is
not clear. In the absence of any other rules, my proposal is that we
open these bylaws up for discussion on the general list for the next
two weeks. If they prove uncontroversial and it appears that there
is a consensus in favour of their adoption, then, at the end of the
two weeks, we as a community will delegate the Executive to make any
final editorial changes and approve them on our behalf. If, on the
other hand, it appears they are unsatisfactory in some way or that
we are not developing a consensus in their favour, we will ask the
executive to begin a consultation process with a goal of resolving
such differences as quickly as possible and proposing a compromise
set of bylaws for a vote by the entire mailing list membership.
If the bylaws pass over the next two weeks, then the next step will
be soliciting nominations for the new Executive as described in the
bylaws. The elections to the Executive are required to be finished
by Feb. 1, 2014.
Please do not be shy about discussing this proposal. Feel free also
to distribute information about it widely and to offer translations
and/or paraphrases.
-dan
--
---
Daniel Paul O'Donnell
Professor of English
University of Lethbridge
Lethbridge AB T1K 3M4
Canada
+1 403 393-2539