Charter of the SocialTools Network

Note: this document is now maintained as part of the SocialTools web site. See WebsiteMaintenance.

Terms

In this charter, a 'member' is an organization or individual that has accepted the Statement of Principles and this charter, and owns and operates a server based on the SocialTools standard configuration.

Goals

The SocialTools Network exists to further the objectives set out in the Statement of Principles, by:

• Developing and documenting a standard configuration for SocialTools servers, using the best practices available. This configuration must be well-suited to servers consisting of inexpensive PCs running on home ADSL connections.

• Helping organizations set up servers using the standard configuration, particularly if they have decided to become members.

• Sharing resources (e.g. for backup and failover) among members.

• Enabling members to provide hosting services and assistance to other organizations as they see fit.

• Promoting public ownership of the knowledge generated by the project.

Participation

Participation in decision-making is limited to system administrators in member organizations, and to system administrators who are individual members. This is because:

• We want the direction of the project to reflect the Statement of Principles.
• System administrators are the people that technical decisions have the greatest effect on, because they have the ultimate responsibility for keeping things running.

• Their skills put them in the best position to make informed decisions.

Becoming a member

An organization or individual can become a member by following these steps:

1. Formally agree to this charter and to the Statement of Principles. 1 Let the current members know that you have done so, by posting a message on the socialtools-network mailing list.
2. Set up and document a server using the standard configuration. Help is available on the socialtools-help mailing list.
3. When the server is up and running, let the current members know, by posting a message on the socialtools-network mailing list.
4. If the way you set up and documented the server meets their technical standards, as well as those specified in the Statement of Principles and in this charter, they will accept your request to join. (If you've kept them informed as you went along, it's unlikely that there would be any problems at this late stage.)

Decision-making

All decisions, including those concerning the modification of this charter and of the Statement of Principles, are made by consensus, as described in the Open Organizations framework, on the socialtools-dev mailing list.