Prowikis

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Revision as of 17:30, 13 February 2019 by Mikael Häggström (talk | contribs) (Adapted)
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Prowikis is the parent organization of Radlines. It is a non-profit foundation aimed at the creation and technical maintenance of profession-specific wikis. Each wiki is a site where any member of the profession at hand can register and contribute to the content. The content in each wiki is kept to be the essential material that a professional is expected to need in the course of work, and organized for quick access.

Bylaws draft

ARTICLE I - NAME

The name of this organization is Prowikis.

ARTICLE II - STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The mission of Prowikis is to make allow professionals to edit wikis related to their work, and make the resultant content available on the Internet free of charge, in perpetuity.

ARTICLE III - WIKIS

Section 1. Criteria

A wiki must fulfill at least the following criteria to become part of Prowikis:

  1. Profession-specific scope and editability, with the aim of organizing content so that such professional can quickly find the relevant information. The procedures of the profession should be similar internationally.
  2. Open access for anyone to read, adapt, and distribute without cost through the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license

Section 2. Inclusion or rejection

(a) Inclusion or rejection of a wiki to become part of Prowikis is decided by a majority of votes of the Board of trustees, counting after at least 20 days have passed since a public notice of the election has been made at the Talk page of the Board of trustees.

(b) The Board of trustees may request additional criteria that a wiki needs to fulfill before being eligible for inclusion.

(c) The Board of trustees may at any time elect to officially disapprove a wiki, but should first inform the individuals involved in that wiki about the reasons for disapproval in a timely manner.

Section 3. Organization

(a) Wikiwiki is the publisher of Individual Wikiwikis

(b) Wikiwiki is responsible for uniformity of editorial procedures, as well as for the technical infrastructure of Individual Wikiwikis.

(c) Wikiwiki administers the financials of Individual Wikiwikis, unless having approved an Individual Wikiwiki to handle some or all financials independently.

(d) Each Individual Wikiwiki may have its own legal organization. Each Individual Wikiwiki may have bylaws of its own, as long as they are compatible with these bylaws.

(e) Each Individual Wikiwiki has full powers over all its pages and editorial proceedings. Before having adopted bylaws, the consensus among active wiki participants decides in matters related to that wiki.

Section 4. Preliminary wikis

A wiki may operate as a Preliminary Wikiwiki before it is accepted as an Individual Wikiwiki. A Preliminary Wikiwiki should use the word Preliminary or an equivalent word in its title until being accepted as an Individual Wikiwiki.

ARTICLE IV - ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD

Section 1. General Powers

The Board of trustees elects the Chair and the Vice-chair.

The Board of trustees has the right to dismiss the Chair and/or Vice-chair by a majority of votes.

Section 2. Governance priorities

The Board of trustees must be composed of members with a set of talents, experience, and competencies that will best fulfill the mission and needs of Wikiwiki. The Board of trustees and its members are understood to act as fiduciaries with regard to Wikiwiki.

Section 3. Appointment of wiki representatives

Each Individual Wikiwiki is entitled to at least one representative in the Board of trustees. The community or the editorial board of each wiki decides on a candidate representative, and the Board of trustees subsequently decides to accept or reject the candidate by a majority of votes.

Section 4. Appointment of community-selected members

(a) The number of Community-selected members of the Board of trustees of Wikiwiki should be kept at a minimum of 10.

(b) Anyone may nominate herself/himself as a candidate for Board of trustees membership. An announcement of candidacy needs to be made at the talk page of the main page of Wikiwiki..

(c) An Administrative Board Member is elected when they receive the greatest number of votes among those candidates running after at least 7 days of voting by the eligible voters.

(d) Eligible voters for Board of trustees elections are:

  1. Current members of the Board of trustees.
  2. Current members of any Editorial Board of Individual Wikiwikis
  3. Peer reviewers of Individual Wikiwikis who have completed at least one peer review.
  4. Registered Wikiversity users with at least 30 edits pages of Wikiwiki, including Individual Wikiwikis.
  5. Not an individual voting for herself/himself.

Section 5. Duration of Term

Administrative Board Members shall serve four-year terms. There is no limit to the number of terms any individual Administrative Board Member may serve.

Section 6. General decisions

(a) Decisions in the Board of trustees are made by consensus on the main Discuss page of Wikiwiki, or by consensus by email correspondence. Significant decisions concerning Wikiwiki shall be made at the earliest after 4 days after email to the mailing list of the Board of trustees with an appropriate explanation of the subject at hand.

(b) In cases of voting, the act of the majority of the Administrative Board Members shall be the act of the Board of trustees. An Administrative Board Member does not have an obligation to vote, but shall be presumed to have assented to the act of the Board of trustees, unless the Administrative Board Member votes against such action.

Section 7. Special meetings

(a) Notice of any special Board of trustees meeting shall be given at least 10 days before the meeting by written notice to the internal email list of the Board of trustees specifying the date, time, and purposes of the meeting.

(b) An Administrative Board Member may participate in such a meeting by means of a conference telephone or online, by means of which all persons participating in the meeting can hear each other at the same time. Participating by such means shall constitute presence in person at a meeting.

Section 8. Expenses

Administrative Board Members may not be compensated for their efforts. They may be allowed expenses, by resolution of the Board of trustees, for attending meetings, if necessary. A public notice must be made at least 10 days at the talk page of the main page of Wikiwiki before such resolution.

Section 9. Voting means

Voting on all matters, including the election of Administrative Board Members, may be conducted by mail, electronic mail, facsimile transmission, chat software, video conferencing, wiki software, or other similar verifiable means. Proxy voting shall not be allowed.

Section 10. Records

Email correspondence to an internal email list of Administrative Board Members serves as primary records of discussions of the Board of trustees. Important decisions and events related to Wikiwiki shall also be made public at, or linked from, the main Discuss page of Wikiwiki.

Section 11. End of Term

The end of term of an Administrative Board Member is set forth in ARTICLE VII.

ARTICLE V - CHAIR

Section 1. General Powers

(a) The Chair has full powers to carry out operations and policies, either directly or through a written delegation of authority. This also applies to Individual Wikiwikis unless these are in conflict with the consensus of wiki participants.

(b) The Chair may sign and execute any deeds, mortgages, bonds, contracts, or other instruments which the Board of trustees has authorized to be executed, except in cases where the signing and execution thereof shall be expressly delegated by the Board of trustees or by these Bylaws to some other officer or agent of Wikiwiki, or shall be required by law to be otherwise signed or executed.

Section 2. Responsibilities

(a) The Chair shall see that the resolutions and directives of the Board of trustees are carried into effect except in those instances in which responsibility is assigned to some other person by the Board of trustees.

(b) The Chair shall have general supervision of the affairs of Wikiwiki and shall make reports to the Board of trustees to keep its members informed of organization activities.

(c) The Chair ensures that each new Administrative Board Members receives emails to the internal email list of the Board of trustees.

Section 3. Appointment

The Chair is appointed by consensus in the Board of trustees.

Section 4. Expenses

The Chair may not be compensated for the corresponding efforts. The Chair may be allowed expenses, by resolution of the Board of trustees, for attending meetings, if necessary. A public notice must be made at least 10 days at the main talk page of Wikiwiki before such resolution.

Section 5. End of Term

The end of term of the Chair is set forth in ARTICLE VII.

ARTICLE VI - VICE-CHAIR

Section 1. General Powers

The Vice-chair will act in place of the Chair on the event of his or her resignation or incapacity. The Vice-chair shall have the General powers and responsibilities of the Chair when the Chair is absent or unable to perform the corresponding duties.

Section 2. Appointment

The Vice-chair is appointed by consensus in the Board of trustees.

Section 3. Expenses

The Vice-chair may not be compensated for the corresponding efforts. The Vice-chair may be allowed expenses, by resolution of the Board of trustees, for attending meetings, if necessary. A public notice must be made at least 10 days at the talk page of the main page of Wikiwiki before such resolution.

Section 4. End of Term

The end of term of the Vice-chair is set forth in ARTICLE VII.

ARTICLE VII - END OF TERM

Bylaws concerning end of term applies equally, unless specifically noted, to Administrative Board Members, Chair and Vice-chair, and these positions are referred to as a group as Officials in this article. The end of term of an Official follows the fulfillment of having served a four-year term, resignation or removal, as detailed in following sections of this article, or death.

Section 1. Four-year term

An Official shall serve four-year terms. There is no limit to the number of terms an individual may serve as an Official.

Section 2. Resignation

An Official may resign at any time by giving written notice to the Board of trustees. Any such resignation shall take effect at the time specified therein, or, if the time be not specified therein, upon its acceptance by the Board of trustees.

Section 3. Removal

An Official may be removed by a majority of votes among people in an electorate as specified in ARTICLE IV, Section 4d, counting after at least 5 days of voting, following an entry at the the main Discuss page of Wikiwiki by any registered Wikiversity user.

ARTICLE VIII - FINANCIAL

Section 1. Dedication of Assets

The property of Wikiwiki is irrevocably dedicated to charitable purposes and no part of the net income or assets of this Wikiwiki shall ever inure to the benefit of any Administrative Board Member or to the benefit of any private individual other than compensation in a reasonable amount to its contractors for services rendered.

Section 2. Dissolution

Upon the dissolution or winding-up of Wikiwiki, its assets remaining after payment, or provision for payment, of all debts and liabilities of the Wikiwiki shall be distributed to The Wikimedia Foundation or another mission-aligned organization.

Section 3. Loans

No loans shall be contracted on behalf of the Wikiwiki and no evidence of indebtedness shall be issued in its name unless authorized by a resolution of the Board of trustees.

Section 4. Treasurer

  1. The Treasurer is appointed by consensus in the Board of trustees.
  2. The Treasurer is a position which can be held by an Administrative Board Member.

The Treasurer shall have the following responsibilities:

  1. have charge and custody of and be responsible for all funds and securities of Wikiwiki.
  2. receive and give receipts for monies due and payable to Wikiwiki from any source whatsoever
  3. review the financial operations of Wikiwiki and make financial reports to the Board of trustees at regular and special meetings, as well as keeping the public informed by keeping a specifically designated online page up to date.

Section 5. Fiscal year

The fiscal year of Wikiwiki shall be January 1 - December 31 of each year.

ARTICLE IX - AMENDMENT

These Bylaws may be altered, amended or repealed and new Bylaws may be adopted by a majority of votes of the Board of trustees, counting at least 20 days after a written notice has been given to the following forums with intention to alter, amend or repeal or to adopt new Bylaws:

  • The internal email list of the Administrative Board
  • The main public email list of Wikiwiki: wikiwiki-en@lists.wikimedia.org
  • The main online Discuss page of Wikiwiki: Talk:Wikiwiki User Group

Proposed alterations can be drafted on a "Proposed changes" subpage.

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