Membership Model and Project Governance: Overview and Framework
Jonathan Markow reviewed the evolving membership model for 2014 while reminding attendees that 3/12 sessions would be focused on deep discussion and feedback on this proposal.
"We need to bring more members to our organization," he said. Membership makes more sense socially and in different cultural contexts than sponsorship does and university library budgets often allow for "membership". The membership concept is more consistent with our evolving governance models because it "buys me more of a say in the project". These are some of the reasons that led DuraSpace to propose formalizing around a membership model.
Because we don't want to rock the boat with current sponsors we have kept the same levels and have instituted a package of benefits ("though we don't have a lot to give away") at each of these levels that are meant to entice folks to come in at higher levels. The key reason to "join" goes beyond benefits–it is in the mutual interest of both the DuraSpace organization and stakeholders to actively participate.
Governance "triangle" illustration shows:
Steering Group (top)
---
Leadership Group (center)
---
Project members (bottom)
Currently projects have different levels of sponsorship. Five levels (Diamond, Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze) are tough to differentiate. Getting the community to understand what the differences are is a challenge. Markow concluded with the reminder that the next day's agenda would include discussions of the Membership Model and Project Governance proposal for discussion and feedback.
