CZ:Charter

This page is dedicated to drafting a charter for Citizendium and should only be edited by those eight Citizens elected to the drafting Committee. The talk page is also reserved for them to discuss the evolution of the document. Other Citizens, please comment on the dedicated thread at the Citizen Forum. Non-Citizens can comment in a separate thread at the non-Member Forum.

This is the final version of the document drafted by the Charter drafting Committee. It shall be subject to a public vote.

This draft document shall serve as the basis for public discussion. It represents a compromise amongst the drafters, who may have different individual opinions on some aspects of this Charter.

Mission

Citizendium is a collaborative effort to collect, structure, and update knowledge and to render it conveniently accessible to the public for free. It is created by volunteers — henceforth Citizens — who contribute under their real names and agree to a social covenant centered around trust.

Membership

• Citizendium membership is open to anyone.
• All members register and contribute to the project under their real names.
• The Citizendium community recognizes the special role that experts play in defining content standards in their relevant fields and in assuring that these are being met by the site's contents.
• Contributors must act responsibly and in a civil manner — derogatory or offensive commentary is not tolerated.

Citizen participation

• All Citizens in good standing — as defined by the Management Committee — shall be entitled to vote.
• Citizens are given the right to contribute to or modify content of any article draft at any time.
• Citizens may have their rights to vote or to contribute restricted or entirely removed by the Constabulary as a result of misconduct.

Editors

• Editors are Citizens with demonstrated expertise in some field of knowledge, through either education or experience. Official recognition of expertise shall be based on guidelines established by the Editorial Council.
• Within an editorial scope defined by the Editorial Council, Editors have the right to: (a) make decisions about the scope and quality of the content in articles; (b) make decisions about specific questions or disputes concerning that content; (c) recommend approval of high quality articles that meet their expectations for the article's subject.
• Editors may abdicate their editorial rights at any time.
• Editors may have their editorial rights removed only by the Editorial Council.

Style

• Citizendium encourages constructive contributions on all topics.
• All entries at Citizendium should engage their subjects comprehensively, neutrally, and objectively to the greatest degree possible in a well-written narrative, complementing text with other suitable media.
• Citizendium material is intended for the general public and should be constructed so as to avoid unnecessarily complicated presentation and to maximize accessibility.
• Specialist material — including original research — is welcome if contextualized through prominent links to entries that provide background information and related non-specialist material.
• As far as possible, special requirements of visually or otherwise impaired users and for responsibly exercised automated access shall be taken into account.
• Exceptionally, Editors and Constables have the authority to intervene at their discretion if article content appears to be inappropriate. This applies in particular if content is inconsistent with criminal or civil law or discriminatory or slanderous against persons or groups of persons, on the basis of religion, religious belief, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender. Such decisions are subject to Citizendium's appeal process.
• Citizendium is not a place for advocacy, advertisement or sensationalism.

Organizational structure

General principles

• Citizendium is devoted to transparent and fair governance at a minimum of bureaucracy.
• There shall be two governing boards: An Editorial Council responsible for guiding content and establishing content policy and a Management Committee responsible for matters concerned with the non-content policies of Citizendium.
• All Citizens in good standing and with sufficient experience — as defined by the Management Committee — shall be entitled to hold an office as a member of the Editorial Council or the Management Committee, or as a Constable or Ombudsman.
• No Citizen may hold two such offices at the same time.
• Further special roles shall not be created without excellent reason.
• Any definition of a special role shall include provisions for replacement should the incumbent become temporarily or permanently unavailable.
• Each board or official may appoint delegates to perform specific tasks for a specific period of time, who will report to it.
• The responsibility for the actions of a delegate shall always remain with the appointing board or official.

Rules common to the Editorial Council and the Management Committee

The board shall

• have a quorum corresponding to the simple majority of its members.
• consider any issue brought in front of it by any of its members or by a number of Citizens that meets its quorum.
• develop guidelines on matters within its scope, and publish and monitor the appropriate enforcement of those guidelines.

The board may

• propose a change of its size by an even number of members — this proposal shall be subject to a referendum held together with the next election.

Members of the board shall

• be elected by secret ballot vote of active Citizens, with two-year renewable terms.
• remain active contributors to the project throughout their terms.

Specific rules

• In the Editorial Council, a number of seats corresponding to the quorum shall be reserved for Editors.
• The Management Committee shall appoint Constables and confer with the constabulary on matters of Constable activity.
• The Ombudsman shall be jointly nominated by both boards and confirmed by popular vote, for a term of 2 years, renewable.

Managing Editor

• A Managing Editor, drawn from the list of Editors, shall be appointed for a period of two years (renewable once) by popular vote.
• The primary functions of this official are:

1. To ensure that the aims and policies of Citizendium (including the provisions of this Charter) are effectively and coherently observed, by means of executive decisions taken on an occasional basis
2. To make provisional policy decisions in the case of policy deficits and where the situation clearly requires a short-term response
3. To assist the institutions of Citizendium in the development and enactment of policy, as they may request
4. To represent Citizendium in its relations with external bodies (such as the mass media, academic and non-academic institutions, inter alia), in cooperation with and according to the policies determined by the Boards.

Selection and election mechanism

• The Management Committee will compile a list of suitable candidates from popular nominations by Citizens two months prior to the end of the incumbent's tenure or two weeks after announcement of an early termination.
• The list of candidates shall not exceed four persons; all Citizens may vote; the appointment will be made by simple majority of validly cast votes.

Deputy Managing Editor

• If desired, the Managing Editor may nominate a deputy to serve in case of absence, illness or to attend to specific duties that fall within the mandate of the Managing Editor post.
• The deputy is accountable to the Managing Editor personally, but the appointment can be terminated by the Managing Editor or the two committees, as specified below.

Modus operandi

In the pursuit of duties, as defined above, the Managing Editor shall observe the following principles:

1. Decisions on content should be made, wherever possible, by Editors with appropriate expertise
2. Executive and policy decisions should normally be undertaken in consultation with the Editorial Council and Management Committee; exceptions can be justified on the grounds of emergency need and trivial matters that nevertheless require response
3. Matters of external relations involving policy development should be undertaken after consultation of the appropriate Citizendium bodies — i.e. the Editorial Council, the Management Committee, the Constabulary and the Ombudsman — according to the issues under discussion. Contact with the press should not normally require such prior consultation, as long as policy exists on the matter at hand.

Limitations of power

• Actions of the Managing Editor are subject to review by the Constabulary (for personal conduct) and by the Ombudsman (for professional conduct).
• Decisions made by the Managing Editor will ultimately be subject to review by the Editorial Council and/or the Management Committee, according to their specific competencies.
• The committees may choose to endorse or revoke such decisions, amending formal CZ policy accordingly.
• Appeal against any ruling of the Managing Editor may be made by persons with 'legal standing' in the matter, directly to either or both of the Editorial Council and Management Committee.

• In extremis, where both the committees are of the view that the Managing Editor (or the deputy) has not carried out his/her duties adequately, by decision of a simple majority of votes in both committees in quorum, the appointment will be terminated and new elections arranged for this post.

Behavior and dispute resolution

Constabulary

• The Constabulary shall be charged with upholding Citizendium's rules of behavior as determined by community policy, covering all Citizens including those with official positions.
• The Constabulary's authority is restricted to matters of behavior and they shall not intervene in matters of content.
• The enforcement of these rules is to be carried out with reasonable pragmatism and leniency without prejudice as to Citizen status or position and only in those situations where the applicability of existing rules is clear.
• The tools available to the Constabulary shall be defined by the Management Committee and include, as an ultimate resort, the banning of users.
• The Constabulary may develop additional tools and shall publish and monitor the appropriate use of said tools and report on it to the Management Committee.
• Decisions of constables may be appealed through the appropriate adjudication process as determined by the Management Committee.

Ombudsman

• An Ombudsman shall be appointed, charged with the task of assisting in dispute resolution, as laid down in this Charter.
• The role of Ombudsman shall be vested in a Citizen with substantial Citizendium experience and widely respected judgment, who may appoint up to two other Citizens (Assistant Ombudsmen) to support his/her work; their appointment and termination of duties is at the personal discretion of the Ombudsman.

Dispute resolution

• Disputes shall be settled at the lowest possible level, such as by bringing in peer Editors or Constables.
• If satisfactory resolution is not obtained, the Ombudsman may be contacted for non-binding mediation. Should that fail, the matter shall be appealed to the appropriate body — the Editorial Council for content matters and the Management Committee for behavioral or administrative matters. As a last resort, both Councils may appoint members to an ad hoc arbitration panel, for final arbitration as defined below.
• In the event of a dispute that cannot be resolved at a level below that of the Editorial Council or the Management Committee, appeals boards may be constituted on an ad hoc basis. The ad hoc appeals board shall consist of three members nominated by the Editorial Council and three members nominated by the Management Committee, who shall not have been involved in the specific dispute. An Ombudsman shall preside; that official shall direct the Board and shall be non-voting other than to possess a tie-breaking vote. Should no Ombudsman be available who is not a party to the matter, the Councils shall appoint a special presider from the Citizenry.
• All decisions of the ad hoc appeals board are final. Further, either the Management Committee or the Editorial Council may decline to participate in an ad hoc appeal, in which case the decision of the last appeal shall be final.
• The dispute resolution shall take place in a way that allows every interested Citizen to follow the entire process. In exceptional cases, part of the process can be restricted to a smaller audience. These exceptions require public justification by the Ombudsman, which may be contested by any member of the Management Committee or the Editorial Council that is not involved in the dispute.
• No decision reached in the course of dispute resolution shall contravene this Charter.

Community decisions

• Elections and referenda shall be organized by the Managing Committee and carried out by the Constabulary.
• Sufficient time shall be provided for nominations and for discussions of the issues brought about during the nomination period.

Referenda and amendments

• Citizens may demand that contested rules or guidelines are submitted to a referendum.
• A referendum may be initiated by a group of Citizens corresponding in size to the sum of the quorums of the Editorial Council and the Management Committee.
• A referendum shall be decided by simple majority of the votes validly cast.
• Any amendment to and any change of this Charter shall require a referendum and shall be ratified if accepted by a qualified majority of two thirds of the votes validly cast.

Editorial Council and Managing Committee

• Each year, half the members of the Editorial Council and the Management Committee shall be elected.
• For newly elected members, the term of office shall begin on first of January for the Editorial Council, and on first of July for the Management Committee.
• Any Citizen may nominate one or more candidates for a board.
• A nominated Citizen whose nomination is supported by another Citizen becomes a candidate by accepting the nomination and thus declaring the intention to serve for the whole term.
• Any Citizen accepting a nomination shall retreat immediately from any involvement in the election's organization.
• The candidates collecting the most votes shall be elected.
• One to three runners-up may serve as reserve members.
• A board member who becomes inactive or unavailable, shall be replaced by a reserve member, if available; otherwise, the an interim replacement shall be appointed by the board concerned.
• Any board may propose a change of its size by an even number of members; this proposal shall be subject to a referendum held together with the next election.

Removal from office

• An official who seriously neglects the office may be recalled by the Combined Board, with exception of an Ombudsman, whose recall shall require a qualified majority of two thirds in a referendum.

Administrative matters

External partners

• Citizendium invites collaboration with non-Citizen partners on any matters relevant to the project's mission.
• The Management Committee shall oversee these activities, collaborating with the Editorial Council on matters of content.

License

• All content at Citizendium shall always be free.
• Content originating at Citizendium shall also be free to reuse and redistribute.
• Reusable content that originated elsewhere may be incorporated into Citizendium.

Legal status

• Citizendium shall be owned and controlled by the Citizendium Foundation, a non-profit organization.

Time and date

• Unless otherwise specified, all announcements concerning times and dates shall be in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Languages

• The official language of Citizendium shall be English.
• Branches in other languages require approval by the Management Committee and have to accept the spirit and the fundamental principles of Citizendium as defined by an approved translation of this Charter.
• The branches shall establish a close collaboration with each other on all issues, both of content and administration.

Appendix: Ratification and transition

This appendix defines the ratification process for this Charter and the transition to its implementation.
It does not belong to the Charter proper and shall be removed after the transition has been performed.

Voting rights

• For the purpose of the ratification of this Charter and the initial elections to the Editorial Council and the Management Committee, all Citizens with an account that is not blocked shall have the right to vote.

Ratification

• If this Charter has been ratified by two thirds or more of the votes validly cast in a referendum for this purpose, it shall be certified by the Editor-in-Chief within a week after the closing of the referendum.
• For future amendments, a certifying official or officials shall be agreed upon by the joint Management Committee and Editorial Council.

Entry into force

• This Charter shall enter into force on the day following ratification.

Elections to the Editorial Council and Management Committee

• The first elections shall take place as soon as possible after the Charter has been ratified.
• The initial size of the Editorial Council shall be 7 members, that of the Management Committee 5 members.
• A number of members corresponding to the quorum shall be selected, by lot or personal agreement, to serve shortened terms until the next regular election that is at least half a year after the initial election.

Pseudonyms

• Within a month after the entry into force of this charter, all existing pseudonym accounts shall be closed by the Constabulary, and the respective user pages protected.
• The Citizens concerned may reapply under their real name.

Addendum: Interim guidance for the transition period

• As long as the administrative prerequisites for implementing the Charter are not entirely fulfilled, the rules listed in this section shall provide interim guidance to the Editorial Council, Management Council, and other bodies.
• Such material may be modified by those bodies by their normal procedures, without a full Charter amendment.

Review of previous policies

• The Editorial Council and the Management Committee shall review all existing policies and vote on each of them which falls under their realm, in view of complementing the general guidelines in this Charter with an evolving set of specific policy guidelines.

Constabulary

• Constabulary tools include: advice and instruction on wiki or through Citizen email, removal of offensive text, and warning and banning of users.

Languages

• The Management Committee shall elaborate a strategy and policy on handling the establishment of branches in languages other than English.

Administration

• The Management Committee shall elaborate a strategy and policy on handling the legal, financial, and technical operations necessary for the project to fulfill its mission.

External partnerships

The Management Committee shall develop and implement at its earliest convenience a policy for

• interested external observers to provide feedback on Citizendium content in a manner convenient for them and the project.
• collaboration with external partners, paying particular attention to fostering the collaboration with instructors by way of Eduzendium, and with external experts or professional organizations for the purposes of providing or reviewing content at Citizendium.

Research and teaching

• The Editorial Council shall elaborate a strategy and policy on incorporation of teaching and research into Citizendium.
• Research results that have not been formally published should be clearly labeled as such. So should articles that have been part of student coursework.

Registration of new Editors

To streamline the CZ:Editor Application Review Procedure, applications for Editorship shall be processed in two consecutive steps:

• All verified Editor applicants shall initially be registered as Authors, enabling them to start contributing while the application is being reviewed.
• The application for Editorship shall be reviewed by the Editorial Personnel Administrators (to be appointed by the Editorial Council) who shall strive to make a decision within one week.

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The following text is auxiliary to the drafting process and will be deleted from the final draft.

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Small Text

Proposed changes

In this section, members of the Drafting Committee may suggest changes to the draft, taking into account feedback received during the consultation phase. Any of these changes can be implemented by any member of the Committee, provided that at least two other Committee members have expressed consent here or in the internal email. Possible disputes resulting from this procedure will be resolved via email.

• Copyediting for coherent style, as per this forum post.

I agree. --Daniel Mietchen 23:02, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

• Include a statement about privacy of contributions made to public parts of the site. --Daniel Mietchen 08:29, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Further details in this forum thread. --Daniel Mietchen 08:58, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

• Check remaining points at CZ:Charter drafting/Feedback. --Daniel Mietchen 08:29, 8 April 2010 (UTC)
• Once we have agreed on a final text, what about adding some wikilinks? They could either point to the main namespace if the term is used in its usual way, or to a dedicated page in the CZ namespace when it has a CZ-specific meaning. --Daniel Mietchen 22:57, 15 April 2010 (UTC)
• Under #Membership: "All members register and contribute to the project under their real names." This would allow for, say, User:CIS 700 Special Topics 2010 Student 1 to contribute to CZ:CIS 700 Special Topics 2010 under their real name (which the course instructor would know, and possibly the constabulary too) without registering as such, if they so choose and the instructor agrees. --Daniel Mietchen 11:53, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Forum discussion on this. --Daniel Mietchen 19:16, 7 May 2010 (UTC)