Folks - I am sending the first two reports of the new Guidelines Committee
to the List for your review. There is a URL to find the actual working
document to keep informed of their results, but I thought the first two
reports would alert those who do not read project business mail and -ALL or
BOARD-L of what is going on. You will note that three of our own Ohio CCs
are on this committee. Thanks, Alice & Jan & Lorraine, for looking out for us!
------------
Originally From: merope <merope(a)radix.net>
Subject: [DBS] Guidelines Committee, weekly report for
the week ending 3/16/2002
Permission to forward is granted
GUIDELINES COMMITTEE WEEKLY REPORT, for the week ending March 16 2002
===
On March 10, Holly Timm announced the formation of the Guidelines
Committee. Teresa Lindquist called the meeting to order on March
11. These are the 10 committee members and a bit about each one:
Teresa Lindquist (Chair): with USGW since August 1996, coordinator for two
Kansas counties and a co-coordinator on another; currently serve as the
Representative At Large on the Advisory Board; publisher of the Daily Board
Show; formerly served on the Election Study Committee and on the
predecessor to this committee, the Guidelines "starter" committee.
Alice Allen: CC for 4 counties--1 in KS, 2 in OH, 1 in WA
Jan Cortez: WI Census Project; CC for NY, WI, MI, IA,VT,PA, and OH.
Morgan Johnson: county coordinator for two parishes in Louisiana and one
county in Illinois since 1996.
Rich Howland: [did not respond to roll call]
William David Samuelson: Baker and Grant County, Oregon
Don Tharp: CC for three Kansas counties and have been with the project
since 1996.
Cheryl Parker: hosts 3 counties in Indiana, one being the Unknown County
page; also hosts 2 county biography pages in Indiana
Cheryl Rothwell: CC for Logan County, IL
Lorraine Newsome: CC in Ohio, SD, AR, MI, WI, NY (also ASC), and IL (also
ASC); on the EC as a rep for the NE/NC Region
---
The Chair announces that the order of discussion will be to proceed through
the current guidelines for Local Coordinators, State Coordinators and
Special Projects and recommend revisions. Then additions to the guidelines
will be discussed. The Chair also announces that a weekly report will be
filed to the Project outlining progress.
---
First topic opened for discussion on March 11 is the title of the revised
guidelines. After some discussion, the title "Guidelines for Local
Coordinators" was selected on March 14. This title is recommended both
because the term "Local Coordinators" is used throughout the bylaws, and
because it covers a wider base of volunteers than the more commonly used
"County Coordinators".
---
Second topic opened for discussion is the "requirements for Local
Coordinators". This topic was opened for discussion on March 13. There
are currently 2 requirements for Local Coordinators: 1. All websites shall
include prominent display of The USGenWeb Project logo on the home
page. 2. Solicitation of funds for personal gain is inappropriate. This is
defined as the direct appeal on the home page of any of the websites
comprising The USGenWeb Project for funding to do research, to pay for
server space, to do look-ups, etc. These cannot be changed by the
Committee, but will be listed for recommendation for inclusion in updated
guidelines.
In the current Guidelines there are three other requirements: 1.
requirement to join the state mail list; 2. requirement to have a query
page; and 3. requirement to link to the county selection list for their state.
State Mail List: It was noted that the current requirement for CCs to join
a state mailing list contradicts a requirement in the current guidelines
for State Coordinators. It is suggested that the requirement to join a
state mailing list be retained and the SC guidelines updated to match that
requirement. It is also suggested that a notice informing the volunteers
of a mandatory subscription to USGENWEB-NATL-L, the Election Committee's
announcement list, should be included in the guidelines.
Queries: It is the decision of the group to retain an amended query
requirement. Local Coordinators will be required to provide a mechanism by
which visitors to their pages can submit and view queries, but the specific
method shall be left up to their discretion. It is also suggested that LCs
add disclaimers to their sites when they are linking to outside query
resources and that they provide instruction on how visitors may return to
their pages after visiting them.
---
On March 16, Teresa Lindquist posts a "working document" of proposed
revisions. It is available at
http://www.radix.net/~merope/lcguide.txt and
will be updated as needed.
Any comments on this report may be sent to Teresa Lindquist at
merope(a)radix.net
===
-Teresa Lindquist
Chair, Guidelines Committee
Representative At Large, USGenWeb Project
merope(a)radix.net