community [3]

LDraw.org Standards Committee Proposal

Version 0.99a
Written by: Tim Courtney
Contributors: Kevin Clague [4], Wayne Gramlich, Paul Gyugyi, Larry Pieniazek, Orion Pobursky [5], Dan Boger
July 1, 2003

Preface

This document specifies is a proposal for an LDraw Standards Committee, presented for discussion and suggestions for improvements from the LDraw community. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.


Overview

Proposed is a Standards Committee to endorse and shape an Official LDraw.org file format spec document, consisting of the original LDraw spec (0.2.7) plus meta-commands developed by various LDraw-compatible LEGO CAD programs. This group’s participants will discuss, vote on, and adopt community-developed commands as Official LDraw.org standards. The goal of this body is to foster increased coordination and direction in our common community effort to develop a better 3D LEGO file format. This proposal is based on previous industry experience establishing standards bodies.


Background

The LDraw community has existed as a minimally organized group of users, programmers, and parts authors since James Jessiman’s LDraw became widely used in the mid 1990’s. This community originated solely online and continues to use the internet as it’s primary medium of communication. LDraw standards have until this point only been semi-organized as well, with individual leaders in file format issues, but no defined processes for format evolution. This has caused confusion among both newcomers and long time participants, and the community recognizes the need for a group charged with adopting official standards and publishing official documentation.


Detail

Responsibilities of the Standards Committee
The LDraw.org Standards Committee (LSC) will be responsible for maintaining semi-regular internal discussions on pending file format issues, the overall progress of the LDraw file format and new or proposed developments made by different LDraw-based software authors. Initially, this group will be responsible for developing their own internal procedures on how to process and vote on proposals and how to write and publish documentation. The Committee will also be responsible for updating the greater LDraw community periodically of progress within the group. The Standards Committee will adopt new official standards by voting on them, and publish documentation on LDraw.org following such a decision. The LSC will document past, current and future LDraw File Formats.

Procedures
The procedures shall be determined by the initial membership of the LSC. Items that shall be attended to are:

• Call for internal discussion on a proposal made internally (by another LSC member) or externally (by a member of the LDraw Community)
• Request for Final Comments (RFC) from the community before a vote
• Call for a vote to ratify a proposal as standard
• Drafting, reviewing, and publishing spec documents
• Procedure for filling an early vacancy of a member
• Number of votes needed to accept a proposal as a standard
• Appointing sub-committees

Voting
Each LSC member can cast one (1) vote on any issue brought up within the LSC.

Membership
Membership of the LSC shall be limited to 5 people, unless LSC members vote to create additional vacancies for a future election.

The LSC may also define a procedure for voting to eliminate seats added in the future. The minimum number of seats on the LSC shall be 5.

Requirements for LSC Membership
To ensure only competent, dedicated, and active contributors are eligible to become members of the LSC, they shall have met one or more of the following requirements for nomination:

• Authored at least two LDraw parts subsequently released in an Official LDraw.org Parts Update
• Served as a reviewer on the Parts Tracker through at least 2 official parts updates, and posted at least 5 reviews in at least two updates since their initial participation
• Authored a software program that is compliant with either the LDraw 0.2.7 spec or another spec published by the LSC
• Petition for nomination as an LSC candidate approved by 2 current LSC members
• Petition for nomination as an LSC candidate made to the LSC by at least 5 others eligible to be LSC candidates

LSC Discussion
The LSC shall have a mailing list or other communication method where only members can post to, but the entire community can read. This allows the community to keep tabs on what is being discussed, and discuss LSC issues in public forums such as LUGNET [6]’s CAD.* groups. The LSC should encourage this discussion, and should draw ideas and suggestions from non-LSC members in the community, ensuring everyone’s voice is heard. However, the LSC shall be the only group that votes to ratify a proposal as a standard.

Annual Summary
The members of the LSC will be responsible for publishing an annual summary to the community following elections for the next year’s term. This document must be published several weeks before elections, on the first of July of that year. This summary shall outline the progress of the previous term, note all versions of the spec ratified during the term, and summarize the future goals and ideas of the current LSC members.


Determining LSC Membership

Members of the first LSC will be nominated and voted upon in the same manner as in subsequent terms, with the exception that the first election shall be overseen by the ad-hoc LDraw.org organizing committee and subsequent elections shall be overseen by the then current LDraw.org governing body.

Initial Charter

The LSC will be chartered under the aegis of the overall LDraw.org.

The ad-hoc committee charged with organizing LDraw.org is responsible for establishing a system for “LDraw.org Membership” in order to create a legitimate group of voters. This membership will be open to anyone who wants to declare themselves a member, provided they own a valid email address. Information on this membership system will be posted to LDraw.org and LUGNET. This membership will have the opportunity to ratify future referendums on LDraw.org as presented by the ad-hoc committee or such subsequent governing body as shall be determined or developed. The principle of “one man, one vote” shall apply and any person determined to be using multiple identities to secure multiple votes shall be banned from further voting or membership. (We talk about membership/voting and organizational details because they are necessary to carry out the first vote for LSC members. Additional organizational details will be developed by the organizing committee and are not properly the subject of this proposal.)


Terms
Terms on the Standards Committee shall last one year.

The ad-hoc LDraw.org committee will issue the first call for nominations to the Standards Committee on July 1, 2003. Each subsequent call for nominations will be issued on the first day of July of that year, and shall be issued by the then current LDraw.org governing body. Nominations must be received and recorded by the 15th of July. Elections will be held on the 20th of July.

Elections
The LDraw.org Members who are eligible for LSC membership will vote on the nominees by privately listing the five (5) nominees they select for the position. Votes will be received and tallied initially by the ad-hoc committee (and subsequently by a permanent LDraw.org governing body), who will be accountable to each other and to the community for accuracy. The 1st LSC will consist of no more than 5 people, however the LSC will be able to create vacant seats to be filled at a future election if they wish.

Current LDraw.org leadership will announce the results of the election within 5 days of the election, on or before July 25.

Inauguration
Elected members of the LSC will take office on August 15. This gives downtime between elections on July 20th for outgoing members and incoming members to discuss the published Annual Report and ensure a smooth transition.


Key Dates

Initial Charter

July 1, 2003		Call for nominations for 1st LSC
July 17-22, 2003		1st LSC Election
August 15, 2003		1st LSC Members take office

Recurring Dates

July 1		Annual Summary published
July 15		All nominations must be received and recorded
July 20		LSC Elections
On or before July 25		Ad-hoc organizing committee/permanent LDraw.org governing body announces election results
August 15		New LSC Members take office

Glossary

Ad-hoc LDraw.org Organizing Committee

Jacob Sparre Andersen, Steve Bliss, Tim Courtney [7], Terry Keller, and Community Advisor Larry Pieniazek. This group is responsible for forming a charter organization for LDraw.org.

LDraw.org Membership

Defined, opt-in group of LDraw community participants who will have the right to vote on resolutions put forward by the LDraw.org Leadership.

LDraw.org Standards Committee (LSC)

Group of 5 parts authors, Parts Tracker reviewers, or LDraw-compatible software authors elected by peers within the LDraw.org Membership to ratify and publish the Official LDraw.org File Format Spec.