Working Group Policies
1 March 2011
Introduction
Working groups are intended to address specific projects, topics, and activities of interest, such as designing for multi-lingual use; multi- modal voice interactions; or fostering collaboration between the research community and industry.
How decisions about working groups are made
Working groups are a type of “committee”, as defined in ACIxD By-Laws section 9. Section 9 states “The President shall appoint other committees as necessary, in the President’s sole discretion, and the Chairmen of said committees.” Thus the president has sole discretion in formation and chairmanship of working groups.
In practice, we expect that gathering input from the full board will yield better decisions for ACIxD as a whole. Thus, the President will request board members vote on important decisions regarding requests from working groups, with a reasonable deadline for response set by the president. This vote may be in-person, by telephone, or electronic – for example via email or a web service. The result of this vote will be used as guidance to the President on the appropriate action to take; the President is expected to take this vote into consideration but retains sole executive decision power. If the board is unable to complete a vote in the time requested by the President, the President is expected to make an executive decision.
Working group formation
To form a working group, a member of ACIxD shall prepare a proposal addressing the following and submit it to the board of directors:
- Description of the purpose of the proposed working group and explanation of why a working group is necessary to achieve the stated
- Description of the proposed activities of the working group in as much specificity as possible. Some working groups will be formed with concrete goals in mind and others will be more exploratory in nature, but we encourage including as much detail as
- Description of the expected output of the working group and a timeline for
- Working groups are required to make a written report to the Board of Directors on a periodic basis and describe their activities. The proposal shall state the frequency the working group will make a report – generally every 6
- Nomination for chair of the proposed working group. Members may nominate themselves or other full members in good standing as chair, so long as they have the consent of that
- Method for soliciting participation in the working group, including a list of any current members who have already indicated an interest in joining the working
- Expected resource requirements of the working group for daily operation or specific
This proposal shall be submitted to the President, who will decide whether to accept the proposal, following the guidelines above. The result of the vote will be communicated to the proposer(s).
Once accepted, the proposal becomes the working group charter.
Working group operation
Once a working group has been formed, its chair is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the working group and for working toward fulfilling the aims set out in its charter.
Working group chairs may request resources to fulfill the goals of the working group. Such requests are made to the President, who has the authority to accept or reject such requests, following the guidelines set out above.
The chair is responsible for making a periodic report to the board of directors, at the frequency specified in the charter.
If the working group wishes to change its chair, a new chair willing to hold the office shall be proposed to the President, who will make a decision following the guidelines above. If the current chair wishes to resign without nominating a replacement, the President may appoint a replacement, following the guidelines above.
If the working group wishes to change its charter, a revised charter shall be proposed to the President, who will make a decision, following the guidelines above.
If the working group wishes to dissolve, its chair must inform the President, who may opt to maintain a working group and take over its day to day operation. However, the members of a working group (including its chair) are of course free to leave the working group at any time.
In the unusual situation that the President wishes to dissolve a working group, they may do so, following the guidelines above.
Working group membership
The working group chair must be an ACIxD member in good standing. The working group may have members who are ACIxD members, and/or affiliate members who are not ACIxD members. People holding leadership positions in a working group are expected to be ACIxD members
Working group chairs may recruit members within the ACIxD membership, and outside the ACIxD membership. Participation on working groups is fully voluntary and ACIxD members have the right to participate in as many working groups as they choose.
Policy and procedure changes
The ACIxD board may modify policies and procedure for working groups from time to time. These changes shall be made in writing and communicated to all working group chairs.
