Governance

"java.net Community" will refer to the greater java.net wide community.
"community", as well as it's plural form will refer to the communities that make up java.net (i.e. Java Desktop, Java Games, NetBeans, etc).
"Community Manager" refers to the person responsible for managing java.net.
"Community Leader(s)" refers to the person or people responsible for running specific java.net communities.

Introduction

The goal of the java.net governance document is to describe how the java.net Community evolves, runs, and makes decisions. We are attempting to make the governance procedures as lightweight as possible while providing maximum opportunity for individual involvement. We seek above all to invite all interested developers to take part in the enhancement of the projects hosted here and seek input from all. We are attempting to make sure the governance procedures will not hinder the momentum of any group or individual who seeks to use java.net technologies. All future changes to governance will adhere to the Governance Version Control process.

java.net governance consists of six major components:

Guiding Principles
java.net Community Manager
Executive Board
Management Board
Fairness Board
Advisory Board

This structure serves the general java.net community. Communities and projects within java.net may use additional governance mechanisms of their own choosing provided they are consistent with java.net's Guiding Principles.

In addition, there are several key roles and mechanisms that are used to provide leadership, management, and member involvement to communities and projects:

Communities and Community Leaders
Project Owners
Community Specific Governance
Appeals Process
Voting Process
Governance Version Control

Guiding Principles

The java.net community lives by a set of organizational and behavioral guidelines known as the Guiding Principles. Every participant is asked to abide by the Guiding Principles.

java.net Community Manager

The is appointed by Sun Microsystems, Inc and is responsible for executing the will of the java.net Community. To maintain impartiality, the Community Manager does not vote. Additionally, the Community Manager is a member of the Executive Board. All policies and changes to Governance are administered by the Community Manager.

The java.net Community Manager's responsibility and authority includes:

Whether and how to allocate java.net resources, including the creation of communities and projects.
Settling any dispute not reserved by the Fairness Board.
Organizing and orchestrating all Boards.
Overseeing java.net governance and policies.
Running java.net elections.
Limited veto authority on decisions with financial or legal impact.

Executive Board

The Executive Board is comprised of the Community Manager, Program Manager, Editor, Site Producer, and Site manager. These individuals are appointed by the stakeholders responsible for the health, success, and financial support of the overall java.net Community. Initially, these stakeholders are Sun Microsystems, O'Reilly and Associates, and CollabNet. This group drives the agenda for community growth and recommends which issues and decision would benefit from a community vote.

The Executive Board's responsibility and authority includes:

Site Features and quarterly releases.
Site management and support.
Community building activities for the overall java.net Community.
java.net identity, marketing, and sponsorships.

Members that wish to address the Executive Board can do so directly or through any of the community-wide discussion forums located in the java-net project.

Management Board

The java.net Management Board is a team of leaders that represent each of the individual communities in java.net. As such they drive the agenda of their individual communities by voting in decisions that effect the strategic direction as well as daily operations of the java.net community. The Management Board is comprised of one Community Leader from each java.net community.

Any member of the Management Board can request a Management Board vote or a Community wide vote for decisions being made by the Executive Board.

Members that wish to address the Management Board can do so through the Management Board discussion forum located in the java-net project.

Fairness Board

The responsibility and authority of the three-member Fairness Board includes:

Settle any dispute between members of java.net regarding the application of the Guiding Principles.

Review java.net processes and policies to make sure they are consistent with the Guiding Principles.

Oversee java.net elections.

Review all changes to java.net Governance.

Manage an appeals process for members who dispute a decision made by the Community Manager.

The Fairness Board will intervene in disputes upon receiving a request submitted to their discussion forum. Requests need to include specific details about the dispute in question and must state how it applies to our Guiding Principles. The Fairness Board will only act upon disputes that involve violations of our Guiding Principles and will respond directly to the petitioning member and the Community Manager with their opinion.

The Fairness Board is made up of one representative selected by Sun Microsystems, Inc., and two representatives selected by the java.net community. Sun may change its representative at any time. The remaining two seats are elected by the community for a term of 2 years. Initially, one of the elected seats will carry a 1 year term to allow so that each year, one of the two elected seats is refilled.

Community members who wish to address the Fairness Board should do so through the Fairness Board discussion Forum located in the java-net project.

Advisory Board

The Advisory Board is a group of well-known and well-respected academics and industry experts who advise the communities, projects, and participants of java.net on issues related to Java™ technology and its application. This blue ribbon panel will operate in a purely advisory role. They will communicate with the community both directly and through the Community Manager. Questions and comments for the Advisory Board should be directed to the Advisory Board discussion forum located in the java-net project.

The current governance of java.net allows for 10 Advisory Board seats.

Quarterly Meetings

The Advisory Board will meet as a group quarterly, on the first Thursday of March, June, September, and December of each year. They will to review and discuss java.net and deliver recommendations to the Community Leader that will be published on the site.

Term Limits

Board members will not have term limits until such time that all 10 initial board seats are filled. At such time when all Board seats are filled, three (3) board seats will be refilled annually on a rotating basis through a nomination process and an election during Java One. Board members can server consecutive terms if they are nominated and re-elected.

Board Member Additions

No more than 3 Board seats will be filled annually. New Board members will be added by nomination and election.

Communities and Community Leaders

Every java.net community has one or more Community Leaders. Their role is to manage their respective communities and represent their members. They play an important part in the project approval process for projects in their community. They maintain their community's resources such as their Community page, forums, mail lists, and membership. One community leader from each java.net community serves as a member of the java.net Management Board.

Project Owners

Project owners control the membership and resources of their projects. These resources include project home page, project forums, and project mail lists. They control membership by assigning roles and permissions to other members.

Community Specific Governance

All members, projects, and communities on java.net are subject to the vision and guiding principles and governance of our java.net. Aside from that, communities on java.net are expected to govern themselves as they see fit as long as it does not conflict with java.net policies, principles, or governance.

All community leaders are allowed to establish supplemental community specific governance for their communities. java.net does not place restrictions on supplemental governance except that it cannot conflict with the java.net guiding principals and policies. Community leaders are encourage to do the following:

Publish the following on the community's homepage:

Mission Statement
Policies
Success factors
Project approval process and requirements
Allow for the community to affect the governance of the community (Elected positions or voting)

java.net communities that have independent or supplemental governance policies include:

Appeals Process

java.net Governance is designed to allow for as much autonomy as possible and accomplishes this by allowing decisions to be made at various levels. To maintain fairness, as well as, checks and balances, java.net has a appeals process that follows a hierarchal escalation starting at the appropriate level:

Project Owner - Appeals regarding a decision or action that happens within a project should start with a written appeal to the Project Owner.
Community Leader - Appeals regarding a decision, action, or ruling of a project owner should be submitted in writing to the applicable Community Leader.
Community Manager - Appeals regarding a decision, action, or ruling of a Community Leader should be submitted in writing to the Community Manager.
Fairness Board - If you believe a decision, action, or ruling of the Community Manager is inconsistent with the java.net Guiding Principles, you may submit a written appeal to the Fairness Board.

The purpose of this escalation process is to attempt to settle disputes at the appropriate level while respecting the authority of the communities leadership.

Voting on java.net

java.net is about people who love Java working together to further Java technology. Involving community members in the direction of java.net is critical to our success and one way this happens is through voting.

Voting will be facilitated in the java-net project and will provide for:

Management Board Voting

All Management Board voting must achieve approval by 2/3 of the entire Management Board in order to pass.

Community Wide Voting

The executive board can call for a java.net community wide vote at anytime.

Any Management Board member can request a java.net community wide vote at any time. The request must be approved by a 2/3 vote of the entire management board in order to pass. Once passed, a java.net community wide vote will be scheduled.

Governance Version Control

Any member of java.net can recommend changes to our Governance by posting a written proposal to the governance forum in the java-net project that includes:

A specific change or addition to the existing Governance.
A justification for the change
The java.net ID of the person making the recommendation. Recommendations posted anonymously or by guests will not be considered.

All recommendations will be discussed on the Governance forum and reviewed by the Fairness Board.

The Management Board will accept or reject the recommendation based on the merit of the recommendation, as well as, input from the Fairness Board. The Management Board may also accept a modified version of the recommendation that results from discussion.

All changes to the Governance will require approval from the Fairness and Management Boards.

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