[$ieee-1850] P&P Membership issue wording proposal.

Erich, all,

I have taken on the action item to propose a modification of the PSL WG
P&P document to accomodate the issue about new IEEE-SA members voting
rights on the basis of past attendance in the WG as non IEEE-SA members.

I propose that a new paragraph to the effect that new SA members will be
granted voting rights immediately on the basis of past attendance of the
entity as non SA members be inserted between paragraph 4 and 5 in
section 7 (WG memebership).

When reading Section 7 I had a problem determining the exact meaning of
the central concept "WG member". There seems to be at least three
possible interpretations:

a) A WG member is any entity with full voting rights in accordance with
   the P&P rules of voting rights (IEEE-SA membership and history of
   attendance).

b) A WG member is any participating IEEE-SA member.

c) A WG member is any participating entity.

Resolution of this ambiguity is relevant for the wording of the
paragraph to be inserted. In some paragraphs of Section 7 "membership" and
"voting right" seem to be described as separable things thus supporting
interpretations like b and perhaps c.

| The Chair shall notify, in writing, a member that has lost its voting
| privileges. A member who has lost its voting privileges shall have its voting
| privileges reinstated by attendance at two consecutive meetings of the working
| group. All voting privileges and rights shall be restored after attending the
| second consecutive meeting.

but in most places the wording suggest that they are inseparable like in

| Membership and voting privileges shall be granted automatically during the
| first three initial meetings of the working group to those entities attending
| any of the first three initial WG meetings. Thereafter, membership and voting
| privileges shall be granted to the entity after the entity attends two
| consecutive meetings of the WG.

and
| Membership shall give the DR the right to vote on all WG matters.

and in yet other places it is kind of ambigous
 
| After the three initial meetings of the WG, a member must attend two out of the
| last three regularly scheduled meetings to remain a voting member of the
| working group.

where the new concept of "voting member" is introduced. One might ask
whether an entity can still be a "member" also when having lost its
status as a "voting member".

In order to evade this issue I chose not to use the "WG member" concept
in the proposal at all.

I thus propose that we insert the following as a separate paragraph
between paragraph 4 and 5 in section 7 (WG memebership) in the P&P
document.

# If an entity that participates in the WG but is not an IEEE-SA member
# becomes an IEEE-SA member then voting rights shall be granted
# immediately on the basis of past attendance of the entity in accordance
# with these rules.
    
In context this would read:

# (..)
#
# Membership and voting privileges shall be granted
# automatically during the first three initial meetings of the working
# group to those entities attending any of the first three initial WG
# meetings. Thereafter, membership and voting privileges shall be granted
# to the entity after the entity attends two consecutive meetings of the
# WG.
#
# If an entity that participates in the WG but is not an IEEE-SA member
# becomes an IEEE-SA member then voting rights shall be granted
# immediately on the basis of past attendance of the entity in accordance
# with these rules.
#
# The entity (member), through its DR or DRA, is expected to attend
# meetings as required by the procedures established by the WG. The
# Secretary records attendance for members who attend at least 50% of a
# meeting's durationare present for roll call at the beginning or end of
# the meeting. Attendance at a meeting via teleconferencing and/or
# electronic means, e.g., Internet conferencing, shall also be permitted.
#
# (..)

Best Regards, Johan Mårtensson.
 

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