Scheme Standardization

The following charter and standardization committees have been
approved by the Scheme Strategy Committee. The Strategy Committee was
formed by attendees of the Scheme Workshop in Pittsburgh, October
2002. The draft charter and the committee-selection process were
further confirmed by the attendees of the Scheme Workshop in Boston,
November 2003.


                             Strategy Committee:
                                    Alan Bawden
                                    William Clinger
                                    Kent Dybvig
                                    Matthew Flatt
                                    Richard Kelsey
                                    Manuel Serrano
                                    Michael Sperber

                                January 2004
                          as amended, October 2004
                          as amended, February 2006
                          as amended, [FIXME]



Charter
=======

Standardization Committees
--------------------------


 * Steering Committee

    The creation of Scheme recommendations and standards shall be
    governed by a Steering Committee that consists of three to five
    members.  Its responsibility is to ensure that the standardization
    process continues, and to establish processes by which draft
    recommendations and standards are produced, reviewed, and accepted
    by the Scheme community at large.

    The Steering Committee must replace members as necessary to maintain
    the minimum of three members.  When the number of members falls below
    three, replacements must be selected within three months, and the
    Steering Committee must announce the replacements to the Scheme
    community at large.  The Steering Committee itself shall establish
    procedures for replacing its members.

    This charter can be amended only by a unanimous vote of the
    Steering Committee.


 * Working Groups

   Draft recommendations and standards shall be produced by working
   groups created and supervised by the Steering Committee.

   The Steering Committee is responsible for coordinating different
   working groups and for reducing duplication of effort between them.

   Each working group shall be formed and governed according to its own
   individual charter, which must be approved by the Steering Committee
   before the working group is formed.

   The Steering Committee will consider draft charters submitted by
   any source that desires to propose a new working group.  The
   Steering Committee may also draft charters for new working groups
   on its own initiative.  The Steering Committee is not obliged to
   approve every charter that may be submitted to it.

   After a working group's charter has been approved, that charter
   can be amended, renewed, suspended, or terminated by the Steering
   Committee.


 * Charters for Working Groups

   A working group's charter must address the working group's
   requirements for membership, its mailing lists and associated
   policies, its goals, its deliverable artifacts, the timelines
   anticipated for drafts, review, and final approval of its
   deliverable artifacts, the group's decision making process,
   the public process by which the Scheme community will express
   its opinions concerning the deliverable artifacts, and the
   group's initial configuration including the name of its first
   Chair.


 * Procedures for Working Groups

   A working group's Chair is responsible for organizing meetings
   and other activities and for ensuring that the working group makes
   progress toward its goals in an orderly and timely fashion.

   Working groups are encouraged to exploit the Scheme Request for
   Implementation (SRFI) process for gathering opinions and suggestions
   from the Scheme community at large.

   When a working group has completed its deliverable artifacts,
   it shall submit them to the Steering Committee for approval.
   This submission shall be accompanied by any formal objections
   that have been registered, and by evidence that the artifacts
   achieve the working group's goals (e.g. implementability).

   If a working group is unable to resolve conflicts that may arise
   within the working group, then the group's Chair should ask the
   Steering Committee to intervene; in exceptional circumstances,
   the Steering Committee may also hear appeals from any member of
   the working group.  The Steering Committee may investigate and
   take whatever actions they deem necessary to resolve the matter
   up to, and including, the involuntary removal of one or more
   members of the working group, possibly including the Chair.


 * Scheme Request for Implementation (SRFI) Editors

   The Scheme Request for Implementation process shall remain the
   primary vehicle for language design and discussion by the Scheme
   community at large.  SRFI standards shall be governed by the SRFI
   Editors, and shall not be governed or endorsed by the Steering
   Committee.  Working groups are encouraged to draw on the SRFI
   process to achieve their goals.


 * [FIXME: something about final approval goes here, maybe]

Original Steering Committee
==========================

 Alan Bawden
 Guy L. Steele
 Mitchell Wand

Current Steering Committee
==========================

 William D Clinger
 Marc Feeley
 Jonathan Rees
 Chris Hanson (ex officio pending new charter)
 Olin Shivers (ex officio pending new charter)