User:Howard C. Berkowitz/C3

Legal status

The Citizendium will be owned and controlled by the Citizendium Foundation, a non-profit organization.

Languages

The official language of the Citizendium shall be English. Branches in other languages require approval by the Management Committee and shall have the same legal status as the English language Citizendium (see Legal status above). Non-English Citizendiums shall construct their governance in accordance with this charter or a translation approved by the Management Committee.

Branch language Editorial Councils, including the English language Citizendium Editorial Council, shall be empowered to develop policy regarding non-native language content on their native language Citizendiums.

Consistent with the Citizendium's respect for expertise, the Editorial Council of any branch language version may request the Editorial Councils of other language versions to revise, add, or remove content in the former branch's native language.

All user pages shall be in the native language for that version of Citizendium.

No branch or non-English version of Citizendium shall be permitted at later times to adopt policy that contravenes this charter.

External partnerships

The Citizendium invites collaboration with non-Citizen partners on any matters relevant to the project's mission, provided that such collaboration does not conflict with this Charter.

Final clause

Ratification

If this Charter has been ratified by two thirds or more of the votes validly cast in a referendum for this purpose, it shall be certified by the Editor-in-Chief within a week after the closing of the referendum. For future amendments, a certifying official or officials shall be agreed upon by the joint Management Committee and Editorial Council.

Entry into force

This Charter shall enter into force on the day following ratification.

Interim guidance for the transition period

Inclusion of several points into this section is being discussed on the talk page.

As long as the administrative prerequisites for implementing the charter are not entirely fulfilled, the rules listed in this section shall provide interim guidance to the Editorial Council, Management Council, and other bodies. Such material may be modified by those bodies by their normal procedures, without a full Charter amendment.

Editorial Council and Management Committee

For both bodies, the intention is to elect half of the members each year, so of the first group, a number corresponding to the quorum will be selected, by lot or personal agreement, to serve one-year terms.

Citizens with pseudonyms

Within a month after the entry into force of this charter, all existing pseudonym accounts shall be closed by the Constabulary, and the respective user pages protected. The Citizens concerned may reapply under their real name.

Registration of new Editors

To streamline the CZ:Editor Application Review Procedure, applications for Editorship shall be processed in two steps. First, an applicant will be registered as an Author, so s/he can immediately start editing. Secondly, the application for Editorship will be reviewed by the Editorial Personnel Administrators (to be appointed by the Editorial Council) who will strive to make a decision within one week.

CZ:Editorial Council Resolution 0012 shall be extended such that these new Editors will be categorized as New Editors during the first three months after registration or until their first contribution to the project.

External partners

The Management Council shall elaborate a strategy and policy on collaboration with external partners, paying particular attention to fostering the collaboration with instructors by way of Eduzendium, and with external experts or professional organizations for the purposes of providing or reviewing content at the Citizendium.

Future amendments

This Charter shall be open to amendment at any time subsequent to its ratification. The Management Council is hereby vested with the power to act upon proposals for amendment originating from any Citizen or Citizendium institution. The process of Amendment requires the Management Council initially to consult with Citizens (including via the Forum) and subsequently to draft an appropriate amended text. The decision to accept the amended text will be taken by popular vote of the Citizenry, and requires a two-thirds majority of votes validly cast.