Group Formation
Interest Groups remain the gateway for new members into NDSA activities. Working Groups and Interest Groups are encouraged and authorized to share news, events, calls for comments, and draft outputs (with appropriate NDSA branding and group attribution) through the NDSA mailing lists and social media channels. Please contact the NDSA Leadership team if you have any questions about groups or group formation: ndsa.digipres@gmail.com.
Purpose of Interest and Working Groups
The Leadership team monitors activities of both Interest Groups and Working Groups to limit duplication of efforts and to suggest collaborations when groups start to discuss the same types of topics.
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Interest Group: A group for discussion, idea sharing, activity sharing, and community building.
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Working Group: A group created to work on a particular project that produces a specific result, such as a report. They can be one-time, cyclical, or ongoing.
Requirements
- Groups must have at least one chair to help organize and facilitate the meetings, calls, and work to be done. For the sake of continuity, two co-chairs should be in place for each group.
- Groups must have a minimum of three other participants from different organizations.
- Groups shall follow the DLF’s Code of Conduct
- Groups will keep the Leadership team up to date with group activities through chair participation in the monthly Leadership meetings.
- Groups will also update the annual strategic map, providing an outline of their anticipated activities for the year.
- Group activities should be made public via the NDSA website, NDSA-All listserv, NDSA blog, and other means as appropriate.
- Group meetings (recordings) and notes should also be publicly available as appropriate. For example, reviewing survey results where participants can be identified should not be made publicly available.
Group Formation
- Groups can be proposed at any time by any member of the NDSA community.
- A lightweight statement of topic, scope, and group objectives should be documented and presented to the Leadership team for approval. If the proposal is for a new Working Group, a timeline and description of the final product should be included.
- Group formation will be discussed and approved by the Leadership team.
- Calls for interest and participation in new groups should be made to NDSA-All.
- A web page will be created for new groups.
Group Dissolution
- Groups should be dissolved when they are deemed to be inactive or have completed their objectives.
- Working groups who expect to be doing work on a cyclical basis should be deemed inactive rather than dissolved. This status will be made clear in the annual strategic goals.
- Formal dissolution will be discussed and approved by the Leadership team.
Group Outputs
- Groups looking to produce a report or similar shall work with the Communications and Publications Working Group on how to publish their work. Outputs are reviewed and copy-edited to ensure accuracy, style, and consistency across NDSA publications.
- Reports will be reviewed by the Leadership team as well as the NDSA community as appropriate.
- Reports will use NDSA branding as determined by the Communications and Publications Working Group.