a starting point for a community organization charter on the wiki

[Jeremy McNaughton]

Hi Everyone,

I've started a (very rough) draft charter for the community
organization on the wiki here:

http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Community_Charter

With a little help this could eventually become our charter for a
sub-group of Linux International.

The stuff I've written there are all just ideas that can be completely
changed.  We have the opportunity to create a brand new organization,
so don't be afraid to raise questions, concerns, or ideas.  It's
important that we create an organization that works.  It needs to work
to further our collective goals, and it needs to work for everyone
involved.  That includes you!

There are scores of successful, community based FLOSS organizations
out there, and some not so successful ones that we can hopefully learn
lessons from.  If you admire a particular project for the way it runs
things, please tell the rest of what we can learn from them.
Potential pitfalls that can be avoided, ingenious ways of financing,
anecdotes about do's and don'ts for encouraging community
involvement... all of this and more can help us work towards building
a great organization.

As a side note, I've only just come out of lurking.  Since I haven't
been actively involved up this point, I just want to say that I don't
want to step on anyone's toes.  If anyone feels I have crossed a line
somewhere, please let me know.  I assure everyone that I don't want to
be in charge, in fact I'd prefer members with more experience take on
leadership roles.   Organizational development is just a sort of a
passion for me.  Not that anyone has given me reason to think this.
All I'm saying is, I know I'm new here and don't expect any sort of
overnight credibility.

Anyways, here's to some engaging discussions that will lead to a
prosperous future for open telephony!


Jeremy