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 Charter ======= Standardization Committees -------------------------- * Steering Committee The creation of Scheme standards shall be governed by a Steering Committee that consists of three members. Its responsibility is to ensure that the standardization process continues, and to establish processes by which draft standards are reviewed and accepted by the Scheme community at large. The Steering Committee must replace members who leave. Replacements must be selected within three months, and the Steering Committee must announce the replacement 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. * Standard Editors The creation of Scheme standards documents shall be governed by a committee of five Editors, including a Chair and a Project Editor. The Chair is responsible for organizing meetings and other activities and ensuring that the process makes progress in an orderly fashion. The Project Editor is responsible for producing standardization documents. None of the Editors may be a member of the Steering Committee. When the Editors have produced a candidate standard, they present it to the Steering Committee for review and acceptance. The Steering Committee shall make no rule concerning the process by which a candidate standard is produced or revised, but Editors are encouraged to exploit the Scheme Request for Implementation (SRFI) process for gathering opinions and suggestions from the Scheme community at large. The Steering Committee must replace Editors who leave. The replacements must be selected within three months, and the Steering Committee must announce the replacement to the Scheme community at large. If an editor resigns, the Chair should notify the Steering Committee so that he may be replaced. The Chair may of course try to convince the editor to withdraw his resignation. The Chair can request that an editor submit a letter of resignation, so long as such requests are made in good faith and for good cause. If the Chair requests a letter of resignation from an editor, and the editor declines to resign, then the matter should be resolved by the Steering Committee. 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 editors, 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. Standard Editors are encouraged to draw on the SRFI process in developing Scheme standards. Recommended Timeline -------------------- The Steering Committee and Editors are ultimately responsible for the process of Scheme standardization. Nevertheless, as the intent of this charter is to make timely progress towards a standard, the following timeline and process suggestions (for a single round of standards) may serve as a benchmark for the actual process. * Drafting The Editors should produce a draft standard core Scheme, a draft module system, and a draft set of initial libraries within 24 months of the Editors' establishment. During these 24 months, the Editors are encouraged to produce short status reports every 6 months, posted at www.schemers.org. The Editors are also encouraged to solicit opinions on specific issues concerning the draft. The Editors are further encouraged to record electronic discussions and meeting minutes in a publicly readable archive. If the Editors require more than 24 months to complete the draft, they are encouraged to report this as soon as possible to the Steering Committee. If the Editors determine they are unable to produce a draft, they should report this to the Steering Committee as soon as possible. * Review When the Editors finish the draft standards, they should provide the drafts to the Steering Committee, who should in turn publish the drafts on schemers.org. After this, the members of the Steering Committee and the scheme community at large have 6 months to voice concerns, criticism, and suggestions for improving the drafts. The Editors should attempt to respond to each voiced concern, detailing a rationale against a concern or indicating the way that the drafts will change to address a concern. The editors are encouraged to publish numbered (or otherwise identified) intermediate revisions of the report during the review period, and announce them on schemers.org. * Finalization After the end of the review period, the Editors should submit new drafts within three months. The Steering Committee should then choose either to finalize the drafts or to restart the review process. Current Steering Committee ========================== Alan Bawden Guy L. Steele Mitchell Wand Current Editors =============== William D. Clinger R. Kent Dybvig Matthew Flatt Michael Sperber Anton van Straaten