DIRECTIVES of the CORE CONCEPTS EXPLORATORY GROUP of the FAMILY HISTORY INFORMATION STANDARDS ORGANISATION, INC.
- Mission ===========
The Core Concepts Exploratory Group (CCEG) of the Family History Information Standards Organisation, Inc. (FHISO) is tasked with carrying out exploratory work, as defined in section 1.2 of the Technical Standing Committee (TSC) Operations and Policy Manual (O&PM), into the core genealogical concepts pertaining to persons, their intrinsic and extrinsic properties, the events in their lives, and the relationships they have with other persons.
The CCEG shall research, compare and document the approach to these concepts adopted by current applications and standards in wide-spread use. The CCEG may include other such applications, standards and research in this work as they see fit. The TSC may also direct the CCEG to consider any relevant ideas submitted to the TSC as part of its Call for Paper Submissions (CFPS). A list of such CFPSs is appended to these Directives as annex A.2.
The CCEG shall draw on this research to reach a consensus on the broad manner in which these concepts are to be modelled in a future FHISO standard. Consideration shall be given to compatbility with existing data models (including GEDCOM) and the likely requirements for forwards compatibility. Areas requiring further research shall be identified, as should potential points of extensibility. Particular attention should be paid to those decisions likely to effect the work of other technical groups.
Not everything that may be considered a core genealogical concept is within the scope of the CCEG. In particular, the following subjects are considered beyond of scope of the CCEG: dates and calendars; personal names; place names and other geographical data; sources, citations and attribution; and the detailed modelling of evidence, reasoning and conclusions.
The CCEG shall avoid placing onerous requirements on the choice of serialisation formats or data formalisms that may be adopted by the FHISO.
- Operation ============
The CCEG shall ordinarily conduct its business on the public [email protected] mailing list. The CCEG may after consultation with the TSC conduct business or hold meetings in other manners, providing it is consistent with principles of the standards development process given in section 6 of the O&PM.
Work may be prioritised and divided as the CCEG sees fit. When a major section of work is completed, the CCEG are encouraged to publish it as a Technical Group Note (TGN) to provide third parties and other FHISO groups with an indication of the future direction of FHISO's work.
It is anticipated that the final deliverable produced by the group will be a formal Project Proposal (per section 4.1 of the O&PM) covering the content of a future FHISO standard relating to the concepts with in scope of the CCEG. As FHISO's policy with respect to modularisation develops, the TSC may direct the CCEG to split this Project Proposal into several parts, or to liaise with other Exploratory Groups to produce a single Project Proposal jointly. The CCEG may publish their recommendation as a Working Group Note once it is complete if they feel it would be premature to formal propose the creation of a Project Team.
The CCEG may additionally produce any other deliverable permitted by section 3.3 of the O&PM, and it may produce CFPS Reponses for any CFPS assigned to it per section 3 of the TSC Charter.
All deliverables produced by the CCEG shall comply with the policies given in section 5 of the O&PM, and which any style guides that in the future be approved by the TSC or by FHISO's Executive Committee. The TSC shall maintain as annex A.3 to these Directives a record of all deliverables produce by the CCEG.
The CCEG Coordinator shall keep concise minutes of the decision made by the CCEG, and other events deemed worthy of record. The CCEG Coordinator should liaise with the TSC to ensure these are made public no more than a month after the events being minuted. This task may be delegated to a Recorder appointed by the CCEG Coordinator.
- Governance =============
The work of the CCEG shall be supervised by the TSC and is governed by the policies given in sections 2 and 3 of the O&PM, and section 4 of the TSC Charter. The TSC shall appoint an Coordinator for the CCEG, and who shall be identified in annex A.1 of these Directives.
The TSC shall maintain as annex A.1 of these Directives a list of members of the CCEG, which shall distinguish associate and transitional members. The TSC shall inform the CCEG Coordinator of changes to this list. The CCEG Coordinator is responsible for informing the TSC if in the CCEG Coordinators opinion a member lapses into or reverts from transitional status. If other formal roles are established in the CCEG, these shall be communicated to the TSC and identified in annex A.1.
All members of the CCEG must abide by FHISO's Code of Conduct.
This annex contains supplementary information that is not formally part of the CCEG Directives but is appended to them for convenience.
- Constance Horne (initial associate member)
- Nick Matthews (initial member)
- Jan Murphy (initial member)
- Richard Tallent (joined 2014-10-08)
- Thomas Wetmore (former initial member)
- Justin York (initial member & coordinator)
The CCEG has not yet been assigned CFPSs.
The CCEG has not yet produced any deliverables.