NDSA:Terms

In reviewing the charter at the first meeting several participants asked for clarification on terms. This page provides a home for the definitions of those terms. As a matter of style, when using any of these terms on the NDSA Wiki please provide a link to the anchor for that term on this page. For example this is how to make a link to the term Action Team. The markup looks like this:

[[NDSA:Terms#Action_Team|Action Team]]

NDSA/Alliance Member

NDSA Members are organizations that have signed the memorandum of understanding and have organizational participation in at least one working group of the Alliance.

Coordinating Committee

The Coordinating Committee is made up of individual participants from Member organizations. Members of the Coordinating Committee are voted on by the NDSA Membership.

Working Group

Currently, there are five established Working Groups focusing on the following areas of digital preservation: Content, Standards and Practices, Infrastructure, Innovation, and Outreach. Members commit to having Participants in one or more Working Groups. Working Groups identify tasks and develop work plans that will be accomplished by participants.

Working Group Co-Chairs

Each Working Group has co-chairs that commit to promoting the tasks of the working group. The co-chairs help direct the activities of the group around areas of interest that have been identified by the participants. Each working group will have a co-chair who is a Library of Congress (LOC) staff member. This LOC co-chair will provide logistical support including facilitating and recording minutes of regular meetings of the group.

Action Team

Action Teams are subgroups of the Working Groups that organize themselves around specific projects or activities as needed, whether to accomplish the work set forth in the Working Group Charter or to pursue other work as it comes up. Action teams can be of any size and around any topic, but should have an Action Team Leader to help drive the work and report back to the Working Group. Action teams are formed and disbanded around accomplishing specific projects or tasks.

Action Team Leader

An Action Team leader coordinates the work of the Action Team and reports back the Working Group Co-Chairs and Working Group as needed.

Participant

Participants are individuals that represent NDSA Members in the activities of the Alliance, whether by participating on Working Groups, Action Teams, or on the Coordinating Committee, etc.

Guest Participant

In Action Teams, a Guest Participant is an individual not associated NDSA Member Organization. A Guest Participant does not have the right to vote on the whether a working group should pursue a particular task, but otherwise may take part in the work of the Action Team. Guest Participants may be asked to join Action Teams by participants in a working group or may volunteer to act as a Guest Participant. An Action Team may choose to engage with as many Guest Participants as desired.

Program Representative

Each NDSA Member has one Program Representative who is the primary point of contact for official NDSA business. This Program Representative votes on behalf of the Member organization and coordinates other participants from the organization to be on the NDSA Working Groups.

Communication Representative

The Partner Communication Representative is the contact for discussions about outreach or communication about NDSA. This person would contact the LC Communication Representative about coordinating press releases, media coverage, logo usage and other matters as necessary. The Partner Communication Representative will also pass on details about all news stories, websites, presentations and other information dissemination efforts relating to partner participation in the NDSA; LOC may refer to this information in communicating about overall NDSA activities.

Organizing Committee

A temporary committee made up of NDSA members organizations that volunteered to assist with the organizing activities of the NDSA. This group provided recommendations on the organizational structure of the Alliance with special attention to topics such as Mission and Values, Membership Eligibility, and Principles of Collaboration. Upon ratification of the documents by the NDSA membership, this committee will be disbanded.