                      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


