OntologySummit Advisory Committee

(Draft ... first proposed: FabianNeuhaus & PeterYim / 2013.01.16; updated: 2013.01.17)

Terms of Reference

Individuals are invited as Advisors to the Ontology Summit series of activities, and assembled under the Advisory Committee, to which the OntologySummit organizing committee members may consult with and seek advice. They also form a valuable resource pool from which activity champions may find useful to extend their invitation to, when they look for candidates who would share their experience or expertise with the rest of the OntologySummit community, in talks and panel discussions.

It is understood that the advisors do embrace the aspirations, approach and commitment of the OntologySummit (during their tenure as advisors.) Participation in the Advisory Committee is expected to come with minimal commitment on the part of the members (see below), and should require very low bandwidth. Participation is on a pro bono basis.

(Opt-out) Communique Endorsement Commitment by the Advisors

Members of the advisory committee are assumed to endorse the OntologySummit communique unless they explicitly opt out, i.e. they explicitly state they do not endorse the Communique, with supporting reasons why they are making that choice. (Advisors are not losing committee membership by opting out, the only difference to normal participants is that the default assumption is reversed.)

The "Op-out Endorsement" rule is motivated by the fact that at least once we had more advisors than people who endorsed the communique. We both think that, if nothing else, membership of the advisory committee comes with the commitment to read the communique. Since nobody will be happy to endorse a document that they haven't read, this rule will provide an incentive to the advisory committee members to meet their commitment.

Advisory Committee Membership Guidelines

Suggested guidelines:

• Members of the advisory committee are invited each year by the organizing committee, with invitations to be sent out by the General Co-chairs (as a matter of convenience, the invitation may use an "opt out" process, especially for incumbent members.)

• The members of the previous year's Advisory Committee are included in the new year's unless an individuals explicitly opt out or one of the rules below apply.

• Members of the organizing committee become advisors and stay advisors for at least 4 years. They will be dropped unless they actively participated1 in the two consecutive years prior to the end of the 4 year tenure.

• Topic-specific advisors. These are people who are appointed as experts on a specific subject that is the topic for a given year (e.g. folks from the "Standards" domain, invited during the year when the Summit theme was on "Ontology-based Standards"). They are carried for 2 years, then dropped unless active.

• Ontology Summit panelist who gave at least two presentations during two Summits; dropped after 2 years unless active.

• People who made very significant contributions to the field of applied ontology.

• IAOA executive councilors and IAOA advisors as long as they have these roles.

• People of strategic interest. That is the people who are in the position of raising awareness of ontology in government, industry,

etc. They stay until they loose the role which makes them strategically significant.

[1] Active participation includes everything from being an organizer or a panelist to participating in the discussion via email, wiki, survey or presence in the symposium.