The IATI Technical Team has written process guidance on how to make changes to the IATI Standard Publishing Guidance pages. Please note that this is a new process and we will monitoring how it works and will revisit this after one year of application. On suggested use of platform, such as Github and Discuss, we will of course also look into how we can use the new IATI community platform once set in place.
In the process of writing this guidance, we looked at Open Contracting Guidance to see how others have approached similar process; we also discussed this with IATI Governing Board Focal Points Melinda Cuzner and Leo Stolk.
We would like to share the IATI Standard Publishing Guidance - How to Make Changes document with you in advance to make sure it is clear and straightforward. Please respond to this thread by Friday 2 October if you have clarification comments and we will make sure we address them. We will then publish this on our main website and link to it from the IATI Publishing Guidance pages as well.
You have a valid point in regards to the 3 month time line. But do I understand you correctly, is it that you object to the 10 community member limit for guidance changes? I agree, if it would be a matter of changing the standard interpretation that would be a thin requirement… but this is only in regards to change/additions to the guidance. Can you elaborate on the risks you have identified with this?
Of course, it could even be that 10 agree and 10 disagree. And there is no “grading” between members, so all count the same. To me this sounds as if this points to an ambiguity in the guidance and thus justifies a change. But please develop further.
As for the Working Groups, there is no logical connection between proposed WG’s and discussions mentioned here because they are more limited in time and scope. Perhaps a Community of Practice would more suitable for surveillance of this sort?
For changing the guidance in a substantial way the proposed governance proces is i.m.o. far to thin. It is true that the standard itself is not changed, but the guidance describes how the standard should be used within the limits of its technical definition (e.g. the fields to publish, cardinality, codelists). Maybe even more important: the guidance ensures that different publishers have a common understanding of the meaning and use of the elements in the standard. Guidance is in other words an very important part of the standard to be treated with the same respect as the standard itself. The risk of changing the guidance with a lightweight change process is implicitly altering the meaning or use of the standard without a proper chance for the community to review and agree the proposed changes.
Therefore the proces of changing the guidance in any substantial way should i.m.o. follow a formal and thorough path, comparable to changes in the technical standard itself. Therefore I object to the current proposal.
Since adding and changing parts of the guidance is a continous process (we have had multiple cases in the last few years), I think an IATI working group could be an effective way of managing changes. The reason why I prefer an IATI WG above a CoP is that an IATI WG is accountable to the board who acts on behalf of the whole IATI community. Especially when there are differences of opinion about proposed changes, the board plays an important role in this proces.
Finally the proposed and review changes could be presented to the MA for formal approval, comparably to changes in the technical standard itself.