HPC Carpentry Governance

HPC Carpentry is a community effort. We meet twice on the first and third Thursday of every month to coordinate lesson development efforts, share teaching experiences, and discuss feedback.

We use a streamlined extract of Martha’s Rules for asynchronous decision-making. Matters requiring acute executive action are addressed by our Steering Committee which is also the collective point of contact for The Carpentries proper.

Unless otherwise specified, the style, governance, and rules of HPC Carpentry default to the The Carpentries Bylaws.

Steering Committee

HPC Carpentry is a global volunteer community. Executive decisions are made by a five-member Steering Committee, which also serves as the point of contact for The Carpentries.

As of June 22, 2023, the Steering Committee members are:

Elections

HPC Carpentry holds Steering Committee elections each June.

Interested parties must have an active GitHub account.

As a small volunteer organization, our aim is to make elections straight-forward and reasonably secure. The process is as follows.

  1. Towards the end of May, a Committee member posts a notification to the various and sundry communications channels that “June is Election Month!” The message should encourage people who have not served to consider doing so.
  2. On or before the first Thursday of June, a Steering Committee member shall create an Issue on hpc-carpentry/coordination to take nominations for Steering Committee membership.
  3. Interested persons should add a comment on the Issue beginning with their name. Nomination replies may optionally include a brief statement of interest, intent, suitability, etc.
  4. Any person whose nomination reply receives at least one 👍 (:+1:) reply is duly nominated, and shall appear on the election ballot.
  5. The nomination period will end one week after it opens, to allow for asynchronous online engagement.
  6. On the second Thursday of June, a Steering Committee member shall close the Nomination thread and use ElectionBuddy or equivalent online service to create a ballot with the name and GitHub user handle of each nominee.
    • The ballot should represent a “plurality” vote, with many candidates for the same position.
    • Voters should select at least 3 candidates, and at most 5 candidates.
    • The ballot closes one week after it opens.
  7. After the regularly scheduled meeting ends on the third Thursday of June, a Steering Committee member shall confirm the Election has closed and review the outcome. In case of fraudulent activity, the entire Steering Committee will confer and decide the best course of action.
  8. Candidates who receive at least one vote will be assigned to the open seats in descending order of votes. The result shall be announced promptly on all available communications channels, and this page of the Website shall be updated with their names, contact information, and relevant media, such as photos.
  9. The new Steering Committee shall assume responsibility for all meetings and activities from July 1 onward.

By-Elections

In the event a Steering Committee seat is vacated outside the month of June, a by-election shall be conducted within sixty (60) days. The procedure will be the same as the annual election, except that voters may select only one (1) candidate.