Jabber Foundation

Jabber.org and Jabber.com are beginning the process of creating the Jabber Foundation. Included below are some rough ideas on how this foundation might be organized and it's role in the Jabber community.

The role we would like the foundation to play is one that serves this community. There have been many challenges lately that we've all faced as the community grows and development accelerates, and confusion about the roles that different entities have within the community. There are also new participants that would like to be involved in Jabber but it isn't clear how to help or where to start. These are issues that we hope the foundation can work towards, as well as providing better tools and forums to the Jabber development community.

Very quickly I put together some high level ideas of what the foundation can do and categorized it into four Ds:

Define

Specifications for the existing protocols for clients, servers, and services

New extensions and additions to the protocols

Feature sets and testing suites

Describe

Architecture overviews

Development, protocol, and user documentation

Common glossary and terminology definitions

Discuss

Developer news and forums

Hosting events and gatherings

Protocol and architectural growth and extensions

Disseminate

Links to clients and client projects

Comprehensive index for servers, services, and modules

Highlight related projects and integration/interoperability efforts

The foundation will be 'jabber.org' and as seen is simply a growth and solidification of what the site already does. What it will not do is any direct technical software development, but instead foster the community and provide tools and forums for doing development. Also, to be clear, the foundation will be focusing on standardization but not in the larger IM space, just within the Jabber community itself. Some of the first steps will be working on solidifying the existing protocol documentation (not changing in any way, just clarifying poorly documented areas) and setting up an open process for working together on extensions and feature additions. The growth of the Jabber community alone demands these things, and this is where the foundation can start helping most.

Here are some of the details to be discussed:

Mission: The Jabber Foundation provides organizational and technical assistance to the Jabber Community to help accomplish its mission of fostering "freedom of conversation" among people, applications, and systems regardless of medium through an open communications framework.

Charter: The Jabber Foundation shall provide direct organizational assistance and indirect technical assistance to the Jabber Community in carrying out its mission. Direct organizational assistance will include brand management, logistical support, legal assistance, press relations, and communication facilities. Indirect technical assistance will include project management, protocol specification, standards activities, documentation support, and site development. The Jabber Foundation will not make technical decisions for Jabber but will help the Jabber Community to make technical decisions more effectively. All activities and proceedings will be openly accessible and published.

Structure: Membership-based, not-for-profit corporation. The Jabber Foundation will not be registered as a nonprofit or charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. This means that, for individuals within the U.S., donations to the Jabber Foundation are not tax-deductible although corporate donations may be considered business expense, provided the corporation benefits from the activities of the Jabber Foundation.

Membership: Members elected by simple majority of current members. Requires the submission of a simple applicant profile to help electing members understand the qualifications of an applicant for membership.

Projects: The Projects help direct significant development such as server, client, or transport development. The Jabber Foundation Projects are established by simple majority of the Members.

Organization: Board of Directors, Advisory Board, and Executive Committee. Board of Directors shall direct the management of the affairs of the corporation. The first Board of Directors will be defined in the Articles of Incorporation for the corporation. Subsequent Boards of Directors will be elected by a majority of the membership. The Advisory Board consists of individuals invited by the Board of Directors to function as non-voting advisors to the Board of Directors. The Executive Committee shall be appointed by the Board of Directors and shall manage the affairs of the company for the Board of Directors.

Officers: Chairman, President, Secretary, Treasurer.

Term: One Year

Number: Initially there will be 5 members of the Board of Directors.

Incorporation: The corporation shall be incorporated in the State of Delaware.

Offices: The offices of the corporation will be in Denver CO or as designated by Board of Directors.

Meetings: Annual meetings of the Corporation are required.