Network Participation Framework
This Task Force evaluated the terms of reference, procedures activities and requirements for Task Forces and Working Groups.
One of the important tasks of the Members Council is to encourage Network Association Members to take part in the activities for maintaining and improving Europeana. Association Members must feel involved. Task Forces and Working Groups are currently the instruments for such involvement. However, their terms of reference don’t appear to cover all the useful ways in which participation is needed or desired. Two ways of contributing to the working of the Association have emerged during the first years of its existence that do not fit the current models of Task Forces or Working Groups:
- Sub-groups of the Members Council that perform tasks on behalf of the Council itself, such as the Elections Committee or the AGM Working Group;
- Sub-communities of the Network should be better integrated within the Association in order to properly participate in the new governance structure of Europeana, with the opportunity to represent the concerns of their own community, such as the communities of the aggregators or of the libraries who have already expressed such a desire.
It is time to further streamline and consolidate the participation in Europeana activities by Association Members, based on this experience. The working model that best suits such work appeared to be a Task Force: a short period with a specific recommendation or plan as output.
Therefore, the tasks of this Task Force were:
- Evaluate the current terms of reference and procedures for Task Forces and Working Groups
- Verify the compliance of past and currently active Task Forces and Working Groups
- Investigate requirements of new groups (e.g. committees and communities) and how they match current structures
- Investigate how existing communities can be integrated within the Network Association, e.g. EuropeanaTech
