Re: [Langcom] Committee governance (was: Re: Membership request)

I am not a member of LangCom (just a volunteer list-admin), so I will not offer an opinion on Jan's request to join. However, I *will* offer an opinion about the committee's governance: the current structure still bears the signs of the committee's genesis, out of ad-hoc need, in a very different time for the movement. Today, it behooves this committee, like all WMF committees (and others across the movement), to adopt some measures of good governance to ensure it remains fit-to-purpose and active. The first such measure that comes to mind is agreeing upon participation expectations (which should of course be appropriate for this particular committee's tasks and the understandable delays they often carry, such as waiting on external experts, etc.), and, after due notice, eventually removing members who do not meet those expectations. This is a relatively easy way to address the "membership for life" issue without setting actual (renewable) membership terms. Another measure would be agreeing upon some desired size (or range) for committee membership, and then upon some process and criteria for soliciting and accepting new members. I am bringing this up as advice in my personal capacity as observer of this committee, resting though it does on much observation and work with other Wikimedia committees. My advice does not carry any coercive force, of course; I just invite the committee to consider improving its governance along these or similar lines.