Preamble

This protocol is intended to provide a framework to guide the admission of new organisations as either (a) a Constituent Organisation or (b) an Affiliated Organisation.

Constituent Organisations

An organisation will be considered for admission as a Constituent Organisation (CO) of ADHO provided:

1. Its aims and objectives are consistent with those of ADHO;
2. It can be seen as representing a digital humanities community that has a definable geographical scope at country level or larger;
3. It completes the required admissions procedure;
4. The application for admission receives the unanimous approval of the ADHO Steering Committee.

Basis of admission

1. The means by which an individual becomes a member of the CO will normally be by subscription to the ADHO print journal LLC, at full Personal level or at Senior or Student level, as apprropriate.
   [ exceptions? ]
2. The CO will be entitled to the full range of ADHO procedures, activities, and member benefits, as specified in the ADHO Governance Protocol.
   These include:
1. income distribution
2. representation on ADHO committees, including the ADHO Steering Committee and its various standing committees
   [ representation on committees to be a right or an obligation? ]
3. all ADHO-based membership benefits will be available to CO members
4. Prior to admission to ADHO, the CO will make any amendments to its pre-existing constitution or bye-laws that stand in the way of compliance with the Governance Protocol and other protocols of ADHO. No changes are required otherwise.

Contribution of Constituent Organisations

1. The CO is not required to surrender ownership of assets.
2. Where the CO owns assets, e.g. a publication, which will be of interest and benefit to members of other ADHO COs, the CO will be expected to offer these benefits to members of other ADHO COs on the same basis as applies to the members of the CO, or at a substantial discount.
3. Where an asset owned by the CO will be of benefit to the ADHO community, the CO may apply for the asset to be adopted (without transfer of ownership) by ADHO as an ADHO activity. This may involve the provision of financial support by ADHO centrally.

Benefits to the CO and its members

1. The CO will be included in the annual revenue distribution, on the basis specified in the ADHO Governance Protocol.
2. The CO will be invited to nominate members to the ADHO Steering Committee, and to the various Standing Committees. At the initial stage a single member will be nominated to the ADHO Steering Committee. Once the admissions process is complete, however, the number of members nominated will be determined by the revenue sharing calculations, as laid down in the ADHO Governance Protocol.

Admissions procedure

The admissions procedure will normally comprise the following sequence of steps:

1. Expression of interest by the interested organisation to the ADHO SC
2. Preliminary discussion involving one or more persons nominated by each party
3. Submission of an initial application to the ADHO SC, addressing each section of this protocol
4. Evaluation of the draft application by the ADHO SC, including the preparation of one or more financial models showing the projected consequences if the applicant organisation were admitted on the basis proposed in the draft application
5. Response from the ADHO SC to the initial application, raising questions or proposing changes. At this or any subsequent stage, the ADHO SC may invite the applicant organisation to nominate a representative to join the ADHO SC in a non-voting observer capacity.
6. Iteration of steps 6.3 - 6.5 as many times as each party feels will be useful.
7. Discussion between ADHO SC and OUP on the implications for OUP of admitting a new CO.
8. Submission of final application by the interested organisation to the ADHO SC.
9. Final decision of the ADHO SC. Ratification of the decision by the applicant organisation and by the existing ADHO COs.
10. In the event of a 'Yes' decision:
    1. the ADHO SC will assess the implications for its own composition, i.e. the number of members to be nominated by each CO, including the new one.
    2. ADHO documents will be amended to incorporate references to the new CO as appropriate.
    3. Further discussions will take place with OUP in order to establish the timetable for changes to the LLC web site and the subscription procedures.
11. The admitted organisation makes nominations to the ADHO SC and the ADHO standing committees. For the first year, until final ratification, these representatives would have the status of non-voting observers.

Timetable

There is no fixed timetable for this procedure. A suggested timetable is as follows:

• Year X
  • Jan-Mar : 6.1 and 6.2
  • Apr : 6.3
  • May-Jul : 6.4 - preliminary evaluation may be delegated by the ADHO SC to one or more of its members, working with the authorised representative(s) of the applicant association. The preliminary evaluation will be submitted to the ADHO SC for consideration at its annual meeting, held in association with the annual Digital Humanities conference.
  • Aug : 6.5
  • Aug-Dec : 6.6, 6.7


• Year X+1 (or +2, depending on the number of iterations in 6.6)
  • Jan-Apr : 6.6, 6.7
  • Apr-June : 6.8 - Note that final decision by applicant association to proceed with its formal application must be made at least four weeks prior to the scheduled meetings of the ADHO SC and the existing COs in order for the formal approvals and ratifications to take place in this year.
  • May-July : 6.9. Decision on formal application taken by ADHO SC and ratified by existing CO councils at the meetings held at the annual Digital Humanities conference.
  • Aug : 6.10 - Note that it is advisable for the decision to be notified to OUP immediately, and for the discussions with OUP to be initiated at or immediately following the Digital Humanities conference.
  • Sep-Oct : changes made by OUP to web site and subscription procedures.
  • Nov-Dec : Completion of revised LLC subscription and renewal forms, and website subscription process, all now including the new CO.


• Year X+2 (or +3)
  • First year of operation of the new arrangements for subscription to LLC
  • Jun/Jul : attendance of nominated representative(s) of new CO in non-voting observer capacity at the ADHO SC meeting at the annual Digital Humanities conference;
    consideration by ADHO SC of interim ex gratia payment in the annual revenue distribution process, based on current and anticipated subscription levels of the new CO.


• Year X+3 (or +4)
  • Jun/Jul : first formal attendance by appointed representative(s) of new CO as full voting members of ADHO SC, at the meetings at the annual Digital Humanities conference;
    approval by ADHO SC of new CO share of annual revenue distribution of preceding year's LLC income;
    first payment to new CO.

Affiliated Organisations

The process and status of affiliation is much less formal than admission as a CO, and is likely to involve an agreement between ADHO and the Affiliated Organisation (AO) to collaborate in some specified way(s), e.g. offering reciprocal discounts for publication subscriptions or attendance at conferences.

An affiliation will normally involve the drawing up of a formal Memorandum of Agreement (Affiliation MoA) that sets out the specific rights and responsibilities of each party in the agreed relationship.

An organisation will be considered for Affiliated Organisation (AO) status provided:

1. Its aims and objectives are consistent with or in some way complementary to those of ADHO;
2. an appropriate Memorandum of Agreement can be mutually agreed;
3. The affiliation receives the unanimous approval of the ADHO Steering Committee.

Basis of affiliation

The basis of Affiliation is most likely to involve an exchange of mutual member benefits. These may include:

1. Reduced rates for attendance at conferences: the reduction amount or principle will be specified in the MoA. This benefit would be offered by ADHO in respect of the annual Digital Humanities conference. The reciprocal benefit would depend on what conferences were sponsored or run by the AO.
2. Reduced subscription rates for publications: the reduction amount or principle will be specified in the MoA. This benefit would be offered by ADHO in respect of its print journal LLC. The reciprocal benefit would depend on the publications of the AO.
3. Joint sponsorship of some activity, e.g. bursaries, projects, workshops, training courses.

Affiliation will NOT:

• require subscription to the ADHO print journal LLC by members of the AO.
• entitle the AO to any share of the ADHO revenue distribution process.
• entitle the AO to participate in any aspect of ADHO governance.

Contradictions between protocols

In the event that any part of this protocol is deemed to be in conflict with the ADHO Governance Protocol, the Governance Protocol shall have precedence in all cases.