In 2004, the Board added a section to Society’s Governing Documents governing publishing of official Society material, email correspondence with officers, and internal record keeping.
Early 2003: Draft
The process started in early 2003, when the Board reviewed a proposed addition to the corporate policies and approved it to be circulated to the populace for feedback.
Mid 2003: Revision
At the July 2003 Quarterly Board Meeting, the draft policy was revised based on feedback and put back out for further discussion. The highlighted sections here mark the sections which were changed from the earlier proposal:
This policy was put out for comment by the membership and received predominantly favorable commentary. Some of the specific suggestions received were very good, and have generated changes in the proposed policy. The Directors felt that some of these changes were sufficiently substantive to warrant putting the revised proposal out for commentary again. The policy will therefore soon appear in the usual places (the mailing list, the www.sca.org website, and Kingdom newsletters). Your input is requested. Commentary will be due by January 1, 2004.
The proposed text as revised appears below:
Amended Proposed Policy on Electronic Communications
(amended 7-23-03–SCA Corporate Policies X)
- Electronic Publication of SCA Documents
When official corporate documents are published electronically on a site not sponsored by the SCA, Inc., the original copyright notice for the document must be provided along with the text. The following addition should be made to the copyright notice:
“In cases of conflict, the governing version of this document is (title of document), copyright (date) by the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., and obtainable in printed form from the SCA Stock Clerk, P.O. Box 360789, Milpitas CA 95036. Disputes over the contents of this document will be decided in favor of the printed version available from the SCA, Inc.”
- Participation of SCA Officials in Electronic Communications Media
A. Unless otherwise stated as a prerequisite of office, electronic communication is not required of any officer. Traditional paper correspondence is always acceptable, and is the default means for official correspondence.
B. The SCA, Inc. neither prohibits nor requires members’ or officers’ participation in electronic communications media such as newsgroups or mailing lists.
- Electronic Communications to and from SCA Officers
A. Electronic communications to SCA officers may be regarded as formal communications only if approved in advance by the officer, or if a confirmation of receipt is obtained.
B. Messages posted for general attention on any public electronic communications forum are not regarded as formal communications to an officer, whether or not that officer is known to participate on the forum in question. Communications posted by corporate or kingdom officers to their officer-specific forums may be considered official communications to those officers subscribed to the forum.
C. Any policies or procedures governing the handling of correspondence, such as maintenance of file copies for correspondence with lasting effect, apply equally to electronic mail. Officers must ensure that any electronic files are passed on in a format readable by their successor.
D. SCA officers must distinguish between their personal opinions and official statements or policies of their office in electronic communications. (changed wording in D from “must be careful to distinguish” to “must distinguish”)
January 2004: Adoption
This revised version of the unified policy was officially added to the Governing Documents in January 2004 (page 53 of 55).
The Present
This policy is still included in the current Governing Documents and appears to have remained unchanged from 2004 to the present.