From: Dave De Young [deyoung@noao.edu]
Sent: 13 December 2004 03:46
To: hanisch@stsci.edu; masatoshi.ohishi@nao.ac.jp; naw@ast.cam.ac.uk
Cc: al@roe.ac.uk; pjq@eso.org
Subject: New IVOA Membership Class



Dear All;

As I recall from the IVOA telcon, we were assigned the task of defining
a new class of IVOA membership.  I thought it might be useful to send a
a rough draft of initial thoughts in order to start the process.  If
possible, a goal might be to circulate a draft document to the  Exec just
prior to the 9 January meeting so it can be discussed there.

First, I think we should start with only one new class of membership,
even though several classes were briefly discussed.  I suggest
Associate Membership as a working title for now, since "Partner" does
not quite convey the sense desired.  Here are some suggested benefits
and responsibilities:

Benefits:

Associate Members are invited to participate in all major IVOA events
(Except Exec Meetings - Associate members would not be members of Exec.)

Associate Members are invited to participate in Interest Groups and can
also be members of Working Groups (by invitation only?)

Associate Members will be added to appropriate mailing lists and their
membership will be listed on the IVOA web sites and associated VO sites
as appropriate

Responsibilities:

Associate Members would be expected to contribute/maintain data holdings
that will be integrated into IVOA and other VO registries

Associatge Members would be expected to make contributions from time to
time to various IVOA committees upon request from IVOA Exec        

Associatg Members would be expected to develop VO tools and other capabilities
from time to time as dictated by their interest and the interest of the
IVOA


This is a very preliminary draft; comments are most welcome.  I would be
happy to take the lead in coordinating the creation of this draft if that
would be useful.    

With best wishes,

Dave