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Version 1.1 by Robert Schaub on 2025/12/11 11:34
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1 = Governance =
2
3 == 1. Overview ==
4
5 Governance defines oversight, neutrality, ethical principles, and organisational integrity.
6 It ensures that FactHarbor operates transparently, without bias, and in line with its mission.
7
8 FactHarbor is intended as a long-term public knowledge infrastructure.
9 Its governance model must ensure:
10
11 * integrity against manipulation
12 * transparency of reasoning and code
13 * longevity beyond any single founder
14 * sustainability via realistic financing
15 * openness without compromising trust
16 * legal compliance under relevant frameworks (e.g. Swiss, EU, and US law, as applicable)
17
18 Governance is responsible for:
19
20 * mission alignment and ethical oversight
21 * safeguarding neutrality and independence
22 * defining and supervising decision processes
23 * ensuring that organisational structures remain fit for purpose as the project evolves
24
25 == 2. Charter ==
26
27 *Mission (governance focus):*
28 Protect neutrality, transparency, nonprofit accountability, and ethical integrity across all FactHarbor activities.
29
30 *Legal foundation (high-level):*
31 FactHarbor’s governance is designed to operate within the constraints of:
32
33 * nonprofit law and applicable registration requirements
34 * licensing obligations (open-source and open-data)
35 * financial reporting and transparency duties
36 * data protection and information-security regulations
37
38 Details of the concrete legal form (e.g. association, foundation, other nonprofit structures) may evolve over time.
39 The core commitment is that **governance must always protect the mission and public-interest character of FactHarbor.**
40
41 == 3. Governance Structure (Current Model) ==
42
43 See diagram: [[Governance Structure>>FactHarbor.Organisation.Diagrams.Governance-Structure]]
44
45 === 3.1 Governing Team ===
46
47 The **Governing Team** provides strategic oversight and ensures:
48
49 * alignment with FactHarbor’s vision and mission
50 * compliance with legal and ethical obligations
51 * transparency of important decisions
52 * resolution of escalated issues that cannot be settled at domain level
53
54 The Governing Team focuses on *mission and integrity*, not micromanagement.
55
56 === 3.2 Executive Lead ===
57
58 The **Executive Lead**:
59
60 * coordinates the domains (Research & Development, Organisation, PR & Care & Marketing, Operations)
61 * ensures coherence and consistency across domains
62 * supports escalation handling and conflict resolution
63 * makes sure that governance rules are applied in practice
64
65 In a small organisation, the Executive Lead may also hold other roles, but responsibilities must remain clearly documented.
66
67 === 3.3 Governance Steward ===
68
69 The **Governance Steward** safeguards:
70
71 * neutrality of processes
72 * transparency of decisions
73 * fairness in conflict handling
74 * adherence to agreed governance rules
75
76 (% class="box infomessage" %)
77 (((
78 **Note:** The Governance Steward has **no strategic voting power**. Their authority is strictly limited to enforcing process fairness and the Charter rules. They act as a referee, not a captain.
79 )))
80
81 The Governance Steward is a focal point for concerns about process, fairness, or structural bias.
82
83 === 3.4 Advisory Roles ===
84
85 Advisors support decision quality without having direct decision authority:
86
87 * **Legal Advisor** – legal frameworks, contracts, licenses
88 * **Ethics Advisor** – ethical questions, conflicts of interest, societal impact
89 * **Scientific / Domain Advisors** – topic-specific expertise (e.g. medicine, energy, statistics)
90
91 Advisors may be consulted for specific questions; their input must be documented when it materially influences decisions.
92
93 === 3.5 Domain Leads ===
94
95 Each domain (R&D, Organisation, PR & Care & Marketing, Operations) may have a **Lead** who:
96
97 * owns day-to-day decisions within that domain’s boundaries
98 * escalates when decisions affect other domains or the whole organisation
99 * ensures that domain actions follow the agreed governance rules
100
101 == 4. Governance Model & Evolution (Future / Draft Path) ==
102
103 This section preserves important ideas from earlier governance drafts.
104 It describes a **possible long-term path** and **does not override** the current small-organisation reality.
105 Details may change before they are adopted in practice.
106
107 === 4.1 Stewardship Governance (Principle) ===
108
109 FactHarbor follows a **stewardship governance** approach:
110
111 * Strategic control remains with a trusted core to prevent hijacking or capture.
112 * Governance is designed to protect the mission rather than maximise profit.
113 * Power is exercised as a **stewardship duty** towards the public and contributors.
114
115 === 4.2 Startup Phase Governance (Founder-led) ===
116
117 In the early phase, governance was designed around a **founder-led model**, where:
118
119 * the **Founder** acts as a de-facto Sole Maintainer,
120 approving merges, managing releases, and holding final authority over technical and strategic decisions;
121 * a **Core Team** may be added, with multi-party approval for security-sensitive or high-risk changes;
122 * a **succession mechanism** is expected to be defined before transition, for example:
123 * Founder-appointed successor, or
124 * successor ratified by a council-like body (e.g. future Governing/Steering council).
125
126 These ideas can be reused or adapted when the concrete legal and organisational structure is defined.
127
128 === 4.3 Possible Non-Profit Organisation Phase (e.g. Swiss Verein) ===
129
130 Earlier drafts envisioned a transition to a **nonprofit entity** (for example, a Swiss Verein) once FactHarbor reaches sufficient maturity and community scale.
131
132 Key ideas from that draft:
133
134 * **Governance bodies** might include:
135 * a **Steering Council** (central decision-making and strategic oversight),
136 * **Core Maintainers** (review and merge code / specification changes),
137 * a **Security Council** (security veto, audits, and sensitive decisions).
138 * The **Founder’s role after transition** could become:
139 * permanent or long-term member of the Steering Council,
140 * strategic vision holder, while decisions follow the agreed Charter.
141 * An **Asset Transfer Protocol** would be required when the nonprofit is formally created, e.g.:
142 * transferring copyrights, domains, repositories, and trademarks
143 * from the Founder (or initial holder) to the nonprofit entity
144 * in a well-documented, mission-locked way.
145
146 These points are preserved here as **design material for future governance work**.
147 They are not yet binding and must be confirmed, adapted, or replaced when the legal form is chosen.
148
149 == 5. Decision Processes ==
150
151 Decisions in FactHarbor are categorized and escalated according to specific protocols to ensure efficiency, fairness, and auditability.
152
153 For the full definition of decision types, escalation paths, and documentation requirements, see:
154 * [[Decision Processes>>FactHarbor.Organisation.Decision-Processes]]
155
156 == 6. Compliance Framework ==
157
158 The Compliance Framework ensures that FactHarbor operates with legal adherence, financial transparency, and operational security.
159
160 For details on funding principles, ledgers, and internal controls, see:
161 * [[Finance & Compliance>>FactHarbor.Organisation.Finance-Compliance]]
162
163 The Governance page provides the high-level framework.
164 Details are further specified in the Organisation, Finance & Compliance, and Open Source Model & Licensing pages.
165
166 == 7. Core Design Goals ==
167
168 FactHarbor’s governance, open source model, and financing are built around a small set of long-term goals.
169 They collect ideas that are now spread across Governance, Open Source Model & Licensing, Finance & Compliance, and Legal Framework.
170
171 * **G1 – Mission first, forever**
172 The mission – clarity, transparency, and resistance to manipulation – must not be overridden by financial, political, or popularity incentives.
173 Governance and funding decisions are evaluated against this mission, not the other way round.
174
175 * **G2 – Openness & Transparency**
176 The reasoning engine, data processing, and the way AI support is used should remain inspectable and explainable.
177 The current licence mix (for code, documentation, and data) is chosen to:
178 * keep core components openly usable and auditable, and
179 * make sure that any non-open pieces are clearly marked and governed.
180 For concrete licence choices, see [[Open Source Model and Licensing>>FactHarbor.Organisation.Open Source Model and Licensing]].
181
182 * **G3 – Controlled Core, Open Contributions**
183 Anyone may propose ideas and contributions, but FactHarbor relies on:
184 * a small, trusted **Governing Team** and maintainer group for core decisions, and
185 * clearly documented contributor roles and processes.
186 This combination should keep the core coherent and safe, while still welcoming broad participation.
187 Details: [[Roles & Bodies>>FactHarbor.Organisation.Roles-Bodies]], [[Contributor Processes>>FactHarbor.Organisation.Contributor-Processes]].
188
189 * **G4 – Financial Sustainability without Profit Extraction**
190 FactHarbor aims to be financially sustainable without becoming profit-driven.
191 In practice this means:
192 * revenue (donations, grants, services) is reinvested into the mission,
193 * no profit is distributed,
194 * key contributors can receive fair, market-aligned salaries when funding allows and law permits.
195 Details: [[Finance & Compliance>>FactHarbor.Organisation.Finance-Compliance]].
196
197 * **G5 – Manipulation Resistance**
198 Governance and technical rules must:
199 * prevent capture by hostile actors,
200 * protect against coordinated manipulation, and
201 * safeguard the integrity of claims, scenarios, evidence, and verdicts.
202 This affects both organisational structures (who can decide what) and technical design (audit trails, moderation tools, anomaly detection).
203
204 * **G6 – Legal Clarity**
205 Open source, governance, and financing must be:
206 * legally defensible,
207 * compatible with relevant jurisdictions (e.g. Swiss, EU, US), and
208 * understandable for non-lawyers who need to work with the rules.
209 Details: [[Legal Framework>>FactHarbor.Organisation.Legal-Framework]].
210
211 These goals do not override more detailed rules on the subpages; they summarise the direction that Governance, Licensing, Finance & Compliance, and Legal Framework should remain aligned with.
212
213 == 8. AI, Transparency and Integrity (AKEL) ==
214
215 Because FactHarbor deals with **truth-adjacent reasoning**, any use of AI must meet higher transparency and integrity requirements.
216
217 * The **AI Knowledge Extraction Layer (AKEL)** is treated as part of the open core design.
218 Its purpose is to assist humans in extracting, organising, and updating knowledge – not to replace human judgement.
219 * Where possible, AKEL should rely on **open models** or models whose behaviour can be reasonably inspected and documented.
220 * When **proprietary or external AI services** are used:
221 * this must be **clearly disclosed** to users at the point of use (e.g. in UI hints or context help),
222 * the system indicates **why** this model or service is used, and
223 * the core logic (how outputs are integrated, evaluated, and stored) remains open and auditable.
224 * AI outputs are treated as **proposals**, not as final verdicts.
225 Human review and governance rules decide what becomes part of the official knowledge base.
226
227 Licensing details related to AKEL and the core protocol are described in
228 [[Open Source Model and Licensing>>FactHarbor.Organisation.Open Source Model and Licensing]],
229 and the technical design is specified in the main [[Specification>>FactHarbor.Specification]].
230
231 == 9. Evidence Openness ==
232
233 FactHarbor’s mission depends on **open evidence practices**. The core rules are:
234
235 * **No hidden evidence**
236 Evidence used in published reasoning should be accessible, or the limitations clearly documented (for example when data is confidential or privacy-relevant).
237
238 * **No silent corrections**
239 If a published statement is corrected, there must be a visible note or changelog entry explaining what changed and why.
240
241 * **Versioned and traceable**
242 Evidence collections, datasets, and key reasoning artefacts should be versioned.
243 It should be possible to reconstruct “what the project believed at time X”.
244
245 * **Independence and conflicts of interest**
246 Potential conflicts (for example funding, affiliations, roles) should be documented so users can judge possible biases.