NIME Board, terms of reference

Created: 16 February 2024

Updated: -

1. Rationale

In the past, the NIME community has expressed its preference for an informal organisational structure. We recognise the need to retain the original spirit of NIME, while introducing a governance model that accounts for the community’s growth and avoids fragmentation among the numerous bottom-up initiatives. The NIME Board will replace the NIME Steering Committee (SC). While the SC has executive power around the main decisions in the life of the community and the conference itself, its membership draws on previous NIME hosts in recent (unspecified number of) years or future NIME hosts. This model excludes active NIME members who might not have the possibility to organise NIME but who would be eager and deserve to be involved. The new governance model, outlined in this document, is conceived to overcome these limitations and is centred on efficiency, fairness, and the development of the community, in general.

2. Tasks and responsibilities of the Board

  • To oversee maintenance and approve changes and updates of the present document
  • To discuss matters arising from the community
  • To receive bids to host NIME and to make executive decisions on future NIMEs
  • To oversee the work of the various committees and working groups, encouraging consolidation and focus on their long-term sustainability
  • To form or approve the creation of new committees or working groups, as needed
  • To approve changes and updates to the NIME website and archives
  • To maintain engagement with the NIME Advisory Group, including inviting one representative to attend NIME Board meetings, and to leverage their input, as needed

3. Boards roles and membership

The Board is composed of the following members:

  • President
  • Chief of Committees
  • Continuity Officer
  • Proceedings Officer
  • 2x members-at-large
  • General Chairs of upcoming NIME conferences
  • General Chairs of immediately past NIME conference

3.1 President

3.1.1 Responsibilities
  • To chair the NIME Board meetings
  • To oversee the life of the community
  • To be the main contact person for any arising issue and any new initiatives
  • To lead the process of nomination and election of new Board members
3.1.2 Eligibility and term of office
  • The President must be a current member of the Board, but not a General Chair of an upcoming NIME
  • Once elected, the President should step down from other chairing roles within NIME
  • The first President of the NIME Board will be elected by the current Steering Committee
  • All successive Presidents will be elected by Board members
  • The term of office is 3 years
  • The President can run again for this position but the maximum length of consecutive years is 9 (three consecutive mandates)

3.2 Chief of Committees

3.2.1 Responsibilities
  • To oversee the activities of all the current and future NIME committees and working groups
  • It is expected that the Chief of Committees will periodically organise meetings with the various committee chairs
  • To update the Board on the status of such committees and working groups
3.2.2 Eligibility and term of office
  • The Chief of Committees is elected by the community
  • The term of office is 3 years
  • The mandate can be renewed once

3.3 Proceedings and Web Officer

3.3.1 Responsibilities
  • To ensure that the conference Proceedings on nime.org are always updated 
  • To ensure that the Zenodo page is updated
  • To set a deadline for each year’s General Chairs to submit the proceedings and to monitor the progress
  • To perform routine updates on nime.org
3.3.2 Eligibility and term of office
  • The Proceedings and Web Officer is elected by the community
  • The term of office is 3 years
  • The mandate can be renewed once

3.4 Members-at-large (2x)

3.4.1 Responsibilities
  • To volunteer for the tasks that will inevitably arise and are not in the remit of other Board members 
  • To form, if needed, working groups to solve these tasks
  • To update the Board 
  • Miscellaneous
3.4.2 Eligibility and term of office
  • The two Members-at-large are elected by the community
  • The term of office is 2 years
  • The mandate is not renewed

3.5 Continuity Officer

3.5.1 Responsibilities
  • To ensure that current and future conference organisers possess the necessary information to successfully run the conference
  • To oversee the development of NIME Conference Policy (e.g. fees, publishing systems) that General Chairs will need to comply by
  • To oversee the updates of the NIME cookbook by following up with Conference Chairs
  • Keep a record of emails of registrants that are happy for their email to be used for election purposes
3.5.2 Eligibility and term of office
  • The continuity officer is elected by the community
  • The term of office is 4 years

3.6 General Chairs of Upcoming NIMEs

3.6.1 Responsibilities
  • To update the Board on the status of the conference organisation
3.6.2 Eligibility and term of office
  • One of the General Chairs of an upcoming NIME conference will be automatically invited to join the NIME Board as soon as they are formally notified that their bid to host the conference has been successful

3.7 General Chair of the immediately past NIME conference

3.7.1 Responsibilities
  • To offer advice to the new conference organisers
  • To monitor the current status of the forthcoming conference
  • Miscellaneous
3.7.2 Eligibility and term of office
  • It is expected that one of the General Chair/s of a NIME conference will maintain their membership in the board up until the end of the successive year’s conference

4. Board meetings

  • The board meets online 6 to 8 times a year
  • The meetings last on average 2 hours
  • Efforts will be made to ensure that none of the board members will have to join the meeting at unsociable hours whenever possible

5. Board member’s election process

5.1 Eligibility

  • Anyone who attended at least one of the last 3 NIME conferences (either in person or remotely) can advance their nomination
  • The nomination modalities will be communicated on forum.nime.org

5.2 Elections

6. Advisory Group

6.1 Composition

The Advisory Group is composed of:

  • The General Chairs of all past NIME conferences who have expressed interest in it 
  • Individuals whose specific expertise and/or historical, institutional,cultural, and/or technical insights are valued by the wider NIME community. Such individuals can put forward their nominations to take part in the Advisory Group (details to be announced on forum.nime.org). The nominations are then considered by the NIME Board.

6.2 Representation in the NIME Board

  • The Advisory Group can decide the modalities of their operations
  • A nominee from the Advisory Group can request to be present at NIME Board meetings
  • The NIME Board can request a nominee from the Advisory Group to be present at NIME Board meetings and offer feedback, as needed
  • Advisory Group members participating in NIME Board meetings are non-voting members

7. Times and modalities to constitute the NIME Board

7.1 Constitution of the first NIME Board

  • On 1 March 2024, the current Steering Committee will elect the President of the Board
  • From 1 March 2024, the President will lead the process of election of the other Board members
  • This transition process is expected to last up to 2 months
  • The current Steering Committee will cease its functions at the end of the election period
  • The new governance will be effective at the end of the election period
  • At the end of the election period, the President will constitute the NIME Board

7.2 Successive elections

  • The structure of the NIME Board is conceived to guarantee continuity in the life of the community. As a consequence, the various roles will come to an end in different years. 
  • When a Board seat is about to expire, it’s the President’s responsibility to lead the election process for new members
  • Outgoing Board members are expected to organise handover sessions with the elected member.