Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]

Find and be included in our regional map here!

Welcome to the boards of the Democratic Socialist Assembly!

Charter Opt-In (LINK)

    New? [notice]Helpful Resources for Nationbuilding; courtesy of Comrade Ratateague [link]http://s1.zetaboards.com/DemocraticSocialist/topic/5052223/1/[/link][/notice]
    Active Discussions [notice]Roleplay [link]http://s1.zetaboards.com/DemocraticSocialist/forum/1567864/[/link][/notice] [notice]Map! -- LINK [/notice] [notice]General Discussion Forum [link]http://s1.zetaboards.com/DemocraticSocialist/forum/1565787/[/link][/notice][notice]Optional Census of the DSA [link]http://s1.zetaboards.com/DemocraticSocialist/topic/5037512/[/link][/notice]
Welcome to Democratic Socialist Assembly. We hope that you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means that you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features that you can't use. If you join our community (register) in the Democratic Socialist Assembly, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Charter Formatting and Reorganization Act; An Act to Transcribe the Charter to a More Flexible File Type and Standardize Charter Formatting
Topic Started: 29 Apr 2018, 02:54 (71 Views)
Gribelt
Member Avatar
Secretary-General
[ *  * ]
Discussion will last until May 5th at 23:59Z, and unless significantly replaced will move to a vote.

Charter Formatting and Reorganization Act
 

Author: Gribelt

An Act to Transcribe the Charter to a More Flexible File Type and Standardize Charter Formatting




Affirming that The Charter is the supreme law of the Democratic Socialist Assembly,

Realizing The Charter is written in LaTeX, a format which holds merits in academia but offers a lack of formatting options,

Noting that changing the format to a “What-you-see-is-what-you-get” type format such as .doc or .docx will allow more changes to the charter’s format,

Believing changing and updating the charter’s file format and structure will allow charter reforms to become easier to implement,

Hereby empowers the Secretary General to do the following:

  • Transcribe the “core charter” text of LaTeX to a new file format from which to derive the “authoritative” .pdf form
  • Reorganize, add, or remove organizational components of the charter document
  • Change title, page, and sub-subsection or clause numbers to conform to the new formatting of the core document
  • Correct or expand “Charter Key” definitions and acronyms to reduce uncertainty regarding the structural and framework components of The Charter
  • Establish standards for internal and external referencing of the charter contents under the new structure
  • Upon completion of the new format, publish the updated Charter .pdf as the new official document
  • Create a separate “Style Guide” to be available for future reference in charter amendments to preserve the uniformity of the new format

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Gribelt
Member Avatar
Secretary-General
[ *  * ]
Just to clarify, this is in Proposed Legislation instead of Charter Amendments because the aim of this is to have no impact on the actual text of the constitution but only the framework around it. I'm hoping this gives enough wiggle room to be able to organize the charter's framework as much as possible for the simplicity and improvement of future charter amendments while preserving existing references to the charter. These changes would not change any text of any "clause" within the constitution, but only the surrounding structure and issues such as references.

An example of this is several portions of the charter reference "Article 0.149" of the charter, however "149" is only in the document as other references to the same nonexistent number. Clauses are referred to as "Clause 0.47" or "Clause 0.56", creating a confusing mess as these numbers don't line up with the actual clauses referenced.
Edited by Gribelt, 29 Apr 2018, 03:30.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
South Jarvis
Member Avatar
<<< Administrator Emeritus >>>
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
If it is desired to fix the cross-references, the Secretary-General already has the power to do so, as far as I'm concerned.

And to say that LaTeX ‘offers a lack of formatting options’ is simply untrue. If it is desired to change to Word, the argument would be to improve accessibility.
Administrator Emeritus
Secretary-General of the Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Cabinets
MInister of Internal Affairs of the Labour and Socialist International
scientia omnia vincit
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Gribelt
Member Avatar
Secretary-General
[ *  * ]
Improved accessibility is absolutely a goal of doing this, I'm not sure how many people here have experience with LaTeX but I can say with certainty I have 0, and as someone not in the CS field having to write documents like code certainly isn't approachable to me.

...the hour and a half long install for LaTeX doesn't help my opinion either

And also, it would make things feel a lot better to have a legislative blessing to do this just because tinkering with the charter even in relatively insignificant ways should be transparent and democratic IMO.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Proposed Legislation · Next Topic »
Add Reply