from Clyde Camp

[Chris Haynes <chaynes@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>]

In article <41288@ti-csl.CSNET> Dick Gabriel <RPG@sail.stanford.edu> writes:

>1. Individuals belong to X3J13.  Companies can belong and send some number
>of representatives.  All members vote as they wish, but many individuals
>vote their company line for whatever reasons, possibly because they have
>been told to do so.  I vote as I wish, but I won't guarantee that my sense
>of greed will not figure into my vote.  I don't believe IEEE does things
>any differently.

X3's brochures state that:

   "Membership on X3 is by organization and is classified into three
   groups - Producers, Consumers and General Interest. ... All members
   pay a service fee to support the activity. ... Requests for waiver
   of the fees are addressed and granted on a case by case basis."

Dick is correct in that individuals, as opposed to companies, make up
X3 committees and that they are free to vote as they please.
Individuals may attend one meeting free to determine whether or not
they want to join.  In practice, however, the membership fee often
excludes small companies and individuals who cannot afford to pay it.

The result is that X3 membership is primarily by organization.  It is
partially because of this weighting towards larger companies that the
documents from X3 committees must be passed through another balloting
body (representing a wider, more balanced group) before they are
adopted as a standard by ANSI.

With the IEEE, the working committee/group has no membership
restrictions placed on it by the IEEE other than the Chair must be a
member of the IEEE or one of its member societies (such as the
Computer Society). All interested parties may attend and participate
equally in working group meetings.

When the draft standard is declared done by the working group, it is
passed to the sponsor for balloting.  The balloting body is made
individuals who are interested and technically competant to review the
document (basically, if you say you are, then you are).  Like X3, it
must be balanced between manufacturers, users and general interest
groups.  Although only IEEE or society members can actually vote, ALL
negative comments, from member and non-member alike, MUST be resolved
or responded to by the sponsor.

This meets ANSI's balloting rules for "fairness" and is why IEEE
adopted standards are generally taken as-is by ANSI.

- Clyde