1 Policies (Proposed)

1.1 Standards

Standards used in common by teams and groups make collaborations easier and more productive. The proposals below are designed toward this end.

1.1.1 Data Formats

1.1.1.1 Data for Editing

Any group can be expected to use a variety of software in creating its documents and products. Often software has its own ‘native’ format, but also will import or export (save) files in other formats. As a standard, then, for text documents, the Rich Text Format (.rtf) is suggested as a good, common format because it can be used by word processors from Microsoft, Corel, Apple/Mac and Open Office. In particular this means that files can be shared without the need for any conversion as work moves from one person to another. They may compress (zip, stuff) into significantly smaller files.

1.1.1.2 Data for Display or Printing

The Portable Data Format (.pdf) is readily used and is suggested for this purpose. PDF files can be read with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available on many machines or can be downloaded. PDF files can be made with Adobe Acrobat commercial software and by such Open Source software as PDF995 (and there are others). PDF files can be displayed on computer monitors at a range of magnifications (zooms) and can be printed. They are WYSIWYG – what you see is what you get when you print. They can include both text and graphics or images. They do not compress (zip, stuff) into significantly smaller files. In some cases these files may be locked or password-protected to limit changes or access.

1.1.2 File Naming

Naming files is an art. Still, standards can help, especially for files that form series, such as ones that progress from an original to subsequent versions, or which represent dated events. For example, bylaws might have several versions and minutes of board meetings arrange themselves naturally as dates. Further, as various persons edit these, it can be helpful to identify the producer.

Here is a general model for file naming that will cause files to sort by name into their logical sequence:

organization | product | sequence or date | producer | filetype

Here are examples of implementation of this standard:

org_min_yymmdd.rtf ==>> RTP_min_060916.rtf

==>> RTP_min_061003.rtf

org_bylaws_nn.rft ==>> FCAT_bylaws_12.rtf

Or with various producers:

FCAT_articleX_2_mr.rtf

FCAT_articleX_3_sd.rtf (indicating the evolution of v. 2 into v. 3 by a new producer.

Prepared on 7 October 2006 by

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Michael Rulison | 919/782-9576

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