External Email - Use Caution
The time has come to vote on our BIDS Governance document (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R-J2lL9V_wIkYhye4zH-feyl4P4J8NyO40rIYyY1...) and for the inaugural Steering Group (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yb6j3a90serWbtab7ukSMyecs16sGfYTSGftH-4A... Voting opens today (October 1) and runs through October 15, 2019, closing at 11:59pm Pacific Daylight Time (UTC -7). Votes will be recorded using a Google Form (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfG76N3dnazONsfCsWAXccgrizmb1gm233p...) and a separate form for email validation (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1zr-w3M2K7ApaW3yePXNRc1zYMhIiDsOVnG15nJ1sgx4...) to make sure the vote is confirmed. The forms have been created separately to dissociate contact information from voting information, and no attempt will be made to re-associate these data. Contact information will be used to ensure that the number of votes matches the number of voters, making fraudulent voting easier to detect. The verification form allows voters to opt-in to having their email retained for this purpose. All email addresses will be deleted immediately once the election results have been verified, with the exception of voters who opt to have their email address retained.
Ratification of the Governance Document is a mandatory vote, with “Yes” indicating approval of the document, and “No” indicating rejection. A simple majority of “Yes” votes will ratify the document. Failure to achieve a majority will nullify the election.
Steering Group candidates are organized into slates of five candidates, and the winning slate will form the inaugural Steering Group. Slates are voted on according to a ranked ballot, with the preferred slate ranked as “1”, second choice as “2”, and so on. Votes will be tabulated according to the instant-runoff (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting) method. A ballot will be considered invalid if multiple slates receive the same rank.
In addition, we are getting very close to finalizing our BIDS-Derivatives extension! We are looking for more feedback from community! The relevant conversations can be found in a GitHub pull request (https://github.com/bids-standard/bids-specification/pull/265). This pull request has identified a few conversations left to reach a consensus before the final review!
If you are interested in particular modalities in BIDS, we have established teams on GitHub (https://github.com/bids-standard/bids-specification/issues/285) to more easily follow the conversations that are most relevant to you! We also have a starter kit (https://github.com/bids-standard/bids-starter-kit) to help you get started using BIDS or finding ways to contribute to the effort!
If you have any questions regarding this process or BIDS please feel free to email Franklin (ffein@stanford.edu)
Thank you in advance for taking the time to vote! Franklin