Purpose
The purpose of the Voyant Consortium is to:
- Provide strategic direction for Voyant and associated technologies;
- Maintain and expand the tool suite, including Voyant Tools, Spyral and associated assets, for the use of digital humanities researchers;
- Continue developing Voyant Tools and Spyral to meet changing user needs and to take advantage of new techniques/technologies;
- Maintain and extend Voyant/Spyral documentation, outreach, support and training activities that benefit the community;
- Identify and support research initiatives and partnerships that take advantage of or study Voyant/Spyral and its use;
- Maintain the platforms upon which Voyant/Spyral run and relevant partnerships such as that with Digital Research Alliance of Canada;
- Apply for, raise and manage the funds needed to sustainably support Voyant/Spyral, associated assets, and associated activities/initiatives;
- Explore fee-for-service models for potential users who need a higher level of support, and as a way to support the Consortium.
Organization of the Consortium
The Voyant Consortium has two Co-Directors, an Executive that manages the Consortium, a Community Board that represents and engages the community of users and potential users, and a Technical Committee that advises on technical issues. Click here to know more about our team.
Code of Values and Conduct
The Voyant Consortium is committed to creating a safe, inclusive, respectful, and collegial environment for the scholarly benefit of everyone who contributes, attends meetings, and uses our tools and associated materials. Get access to our videos, instructional materials, and use case studies.
Host Institutions
The Consortium is initially hosted by the University of Alberta and interested host institutions.
The Host institutions are expected to have provided or to provide enhanced support. This could include in-kind support of:
- Time of the Co-Director,
- Programming support,
- Staffing support involved in other activities that benefit the Consortium (training, administration …)
We anticipate that the host institutions will change over time and that there may be many. The Consortium should be capable of moving from host to hosts over time. The Consortium will investigate options to become self-sustaining financially and legally.
Executive
The Consortium has an Executive responsible for the day-to-day decisions and implementation. This will be made up of the Co-Directors, the Technical Lead(s), a Community Board representative, and others as needed. The Co-Directors can create and appoint positions to the Executive subject to a review by the Community Board. The Executive will meet monthly. All positions created would have term limits set by the term limit of their position (ie. a Community Board representative would have a term of at most 2 years, the term limit of CB board members.)
Community Board
There will be a Community Board made up of members in good standing. The CB will not exceed 10 members, though it can set up Ad-Hoc Subcommittees with other members.
The Community Board approves annual budgets, takes reports, approves strategy, approves major initiatives, appoints Co-Directors, appoints members of the Technical Committee, and sets contributions. The Community Board will meet quarterly. Community Board members will be elected and have a 2-year term that can be renewed twice.
Technical Committee
There will be a Technical Committee (TC) made up of people appointed by the Community Board.
A Technical Lead or Leads will Chair the TC and sit ex officio on the Community Board to ensure communication. The Technical Committee will meet quarterly and have no more than 10 members, though the Committee can set up Ad-Hoc Subcommittees with other membership. Members of the Technical Committee will have 3-year terms appointed by the Community Board that can be renewed more than once.
Annual Members Meeting
There will be a Members Meeting at least once a year where members receive reports from the Executive, ask questions of the Executive, propose initiatives, vote on the budget, and elect their representatives to the Board. This meeting can be online or hybrid with in-person and online participation.
Membership
There will be different types of members, as follows.
- Host Institutions
These are the institutions that take responsibility for Voyant. They are expected to contribute significant in-kind and/or cash support. - Partner Institutions
These could be university units or other types of institutions like industry partners that have a specific interest in Voyant. They could contribute specific in-kind support associated with a partnership agreement. - Projects
These would be research and/or teaching projects using and building on Voyant. Projects might cross multiple institutions. They would contribute cash or in-kind support. - Individual Members
These would be individuals who would contribute a membership fee should the Consortium decide to charge fees. Students would be free. Upon approval of the Director, Individual Members may substitute in-kind support as their contribution. For example, a member might run training sessions as their in-kind contribution.
In the case of Hosts, Partners, Projects and Individuals contributing in-kind a Co-Director would be expected to negotiate and approve the exact in-kind. In-kind contributions would then be reported to the Community Board.
We hope to encourage Hosts, Partners, Projects, and Members to contribute cash where feasible. In particular we hope that projects applying for grant funding can include a budget line to support Voyant if appropriate. Should we set fees, they will be set by the Co-Directors and approved by the Community Board. The Co-Directors can always reduce the contributions for institutions, partners, projects, members that cannot afford the full fees, especially members at institutions with modest resources. Further, Voyant will recognize Legacy Hosts/Partners that have contributed significantly in the past or can in the future.