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=== 1. Community Structure ===
The OpenSolaris community is structured as a distributed organization made up of self-governing groups of participants, as specified below.

==== 1.1 Groups ====
The OpenSolaris community is made up of groups of participants, where each group focuses on different aspects of the community as a whole. These groups fall into several broad categories based on their scope and/or behavior patterns:

*'''Communities''': Social groups gathered around issues or technologies.
*'''Projects''': Working groups assembled to collaborate on a distinct cause/effort.
*'''User Groups''': Groups of users, developers, enthusiasts gathered around issues and/or technologies in a specific geography.
*'''Electorate''': a subset of the community that is empowered to vote in elections of the OpenSolaris Community. 

The number of groups within a given category can vary greatly, and there is no implicit hierarchical relationship between them.  Each individual group is free to create explicit associations with other groups to facilitate development or other desired community building activities. 

The Board will maintain a set of [[OGB Group Lifecycle Administrative Procedures]] that describe how participants can create, change, archive, and (if needed) reactivate individual groups.

==== 1.2 Roles ====
The people who associate together in an OpenSolaris Group assume one of three roles:
*A '''Participant''': Anyone registered on opensolaris.org who has designated themselves as a Participant of a Group.  Participants are expected to follow and (as motivated) get involved in the activities of their Group.  As their participation evolves from being a passive watcher to a more active player, they can become Contributors.  Participants may be given additional rights and responsibilities as a way to involve them in the activities of their community and allow them to start contributing.
*A '''Contributor''': Anyone explicitly recognized by the Leaders of a Group as having ''substantially'' helped with the goals of a that Group.  A Contributor may be given additional rights and responsibilities as a way to groom them to become Leaders in their community.  Contributors are expected to be the active core of the Group, and have the right to propose, debate and vote on matters of interest to their community.
*A '''Leader''': Anyone responsible for leading a Group.  Leaders must be active Contributors in their Groups, reflecting the concept of leadership by a meritocracy.  Leaders manage the assignment of rights and roles to the members of their Group, including the promotion of Participants into Contributors, and Contributors into new Leaders as described below.  They also mediate disputes within their Group, facilitate interactions between their Group and others, and represent their Group to the OpenSolaris Community and the OGB.

==== 1.3 Group Management Processes ====
In order to encourage consistency across the OpenSolaris community and also for the purpose of mediating disputes, groups are expected and encouraged to document the procedures they use to manage their activities.  This includes development methodologies, voting procedures, participation guidelines, record keeping, requirements for becoming contributors and leaders, etc.  

The Board will maintain a set of [[OGB Group Management Guidelines]] that can be used to meet this requirement. 

==== 1.4 Electorate Group ====
The Electorate is given the right to vote on community-wide issues, the most important being the election of the OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB). 

The Electorate Group is responsible for community wide cross-group governance.  All community members who have substantially and verifiably contributed to any OpenSolaris group are eligible for membership in the Electorate.  Qualification for membership in the Electorate is for life, but actual membership needs to be renewed every 2 (two) years, or if a member fails to vote in 2 (two) consecutive elections.

The Board will maintain the [[OGB Electorate Membership Process]] document describing the qualification and application processes. 

Members of the Electorate are expected to be active participants in the governance of the OpenSolaris Community.  This participation includes following and contributing to discussions and debates, proposing policies and amendments to policies as needed, nominating candidates for the OGB and its committees, and voting in the Community's Annual and Special Elections.
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