CZ:Charter drafting committee/Position statements/Daniel Mietchen

Why do I contribute to Citizendium?
As a scientist, I am working towards integrability of research and teaching workflows with online environments, and in my eyes, Citizendium is currently well positioned for both of these activities because it is designed to host the necessary background knowledge. It also needs expert participation, and integration with expert workflows (not just in science) would facilitate this.

Why does Citizendium need a charter?
Citizendium is meant to harbour knowledge. Knowledge needs structure, and coherent structuring across different knowledge domains needs rules. These fundamental rules are to be laid out in the charter, much like in the constitution of a country, though adapted to online environments (some of which have already started likening themselves to countries).

What are the most important points to me with respect to the charter?
I was born in a country whose constitution was wonderful in most parts but which does not exist any more. I see two major links between these two of its properties - failure of proper implementation in the real world, and failure to adapt to changes therein. Citizendium is, at present, an online village rather than a country, and its charter should reflect these differences, while providing a framework that allows for a sustainable growth of content and population size. With this in mind, I would like to keep an eye on the implementability and adaptability of the propositions of the charter, while generally encouraging contributors to be bold in areas not covered there or in derived policies. I would also like to keep the charter short, so that newcomers have a chance to actually read it and actively decide whether it befits them or not.