iCommons.org: Governance

iCommons is a UK private charitable corporation limited by guarantee with an office at 1st Floor, Offices at the Grace, No. 54 Bath Ave., Rosebank, Johannesburg, South Africa. You can read about the iCommons board and staff on the people page, and about governance of iCommons on the governance page of the iCommons wiki where you can download corporate documents, financials and board reports.

The organisation, iCommons Ltd, is governed by the following Core Values and Code of Conduct that were developed by members of the iCommons community:

While the organisation must abide by these principles, the iCommons community is governed by the following set of rules.iCommons Code of Conduct

iCommoners are respectful of the diversity of creativity and of intellectual thought. We are a diverse group of people - from civil society, business and governments; from the North and the South; from politically diverse backgrounds and cultures. We know that this kind of diversity is found in very few places, that it requires a very special kind of respect - and that we are especially mindful of this because it is our greatest strength.

iCommoners collaborate and help one another. Because we are a global commons movement, we recognise that not every community has the same level of connectivity/support etc, and as such, we recognise how important it is to collaborate with those from diverse cultural/political/economic contexts. We recognise that developing true partnerships between communities in the North and South is as important as developing cutting edge products and services.

iCommoners are committed to ensuring the freedom of societies to create, build upon and share the world’s knowledge, culture and science. iCommoners believe that, because this freedom is essential to the freedom of expression, that we will promote the highest levels of open access to intellectual products for organisations and individuals - especially those with a public mandate.

iCommoners employ open and transparent governance and processes. Transparency is important because it encourages communal ownership of the iCommons network, allows us to learn from one another, helps and helps to avoid conflicts of interest. iCommoners will adopt transparent governance procedures without disrespecting individual privacy rights.