Hi Everyone,
As you may recall, back in 2020 the ROS 2 Technical Steering Committee (TSC) resolved to add three community representatives to the TSC. The community representative position exists to serve as the voice of the broader ROS 2 community within the TSC. These representatives educate the TSC on issues in the ROS community, make motions to change how ROS 2 functions, and vote on resolutions that help shape the future of the project. The number of community representatives is based on the number of members in the TSC, and there are presently three community representatives, each serving a two year term. Currently, In odd numbered years, we elect two representatives, and in even years we elect one representative.
Today I am happy to announce that we are now accepting self-nominations for our annual election. Since this is an odd year we will elect two representatives to the TSC as community representatives.
What Does a Community Representative Do?
The ROS 2 TSC, including the community representatives, help chart the future of the ROS 2 project. Broadly, The TSC creates a long term strategy for the core ROS 2 project and executes its implementation. The ROS 2 TSC also helps build consensus around issues in the community, like which default RMW we should use for a distro, and which REPs are ready to be approved.
As a community representative you will:
- Attend the monthly ROS 2 TSC meetings
- Communicate issues you see in the ROS project and come up with strategies to fix them.
- Read and evaluate the documents included in the meeting agenda (examples include: draft reps, position papers, and technical reports).
- Engage in technical discussions related to the ROS 2.
- Vote on matters related to the TSC (e.g. approval of REPs, the default RMW vendors, and features for upcoming releases.
- Participate in working groups.
- Create proposals that shape the future of ROS 2.
The Nomination Process
This year we’re having community members directly nominate themselves to run for community representative, but we HIGHLY ENCOURAGE you to use this thread to beg, cajole, dupe, butter up, influence, memeify, or otherwise entice your favorite ROS developer to run. If you believe a colleague has shown strong leadership maintaining a package, and has good ideas about how the project should function, then they probably would make a good community representative.
The only hard requirement for community representatives is that the candidate DOES NOT currently work for a TSC member organization. Other than that, everyone is free to run. Those seeking to run can 
use this self nomination form 
to announce their candidacy. To apply candidates will need to submit a short nomination form that includes:
- Some basic contact information (name, email address)
- A photo or headshot.
- A brief Markdown document that includes the following information
- A biography with relevant information about the candidate (e.g. education, work experience, ROS experience, social media accounts, etc.)
- A brief “Candidate Statement” that explains what the candidate hopes to accomplish while serving on the ROS 2 TSC.
- A list of any relevant links / projects the candidate thinks would be of community interest.
- Optionally, a short video introducing yourself and your platform.
The Election Process
Last year we modified the election process such that most of the election takes place on-line; this should make it more accessible to the wider ROS community. Candidates will have until September 28th, 2023 to submit their nomination forms and to prepare for the election. Once nominations are closed the candidate packets will be posted as a new Discourse thread that outlines both the candidates and the voting process. Candidates are encouraged to meet with the broader community and discuss their platforms (feel free to create an open discussion thread on Discourse, use the Discord feature, or arrange a virtual meetup). I would be more than happy to help facilitate a candidate discussion event if the community requests one.
In terms of voting, we will use the Condorcet voting method to select this year’s TSC community representative, which is a type of ranked choice voting. This year we will use the Civis website to vote. (If anyone would like to work on a Condorcet voting plugin for Discourse please reach out to me). Voting will conclude on 2023-10-20T04:59:00Z, and we will announce the results at ROSCon. The new TSC member should plan on attending the November ROS 2 TSC meeting on 2023-11-16T08:00:00Z
The full timeline for the election is as follows:
- 2023-09-14T07:00:00Z – Nominations Open
- 2023-09-29T06:59:00Z – Nominations Close
- Approximately October 2nd, 2023 Nominees Posted / Voting begins (Note: Kat is traveling to IROS this week, I’ll get everything out as soon as possible but putting everything together takes some time).
- 2023-10-20T04:59:00Z October 19th 11:59 PM CST Voting Closes
- 2023-10-20T05:00:00Z Winners Announced at ROSConl
If you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate to ask them in the comments.
) and supporter, despite often proposing a different view. Been funding ROS initiatives and gatherings over multiple organizations, for multiple years (e.g. ROSCon).
) My most relevant contributions are focused on three areas:
