[Air-L] Announcing vote to ratify AoIR's Political Statement Policy and Process

[AoIR Association Coordinator]

Dear members of the AoIR community,

Over the past year, a subcommittee of the association’s Executive Committee
has worked on a proposal for AoIR's Political Statement Policy and Process.

We are now sharing with the community the final outcome we have reached (on
our website, here <https://aoir.org/politicalstatementandprocess/>). As
stated previously, this policy/process is now being brought to the
community for ratification, to be voted on at the same time as we vote for
the 2025-27 Executive Committee. Details about how to vote will be shared
when we announce the opening of voting for the Exec in the next couple of
days. All AoIR members are entitled to vote. You can become a member here
<https://aoir.org/membership/>.

*Context*

To draft the policy, the subcommittee researched similar policies in peer
organizations (e.g. ICA, ECREA, LASA). Based on this, we drafted a
comprehensive process for enabling political statements regarding global
and/or local socio-political issues that concern internet research.

In October 2024, we shared the document with the community and received
extensive feedback from members. The subcommittee has carefully considered
all suggestions and made improvements to the clarity and substance of
certain aspects of the policy/process. For example, we have further
clarified the mission of AoIR and included rules on the quorum (the
percentage of participation) needed for plebiscite decisions to be valid.

We believe the current process, after these changes and extensive
reflection by the Exec, is ready to be approved. It opens substantial space
for community participation in a way that fosters transparency and
accountability. We believe this procedure allows AoIR members to speak
collectively on matters of importance at the intersection of our
organization and the wider world.

Therefore, we are now submitting the policy/procedure to a vote of the
community. If approved by a majority of voters, the policy/procedure will
immediately take effect. This follows the procedure previously used for the
revision of AoIR's Code of Conduct.

If the process/policy is approved, the subcommittee will continuously
monitor it to make sure that the policy/process is working as intended. If
further changes or clarifications are needed, these will be made in
consultation with the community.

If there are specific questions regarding the final policy/procedure, we
ask members to submit these to ac [at] aoir.org.

Very best,
The AoIR Executive Committee