The Website Responsibility Bill

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

WHEREAS under current law, responsibility for 'overseeing the Internet presence of the Kingdom' is currently the responsibility of the Scribery:

and WHEREAS this has led to a neglect of the outwards-facing Internet presence of the Kingdom;

and WHEREAS the responsibility of the Scribery for Talossa's internet presence in C.1.2 conflicts with the responsibility given to the elected Government in A.20;

and WHEREAS this function should properly be the responsibility of the elected Government, and the Scribery should concentrate on its core function of keeping public records:

BE IT ENACTED by the Ziu as follows:

1) The following additional paragraph shall be added to El Lexhátx D.2.10:

2.10.3 As part of their duties as described in D.2.10 above, the Ministry of Stuff shall be responsible for the content of the publicly-readable Internet presence of the Kingdom, excluding those websites under the jurisdiction of other entities of the Kingdom as described in El Lexhátx A.20 or elsewhere in El Lexhátx. They shall be directly responsible for the content of one or more websites named as the 'official' website(s) of the Kingdom, and ensuring that the records of the Scribery as described in C.1.2. are available to all Talossans.

2) El Lexhátx C.1.2 shall be amended by the deletion of the phrase in "strikethrough" and the addition of the phrase in "bold" below:

The Scribery of Abbavilla, headed by the Scribe of Abbavilla. The functions of the Scribery are to maintain and publish the Organic and statutory laws of the Kingdom, and oversee the Internet presence of the Kingdom provide up-to-date information on the personnel of all Government, Royal Household, Civil Service and Chancery office-holders.

3) The following additional paragraph shall be added to El Lexhátx J:

J.4. The Chancery will also be responsible, in consultation with the Ministry of Stuff, for the infrastructure of any websites under the jurisdiction of STUFF as provided by D.2.10.3.

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

This bill does a good thing, which is clarify who is responsible for web presence, but I'm not sure it's a good idea to add yet another onerous and thankless task to the Scribery in exchange. The Scribery already had the job of recording all the laws and keeping them up to date, and we had trouble finding reliable people to do that. Then we added on the requirement that the Scribery help legislators with copyediting their laws to fit el Lexhatx. The position has now been vacant for a bit. That makes sense, since it's a position with virtually no power or influence, little opportunity for creativity or input, and with frequent and tedious work to do.

It might be better, instead, to specify that the MinSTUFF is responsible for keeping our listings up-to-date, since we know people want that job and it will continue to be filled.

[Marti-Pair Furxheir S.H.]

I can make tools in the Database to help the Scribe keep those information up to date. My problem is that since I have so much to do with the Chancery, I am not always aware of what's doing on in the ministries.

But the Scribe could easily update the database, which would thus be able to store the history of those changes, such as on www.talossa.ca/files/sos.php and www.talossa.ca/files/pm.php

As for the Chancery also being in charge of the web presence, I am up for it, since the Chancery has so much published, such as the Clarks, etc...

[Dr. Txec dal Nordselvă]

Dame Miestrâ, please add me as a cosponser.

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

If the job of the Scribery is too difficult as it stands, then that's something we should be changing. My personal preference has always been to merge the Chancery and the Scribery; barring that, we need one or more Deputy Scribes. Or, alternatively, we could merge the Scribery into STUFF. STUFF, at the moment, is explicitly by law a "public relations/publicity" ministry rather than a Ministry of Information, but we could change that.

In any case, I stand by the basic principle that "archiving and publishing information on the current status of Law and Government" should be held by a single organization. I have a horror of multiplying agencies.

[Marti-Pair Furxheir S.H.]

Mar 20, 2016 14:59:34 GMT -6 Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN said:

If the job of the Scribery is too difficult as it stands, then that's something we should be changing. My personal preference has always been to merge the Chancery and the Scribery; barring that, we need one or more Deputy Scribes. Or, alternatively, we could merge the Scribery into STUFF. STUFF, at the moment, is explicitly by law a "public relations/publicity" ministry rather than a Ministry of Information, but we could change that.

In any case, I stand by the basic principle that "archiving and publishing information on the current status of Law and Government" should be held by a single organization. I have a horror of multiplying agencies.

Rather than abolishing the Scribery, why not make it an office of the Chancery?

What is the difference you say? It means that if the Scribe is busy, the SoS (or a deputy SoS) can easily replace the Scribe.

It also means that the Scribe and the SoS can easily complement each other, some of the SoS tasks could be done by the Scribe, and some of the Scribe tasks could be done by the SoS.

From 2002 to 2004, the 2 organizations WERE merged in that the 2 of them were headed by the same guy. Granted the Minister of Stuff was also the same guy... and Immigration... and foreign affairs, but that's another story.

I do think that SoS and Minister of Stuff are 2 different things thought.

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

I have no problem with merging the Scribery into the Chancery if that's a solution which can get majority support, but of course you know MPF that some will accuse you of building an empire.

[Marti-Pair Furxheir S.H.]

Mar 20, 2016 16:48:28 GMT -6 Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN said:

I have no problem with merging the Scribery into the Chancery if that's a solution which can get majority support, but of course you know MPF that some will accuse you of building an empire. :D

I wouldn't mind that the scribe would still be appointed by someone else and that he picks his deputy.

The goal I have is not control people but to ensure results

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

Well, given developments, I must ask: does this bill accord with the plans on the incoming government? Because if not there's not much point in putting it forward. But if so then I'm happy to work on it with Monarchist Grand Coalition representatives.

[Glüc da Dhi]

Not speaking for the incoming government, but it looks fine to me.

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

Like I said, I'm uncomfortable giving more responsibility to a job we can't keep filled. I'm also not sure of the last clause, which seems to make this stuff no one's responsibility at all. Why not just have the MinSTUFF keep doing it? That makes the most sense to me, since it's been their primary responsibility for a long while.

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

If I can get some indication that the Moderate Radicals will support this, I'm happy to put it forward. If not, I suppose AD has to write his alternative.

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

Why don't we work together and find a compromise we both like? I mean, this bill does three things... how married to each of the three are you?

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

I want three things:

1) Eliminate the weird provision that "the Scribery oversees the websites of the Kingdom" when it clearly doesn't, and put all responsibility for content not-specified-elsewhere with the MinStuff.

2) Give someone the job of keeping public records of who's actually in whatever jobs, and the Scribery seems the best option.

3) Establish the principle that the Chancery is responsible for the infrastructure of Kingdom websites.

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

Well, I don't think you'll get any objections on 1, certainly not from me.

But on 2 and 3, why not just make it that the MinSTUFF is responsible for both of those things. The same person should be doing those things, I think, since they require access to the same properties/platforms (the website and the wiki). Also, it's sort of MinSTUFF's main purview these days: the sort of thing they should continue doing. If we assign MinSTUFF that job, that would meet your second goal, right?

3 is tougher. Why do you want the Chancery to be doing that? Are you concerned at all about centralizing so much power? The Chancery already runs our elections, administers the business of the Ziu, and conducts censuses. Shouldn't the elected Government be handling our websites?