# Phase 0 roles The Bega Valley Data Commons does not yet have formal members, elected officers, a board, incorporated status, open enrolment or a settled governance structure. The roles described here are provisional. They clarify how the formation space is currently being held, who may participate, what kinds of responsibility are being carried, and what must change before the Commons can become more open and formally governed. These are not titles of status. They are descriptions of responsibility during a temporary constituting phase. ## Initiator The initiator is the person who first registered the domain, created the initial forum, gathered the first people and began articulating the possibility of a Bega Valley Data Commons. This role has practical importance, but it does not create ownership. The initiator may hold technical access, founding memory and early momentum, but should not be understood as the permanent authority, owner, spokesperson or controller of the project. The initiator's responsibility during Phase 0 is to make the starting conditions visible, invite scrutiny, document decisions, avoid personal capture and help move the project toward shared stewardship. ## Founding circle The founding circle is the small group of people who have stepped into the early formation space by self-determination and invitation. It is not a committee, board or representative authority. It is a trust-holding group, its role being to hold the fragile beginning of the Commons while its purpose, rules, ethics, structure and governance pathway are being clarified. The founding circle should act with restraint. It should not overclaim mandate, speak for the Valley, bind future members or settle questions that belong to a wider and more legitimate process. Its task is to keep the formation space alive, intelligible, careful and open to correction. ## Early participant An early participant is someone invited into the Phase 0 space to read, test, discuss, question, use and help shape the emerging Commons. Early participants are not simply forum users — they are part of the constituting conversation. Their contributions may include reviewing founding documents, identifying risks, suggesting language, testing the forum, raising local questions and clarifying what conditions are needed before broader participation is opened. Early participants do not automatically become future members, governors, representatives or decision-makers. Their role is significant but provisional. ## Local steward A local steward helps care for a specific local node, such as Eden. The role is practical and relational: welcoming people, tending discussions, noticing problems, linking useful material, encouraging constructive participation and keeping the online space connected to real local conditions. A steward is not the owner of the node, the sole moderator or a spokesperson for the whole community. Where possible, stewardship should become shared — a node that depends on one person is vulnerable to burnout, bias and personal capture. ## Technical administrator A technical administrator looks after practical infrastructure: domain settings, forum configuration, user permissions, backups, pages, source files, security, updates and access control. This role may initially sit with the initiator, but it should be documented clearly and separated from political or civic authority. Technical access is not the same as legitimacy. The Commons will need clear rules for who holds technical access, how credentials are protected, how changes are logged and what happens if a technical administrator becomes unavailable. ## Moderator A moderator helps keep the forum usable, safe and aligned with the participation and care protocol. Moderation is not personal control over disagreement. Its role is to protect the conditions for good discussion: clarity, relevance, respect, privacy, safety, cultural care and protection from harassment, spam, extraction, derailment or domination. During Phase 0, moderation should be as light as possible but as clear as necessary. Decisions should be explainable. ## Guest reader A guest reader can view public-facing pages, founding notes and orientation material without being an active participant. The constituting process should be visible enough for interested others to understand what is being proposed. Guest access does not imply participation, membership, decision-making rights or access to sensitive discussion. ## Allied organisation An allied organisation may have a relationship with the Commons — as a service, institution, Land Council, funder, business chamber, research body or informal network. During Phase 0, no allied organisation should be assumed to control, endorse, govern or speak for the Commons unless this has been explicitly agreed and documented. The Commons may seek relationships with other organisations, but should avoid becoming a feeder, branch, engagement tool or campaign arm of any one of them. ## Future roles The Commons does not yet have open membership or a formal governing body. These are possible future roles, not current ones. Before membership is created, the project will need clearer rules about eligibility, rights, responsibilities, decision-making, removal, dispute resolution, local node authority, organisational form, cultural protocols and the relationship between local and valley-wide governance. Before a governing body is created, Phase 0 should avoid making decisions that would improperly bind it — while recording questions, options, principles and risks so that a more legitimate structure can later make informed decisions. ## Role boundaries and governing principle Roles may overlap during Phase 0. One person may currently be initiator, technical administrator, moderator and participant. This may be unavoidable at the beginning. It should be recognised as a temporary risk, not normalised as the long-term structure. The Commons should move toward clearer separation of responsibility as soon as it has enough people and trust to do so. All Phase 0 roles are held in trust. They are temporary, revisable and accountable to the larger question of whether a true commons can be constituted. No role in Phase 0 should be used to claim ownership, permanent authority, representative legitimacy or privileged access to the future Commons. The purpose of these roles is to help the project move from a small invited formation space toward a clearer, safer and more accountable commons.