Contributing — SCE (Semantic Communication Encoding)

This document defines the contribution and change process for the SCE standard, associated ontology files, tooling, and supporting documentation.

Contributions to SCE MUST adhere to the requirements specified herein. By submitting a contribution, the contributor acknowledges and agrees to the licensing terms defined in LICENSE.md.

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1. Governance Model

SCE operates under a Hybrid Transition Governance Model:

1. Foundational Phase (Current Phase)

2. A designated Maintainer has final decision authority over changes.

3. Community feedback MAY be submitted but is not binding.

4. Transitional Phase (Triggered by Adoption Thresholds)

5. A Working Group SHALL be established once the following conditions are met:

   • At least two independent external implementations exist.
   • At least five independent contributors participate in active development.

6. The Maintainer MAY delegate authority to the Working Group.

7. Stewardship Phase (Maturity Stage)

8. Once governance is formally transitioned, decision-making authority SHALL follow Working Group governance rules.
9. The Maintainer role becomes advisory.

Transition timing SHALL be documented publicly once initiated.

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2. Contribution Requirements

Contributions MAY include:

• Ontology updates or new symbol proposals
• Specification language improvements
• Tooling enhancements (validation, interpreter, schema utilities)
• Documentation corrections
• New test cases or compliance examples
• Translation or accessibility improvements

Each contribution MUST include:

1. A clear purpose statement
2. The affected domains or files
3. A justification demonstrating alignment with SCE goals
4. Test or usage examples where applicable

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3. Proposal Standards

Substantive changes — including ontology additions, semantic rule modifications, or backwards-incompatible behavior — MUST be submitted through a formal proposal using the format:

SCE-RFC-XXXX: