[FreeGeek] complete minutes, 1st meeting WED NOV 1/06

[ifny]

sorry i didn't get more of the side conversations that happened. i'm
sure they were just as exciting as the ones i was having! also my
notes may be incomplete. please add to this thread if there are points
you remember that i've neglected.


FIRST EVER MEETING - FREEGEEK (working title) IN VANCOUVER -- WED NOV 1 2006
STRATHCONA, VANCOUVER, CANADA



IMPORTANT DATES:

david goes to portland nov. 11

ifny goes to portland nov. 16

next meeting: monday nov 27 location TBA

first annual general meeting (AGM) 3rd week of january 2007

possible proposed kick-off: june 2007


supplementary dates:

electric moon banana bike ride: sat nov.4, meet 10pm, ride 11pm
http://electricmoonbananas.ca (the out-of-date page is sort of a ruse)
-ride your bike with geeks & non-geeks. byob, reality hacking may ensue

bicycle bee potlluck meeting sun nov. 5 at 5:00pm http://bicyclebee.blogspot.com
-see consensus based heavy-volunteer skillshare model in action 1624
franklin st., 2nd floor. it's a potluck, but don't let that stop ya.
all friends of freegeek invited, even just to come & hang out for
dinner!

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FIRST ROUND: THE PACIFIC PUB, $2 PINTS OF NOT-GUINNESS

INTRODUCTIONS & A CALL FOR BOARD MEMBERS
to become a nonprofit, a board of directors is needed
5 people minimum needed to make an application
subsequently we'd have our first annual general meeting (annual
meetings are govt requirement)
(obviously we'd want to meet more often)
directors are not paid (conflict of interest), are responsible for the
activities of freegeek (yes legally) & establishing the philosophy,
direction etc.

then there is staff (paid)
-common for directors to become staff later, as they are familiar with
inner workings

it's also possible to run freegeek according to other models, co-op
for example, collective?

--govt definition of coop? collective (if exists)?
--description of board positions?
--freegeek philosophy & more info on inner workings? <--david will
provide this last

QUORUM IS REACHED
YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD BOARD OF DIRECTORS IS NOW POPULATED BY:
Scott Nelson, Steven, Jack Bates, Vern, Sean Moffat, and Ifny.


CHANGE OF SCENERY - TO THE BRICKHOUSE~~~~~~~

board/staff/volunteers could consider having:
-once a year retreat
-dismantling parties
-data orgies (data share)

DAVID CONFESSES what many suspected: he hopes to become the first paid
staff member; he will therefore not sit on the board.
he is going to portland from the 11th to the 19th
will be spending that time at FG portland, fact-finding etc

ifny going to portland nov. 16th to 20th. may stay longer to do an
internship/do so on subsequent visits

david & ifny both go to portland regularly & have strong connections there.


PRIORITIES
first priority: become a nonprofit
2nd priority: procure funding. let's all think of possible sources of
funding. david will pursue
2.5 priority: find temporary storage space for hardware

POSSIBLE SOURCES OF FUNDING/SUCCOR
email ideas for sources of $ to group & david will follow them up
-pedal http://pedalpower.org/
-vancity grants (gave vacc $27 grand, momentum magazine $10,000)
https://www.vancity.com/MyCommunity/CommunityFunding/
-purple thistle (piggyback grants, have computer lab already,
readymade source for volunteers) http://purplethistle.ca/
-pivot legal society http://pivotlegal.org/ (possible mutl-use space)
-foundations?
-workless party/velofusion

ASSOCIATIONS WE MIGHT DO WELL TO CULTIVATE
d.e.r.a. (downtown eastside residents' assn) http://www.vcn.bc.ca/dera/
apc (anti poverty committee) http://apc.resist.ca/
portland hotel society
etc


-->should we have a funding working group?


OTHER PRIORITIES
mission statement/concept
structure
space
constitution
website


ON BEING NON-PROFIT
registered nonprofit is different from having charitable tax status --

charitable tax status should be a long term goal
-can issue tax receipts application/processing time takes 12-18months;
involves audit etc. we should establish as a nonprofit
-often startup groups partner with organizations who already have status
we would then be able to do "flow throughs"
sponsor org makes application on starting group's behalf
vcn eg
sponsor takes a cut

-we need to be attractive to businesses so that they give us their old hardware
what's the govt doing about pollution tax?
we need to compete with tax benefits
capital gains

presently ppl who pick up waste get just as much benefit from its
disposal (charge for the removal etc)
recycling fees?

pedal depot did a huge call out for used bikes on the north shore;
expectations were greatly exceeded -- individuals delivered 400 bikes
over 1 or 2 days. we could do the same, computer drive. possibly
hardware less of a problem than storage space

-focus on sustainability - could offer pick up service with bike trailers.

new legislation goes into effect in june

"Under a proposal to be voted on by district directors Friday, garbage disposal
of waste electronics will be banned next August, coinciding with the launch
of a provincewide electronics industry recycling program.

"The industry program is being implemented province-by-province across Canada.
The regional district's role will be to keep electronics out of the garbage
and encourage residents to recycle them, Albert van Roodselaar, a GVRD
planner, said Tuesday."

[full article resubmitted to listserv at bottom]

timing is very good for us. proposal for june freegeek kick off. media
coverage will be high on this issue; we can piggyback.

proposal for june: north shore computer drive + kick off + en masse
bike/trailer hardware pickup on the north shore.


freegeek portland offers non profits a hardware grant (sets em up with
computers & tech support for free)
eventually we could aim also to do non radical business outreach
new computer always goes to the boss...now it's workers of the world
upgrade! heh

PROPOSED OBJECTIVES
-promoting open source
-recycling hardware/reusing/environmentalism/sustainability
-supporting community
-self sustaining
-education/empowerment of disenfranchised/marginalized
-e-waste
-innovation - e.g. ipod linux, more efficient technologies (could be
hardware, likely software)
-history project - museum, legacy, unique position to preserve
-geek mecca
-changing perceptions of hardware (e.g. obsolescence is not
inevitable, rather often obsolescence by design) & software (open
source etc evolves by nature & could be called more resourceful)
-community space (geographically accessible to populations who need it
most, multi-use, community institution)
-profoundly involve cycling community (already happening)

davide has dvd great tour of freegeek by 13 year old kid
-let's show it at velofusion (anza club) on the bigscreen, after
critical mass bike ride (last friday of every month) WILL THAT BE NOV
OR DEC?

DOMAIN NAME
freegeek.ca is taken; david emailed the owner, dion
dion seems amenable to us using it; david will sound him out some more
hopefully once dion recognizes that the project is really going ahead,
he will give it to us, if we indeed want it

DO WE WANT TO BE FREEGEEK OR SOMETHING ELSE?

--> if we want to be an official freegeek, we must adhere to certain guidelines:

nonprofit
run by consesnsus
board & staff
opensource only

--> if we want to be an official freegeek, we would need to adopt the name
would we be freegeek vancouver? freegeek bc? bc freegeek? vancouver
free geek? terminal city free geek?
domain name: vancouverfreegeek.org? freegeekvancouver.org?
freegeek.ca? freegeek.bc.ca?
there will hopefully be more freegeeks in canada. while freegeek.org
is the portland site, they are discussing what to do about new
freegeeks' dns

-->is freegeek an acceptable name or not?

geek has negative connotations: exclusive, cliquish, intimidating,
implies special knowledge, perverted, sexually deviant, sex slave
we should avoid marketing to people like ourselves only, outreach is
important. "freegeek" could turn people off.
e.g. skiing lost significant numbers to snowboarding, partly because
it marketed to an existing market rather exclusively
in tennessee the freegeek startup does not feel able to use 'freegeek'
name, because locally geek means something like pervert/pedophile;
they are calling themselves an affiliate of freegeek

conversely, meaning of "geek" seems to be going through a shift. geek
shiek, hip to be square. meaning someone who is really into something.
yoga for geeks/bike geeks. also reclaimance. e.g. freakbikes for
choppers/art bikes. embracing the margin. we will be working with
people who may never have graduated high school, or who may have
literacy issues; therefore could be empowering for some folks to think
of themselves as 'geeky.'

discussion to be continued.


A WORD ON CONSENSUS
-different definitions & models

-scott's indymedia example: when a decision is called, vote taken
(only people present count). if any dissenters, one round all speak,
then call for decison again, then 2nd round. after 3 times if there is
still dissent the dissenters are overruled.
-lead up to kananaskis/calgary g8 particularly contentious, didn't
know who were cops etc.

-ifny's g8 example, from lead-up in calgary. diverse group (pagans,
anarchists, union members, students). most controversial issue was
final march; some people wanted to bring their kids along, some people
wanted to do material direct action/property damage. how to agree? 300
people negotiated & finally agreed with profound consensus.

-another model: spartacus books collective
-very action/initiative oriented. loose anarchic/mutual cooperative
strategies. if someone wants to do event etc, just notifies the group.
collective doesn't 'okay' people's initiatives; the only time
consensus is sought is when someone objects. at that point a
discussion is called, & only people present can work it out. if the
objection remains strong, a sincere effort is made to come to an
understanding, particularly if an unsatisfactory resolution could
cause someone to leave the collective (i.e. the objector) .

-david's freegeek portland example: you have to be a participant for 3
months or more to block an initiative. if more than 2 or 3 blocks than
they revisit the item, acknowledging that obviously there valid
concerns. let's discuss further how they operate

-ifny's bicycle bee example (weekend of workshops, peer teaching,
horozontally aligned, consensus based, variety of
individuals/backgrounds/skill levels). certain conventions during
meetings: no speakers list unless meeting particularly large or topic
became heated/controversial. speakers list then written down by one
person while another is responsible for spotting speakers. if someone
hadn't yet spoken & wanted to, they jump the queue. also used hot
pursuit (direct particular attention paid to metastructure of
meetings/working spaces to reduce/eliminate intimidation, maximize
fun, supportive env. & accessibility. next meeting of the bikebee: sun
nov 5, 5pm. we will debrief re: our last event & discuss future
directions. freegeekers are invited & it may prove informative to hear
what we've learned.

DEMOs
online demos
open cd - windows based cd that has everything open source - very user friendly
beos (?)
ubuntu build (also v.friendly) -- they send their disks out for free


AT THIS POINT, THE NOTES GET SKETCHY

in fact, it's where they stop.


EPILOGUE - AT THE GAIN-WAH

excited tired & starving, the last of the crew bandied noodles
vegetables & chestnuts around the table till midnight.


hurrah! here's to new exploits and breathing fire!

!fny