[FreeGeek] Meeting minutes - final

[sean]

howdy all,

here's version B
only one small revision...

:o)

==============================

AMENDED - SEE BOTTOM

Free Geek Vancouver – General Meeting - Mon, November 27, 2006

Facilitator: David Repa
Regulator: Jennifer
Scribe: Sean Hill
Audio: Ifny

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Glossary
======================
FG – Free Geek
mothership – Free Geek Portland
PDX – Free Geek Portland
FGV – Free Geek Vancouver
distro – distribution – as in “what Linux distro are you using?”
wiki – a user-editable website

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Agenda
======================
- agenda items
- introductions
- mothership – debriefing by Ifny & David, Q&A
- incorporation
- workgroups (webpage/listserve, publicity/fund raising/outreach,
software/database, spaces)
- website
- outreach/donations
- communications
- action items/next meeting date

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introductions
======================
- present – (online monikers in parentheses)
- Sim, Aaron, Steven, Terry, Sean Moffat, Matt, Sean Brookes, Ifny,
Scott (agent humble), Jennifer (jen virtual), Joe, Sean Hill   
 (evershade), David Repa (iamturnip), Rowan

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mothership
======================
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David
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- David's second time to Free Geek Portland. Volunteered to get more
info and experience of operations
- “potent community building initiative”
- PDX is very excited about FGV – believe we have the right spirit
- Spent a lot of time with and talking to volunteers. Felt they were
thankful FG exists. “sense of community, more than just recycling”
- 2 phases to franchising:
    1.questionnaire/application – lets PDX get a sense of who we are.
(location, address, policy comprehension)
    2.more involved and detailed form – goes through all aspects (who's
signing for accounts, square footage, consensus model) – allows PDX to
decide who they will give franchise status to
- Volunteering down at PDX will give a good sense of how it works

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Ifny
----------------------
- Struck by how sustaining it is for people. There are people who go
every day and volunteer
- Food is constantly brought in by 'binning' and through donations
- Spent a lot of time with hardware. Went through a small class to learn
“pre-build”
- Spent time in receiving for humans and for hardware
- Attended HR meeting – how people get along (allegiances, etc)
- email domain offered to FGV
- A lot of anticipation over FGV. People at PDX say FGV may be able to
avoid some of the pitfalls of other FGs
- Gift of a signed drive with FG build of Ubuntu Linux

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q&a
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q. did you ask about business plan?
a. on the wiki. David can find it and make it available

q. why does PDX feel we may avoid pitfalls?
a. we are very communicative with each other (listserve, irc). We seem
to be more self-sufficient and logical
    eg. Olympia got stuck on idealogical, not practical and ended up too
divided
    eg. Olympia started to rely on PDX for discipline.
    eg Pennsylvania ended up more for-profit.

q. how many PDX folks will come to opening?
a. 2 at least... webcast?

q. how many there as paid and inner sanctum?
a. ~15 paid staff. ~30 volunteers at any given time. ~5 core volunteers

q. what is PDX's competitive landscape? other organisations?
a. no direct non-profit. Some for-profit has been aggressive over
contracts. Contracts poached from public archives.
    eg. a school that wants 100 computers. Since PDX keeps business
openly available online, someone may undercut what PDX is offering

q. service contracts?
a. no, but tech support is offered as long as the original distro is
left on hardware. If you receive a computer through volunteering, you
will get pretty much unlimited tech support. Buying one from the store
gets one free support visit, then ~$10

q. annual budget?
a. not sure. Probably on wiki

q. how many machines? throughput?
a. sales are down. No exact numbers. many boxes ready to go. Facility is
1500sq ft, moving to 3000. Donations generally come from residential,
non-stop on a Saturday. More businesses seemed to show up in week

q. $10 a monitor
a. yes. A donation form shows mandatory and suggested donation fees for
drop-offs

q. are volunteers confident and able to explain policies?
a. staff member is usually present in each area to make sure things run
smooth and follow policy

q. how important is it for FGV to be non-profit?
a. requirement for franchising, along with consensus-based governing
(consensus to be defined)

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follow-up
----------------------
- PDX was recently robbed. Bad news, but good publicity
- Getting local government on board can be good publicity and a source
of hardware.
- $20K monthly (gross?) through the thrift store
- Volunteers are from all stripes (cons, mom's, interested, bored, poor,
wealthy)

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incorporation
======================
- We have secured Free Geek name locally – Free Geek Community
Technology Centre Society
- Hoping to incorporate as non-profit this week – we have 5 incorporee
names required. Straightforward application. David planning to fast
track application to allow us to start moving
- We should define a basic set of bylaws to operate with. Not official,
able to be amended at first AGM
- Vancouver-specific page has been opened on PDX wiki. Can be used to
start brainstorming our bylaws. Linked to from our page
freegeekvancouver.org. Will help to expedite the final bylaw process
- Wiki has play area that does not update true wiki

======================
workgroups
======================
- tools:    
    - mailing lists
    - meetings
    - irc
- Having to report to a larger forum gives incentive
- Bylaws should be openly discussed to allow access to others outside
the workgroup
- PDX – brings overarching, controversial issues to council. Must come
to 3 meetings total before you can block an action (expiration of
privilege?)
- Spartacus – uses loose consensus – whoever shows up

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content (website/listserv)
----------------------
- currently using Drupal(drupal.org).
MediaWiki(www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki), used by Wikipedia
- will maintain creative change over Drupal
- writing
- defining our web presence
- members: Ifny, Sean Brookes, Scott, David

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communication (publicity/fund raising/outreach/events)
----------------------
- publicity – speaking with media, advertising for meetings
- fund raising – event planning, movie night, budget considerations
- outreach – regular Linux clinic (Linux Clinix)
- getting the message right
- government communication – grants, cost benefit to city due to our ops
- members: Steve, Jennifer, Scott, Ifny, Rowan

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locations
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- real estate. scouting locations
- false creek~~~north of Broadway~~~west of Main~~~east of Cambie
- GVRD – zero waste challenge?
- members: David

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software
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- good to use what PDX has and to “not reinvent the wheel”
- also need to review what is available and make sure it works
- deciding on distro
- members: Terry, Matt, Scott, Sean Hill, Joe, David, Sean Brookes

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recycling
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- logistics – where are the computers gonna go?
- how much can be processed locally?
- waste/recycling education – why are we doing this?
- members: David, Aaron, Sean Moffat, Joe

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curriculum (education)
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- teaching volunteers
- understanding community needs
- different classes
- members: Sean Hill, David, Jennifer, Joe, Scott, Ifny

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governance (consensus/AGM/bylaws)
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- charitable status?
- research on requirements/regulations regarding submissions to government
- members: David, Scott, Joe, Ifny, Sean Hill

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health/safety
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- how to operate safely – toxins, mental health, first aid
- members: David, Jennifer, Sim, Sean Moffat

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futures...
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- museum?

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website
======================
- pushed on to workgroup

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outreach/donations
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- hardware – we have space – contact David - “yes we take it. yes we
take it.”
- Steve – knows people collecting old hardware
- $10 fee for monitors

======================
communications
======================
- please make use of all of the communications we have
- using the tools we have spreads our resources further allows us to
save time
    - irc - gateway through website
    - listserve
    - website – freegeekvancouver.org

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action items
======================
- post agenda in advance
- AGM – 3rd week of January
- opening – June 2007
- general meeting – Saturday January 6th, 13:00 – location TBA
- movie night – December 12th ~18:00 open, 19:00 start
- Scott will have listserves up within a couple of days
- workgroups will post their meetings shortly – minutes to listserve

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amendments
**********************
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Version B
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- Added David Repa to communication workgroup