VANCOUVER REGIONAL FREENET ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS MINUTES OF MEETINGS November 30, 1993 Vancouver Public Library The meeting was called to order at 7:15 pm. Present: Margaret Coates, Jacqueline Van Dyk, Greg Buss, Phil Lyons, Fritz Radandt, Guy Thomas, Brian Campbell, Eric Yung, Steven Chan, Tom Hansen, Mike Hrybyk Regrets: Gladys We, Rob Clift, Mike Lehmann 1. Agenda - approved Motion: (Margaret/Phil) That the agenda be adopted. PASSED. 2. Minutes from November 16, 1993. * corrections: on the final page, that "discussion" be substituted for "debate" * Rob Clift was appointed as volunteer coordinator as part of his duties as a Member At Large. Moved to accept minutes by Jacqueline, seconded by Greg, unanimous vote. 3. Correspondence * Brian asked Eric about letters to Sandy, Gladys and Mike (Lehmann) for recognition of their efforts in VRFA. Eric responded that they weren't complete and would be forwarded to Brian ASAP. 4. Resignations * Mike Lehmann has resigned. * Susan Pendakur wishes to resign, but will stay on until a replacement is found for the Membership Chair * Brian mentioned that, in future, only members of VRFA should be considered for the Board. * Greg asked Guy about a logical successor to Mike (Lehmann) from the Community Content group. Guy stated that Beth Morrison and Jama Chorush could be approached. * some consideration was given to offloading the duties of the Membership Chair to a non-Board member. However, Eric stated that since the membership information is considered confidential, we should keep it to a Board member. * Eric offered to take over the membership list and mailout responsibilities from Susan. Brian stated that he's asked Rob Clift to take over the voice mail box duties. * Brian mentioned the possibility of "prestige" positions to the Board, but that he's been voted down at the steering committee meetings. * Tom and Phil suggested an approach to Libby Davies * Fritz and Guy mentioned small business contacts, and the Vancouver Board of Trade. * Steven suggested an advisory board for "prestige" people. * Phil stated that more energy was needed in Board members than "prestige". Motion: (Jacqueline/Greg) That Brian be allowed to move forward and compile Terms of Reference and a list of names to be considered for a Advisory Board to VRFA to be started in January. Vote was 6 for, 4 neutral. PASSED. * new positions at the Board include 2 Members-At-Large and 1 Membership Chair * Jacqueline stated that Gladys will continue to support any publishing that she has done so far. * Margaret suggested that specific duties be attached to the vacant positions so that information can be distributed to interested people. 5. Policy Issues 5.1 Freeport Menus (Jacqueline) * Jacqueline provided a 20+ page walkthru of menu structures of NCF and Victoria, as well as our own proposals for VRFA menus. * Greg liked the menu structure as detailed on pg. 15. * Jacqueline stated that we would have lots of cross-links with our menu. Motion: (Fritz/Greg) That the menu, as detailed on pg 15. of the menu document, be used for discussion of the VRFA menu structure. PASSED. * Guy asked if we were restricted to uppercase in keyword - Jacqueline answered no. * Brian suggested incorporation of "Hot Topics" and "Information Policy" on the main menu. * Fritz asked how we were going to establish if a topic was considered "Hot" or not. He also stated he liked the schedules and events section. * Margaret asked if the #5 option of "ORGANIZATIONS" was for IPs or a directory of community organizations. Motion: (Tom/Greg) To add "Hot Topics" to the main menu and forward this to the User Interface group for a recommendation on how to incorporate it. 1 vote opposed. PASSED. * Steven stated that "Hot Topics" could be brought in under #6 "DISCUSSIONS" * Guy asked who was providing the information policy documents. Brian stated that FIPA would. * Brian stated that our first menu should have an advocacy role for information policy. Motion: (Margaret/Greg) To include "Information Policy" on the main menu and forward this to the User Interface group for a recommendation on how to incorporate it. Vote was 6 for, 2 against, with abstentions. PASSED. * Jacqueline stated where information upload/download and account maintenance was taking place was still unclear at this time. Motion: (Greg/Fritz) That option #2 be changed from "Getting Started" to "Administration / Using Freenet". PASSED. * Guy suggested we send a menu style guide to our test IPs. * Jacqueline asked how we felt about the #11 "Network" option. Motion: (Margaret/Fritz) To change the work "Network" to "Networking" in the main menu, and recommend this change to the User Interface group. Vote had 1 opposed. PASSED. Motion: (Phil/Greg) To keep all right-handed descriptions to lower case except with proper names, and suggest this back to the User Interface group. PASSED. 5.2 Role of Libraries * this was raised by Fritz in e-mail, and commented on by Greg. * Fritz suggested that a formal approach to libraries was needed and some training may be included. * Brian stated that we already have VPL and InterLINK as member/subscribers. * Margaret suggested that one of the new Board members be a Library Coordinator on top of other duties. * Greg commented that he was talking to the Chief Librarians, and saw his role as including contact with libraries, and that a comment to BCLA about it being a key role player may be needed. 5.3 Perspective on Business * This discussion was rather long and heated, and only highlights are summarized in the minutes. * Tom suggested that our role was that we didn't pay for information, we don't charge for access, and that our role is like "librarians" role towards business. * Greg stated that there was a difference between commercialism and information access to business that doesn't include the free vs. profit debate. * Phil stated he had a problem with commercial entities accessing the Freenet for information, as they had information structures of their own. Motion: (Eric/Guy) That Fritz and Greg create a policy document to be considered by the Board about commerce and trade. PASSED. 5.4 CANARIE * some general brainstorming for project submissions was carried out. * Guy stated that a submission may be required for some Information Policy issues. * Steven stated that CISR could not give us any funding without a project. * there was a general feeling that we shouldn't overcommit our resources with additional R&D projects. Motion: (Greg/Tom) That no proposal be sent to CANARIE. PASSED. 6. Treasurer's Report (Tom) Motion: (Phil/Margaret) That the Treasurer's report be accepted. PASSED. * Brian suggested to Tom that Bill Andrews of West Coast Environmental Law was willing to help in the legal case of the VRFA tax number. 7. Committee Reports 7.1 Membership * no report from Membership chair 7.2 Community Content (Guy) * so far 2 training meetings are scheduled: Sun Dec 5 @ 1:00pm and Tues Dec 7 @ 7:00pm * Tom asked about a policy on racism - Guy responded that Ian's working on it. Motion: (Phil/Fritz) To accept the Community Content minutes. PASSED. 7.3 Hardware/Software/System Design (Mike and Jacqueline): * Guy (on behalf of Native-ed) has donated a microVAX machine * Tom asked about the UBC site proposal, and Mike stated that he was working on it. * some concern was raised about the phone lines and a tentative cost of $10,000.00 for 10 lines if we have our own terminal servers was discussed. Motion: (Fritz/Margaret) That the Hardware/Software/System Design report be accepted. PASSED. * Guy asked about IP upload documentation. 7.4 Public Relations (Fritz) * buttons were delivered and under budget. * SWAP meet that was attended, VRFA was able to get in for free and there was only a mediocre response. * the "next" weekend is Showfest at the PNE, where we have a free booth. * the next public information meeting was Dec 13th 7-9pm at SFU Harbour Centre * it was suggested that new user training be put into the duties of one of the vacant Member-at-Large positions. Motion: (Jacqueline/Margaret) That the Public Relations report be accepted. PASSED. Motion: (Eric/Guy) That we make one of the vacant Member-at-Large positions include new user training responsibilities. PASSED. 7.5 Fund-Raising (Greg) * space for storage of stuff was discussed and 3rd party evaluators may be needed for the Motorola donation of file servers. * Tom is having discussions with Van City about putting terminals in their branches, but it hasn't been agreed upon yet. Motion: (Fritz/Guy) That the Fund-Raising report be accepted. PASSED. 7.6 Endorsement (Phil) * report as at Nov 20th was circulated. * errata : East Side Family Place was ommitted in circulated report Motion (Fritz/Guy) That the Endorsement report be accepted. PASSED. 8. Equal Access Taskforce. (Margaret) * they met once in the last few weeks * more discussions on proposals * they decided on 4 sectors to approach. * next meeting was on Thursday at 4pm * a discussion with Carnagie was mentioned. Motion: (Guy/Jacqueline) That the Equal Access report be accepted. PASSED. 9. New Business 9.1 Social * a suggestion for moving the social until after Christmas was made. Motion: (Tom/Fritz) That the social be held on January 8th, with details to be discussed later. PASSED. Motion to adjourn was made at 10:25pm and was passed unanimously.