Vancouver Regional FreeNet Association Minutes of Board Meeting January 16, 1996 Present: Margaret Coates (Chair), Ross Penner, Godwin Chan, Stephanie Fletcher, Penny Goldsmith, Jennifer Higgins-Ingham, Lorne Gray, George Lindholm, Larry Kuehn (Secretary), Neil K. Guy. Absent: Mark Moran, Vic Vaivads, Nicholas Fong. Staff: Kathy Fournier 1. The meeting was called to order at 7:05. 2. M/S/C. That the agenda be adopted. 3. M/S/C. That the minutes of the December meeting be adopted with the following addition as a correction. Stephanie Fletcher as PR chair asked that if staff have any concerns about volunteers and the content of interviews they should contact Stephanie. George Lindholm asked that his opposition to the domain name that was chosen be recorded. 4. Community Content Report. Ross Penner brought forward a draft kit for Information Providers. Board members were asked to provide feedback on the draft to Ross Penner or Stephanie Fletcher. Penny asked that the user agreement be sent out to IPs with the kit. M/S/C That in all documentation the name "Vancouver Community Network Association" be substituted where the documentation says "Vancouver Regional FreeNet Association" and that "Vancouver CommunityNet" be substituted where the documentation says "Vancouver Regional FreeNet." 5. New logo. M/S/C. That the two options for a logo be posted on a Web page for board members to view and to vote by email on which logo to adopt. (Neil K. Guy asked that his negative vote be recorded.) 6. Special Interest Group Agreement. An agreement has been drawn up for the initiator of a SIG, who must take responsibility for the information provided if the SIG is to be moderated. M/S/C. That the issue of SIGs be referred to the Equal Access and Community Content Committees for recommendations to the next meeting of the board on whether membership should be required to initiate a SIG and the content of the agreement. 7. Signing authority. It was agreed that the VRFA would continue to have one staff person with signing authority, along with two board members, and to continue with the current staff person as the one with signing authority. 8. Staffing. Jennifer reported that the committee is looking at all the tasks in the office, possible sources of funding and policies. The committee will develop a plan and bring a recommendation to the next meeting. 9. Information Provider line access. Community Content committee recommends that 3 to 5 lines from the 50 in the new modem pool be dedicated to the use of Information Providers. M/S/C. That the board supports the Content Committee recommendation of 3 to 5 lines for Information Providers. 10. News groups notification. M/S That when new accounts join and activate TIN, that the default shall be to not show the new news groups each time the user signs on, and that new users will have to turn on the automatic notification feature if they want to use it. M/S/C. That the motion be table until the next board meeting. 11. Board responses to issues raised by users. Penny has agreed to bring forward a report with recommendations to the next meeting, with board members invited to send suggestions to her. 12. Telecommunities Canada conference. Penny will put in a proposal to Telecommunities Canada for a presentation to the Telecommunities Canada conference in August in Edmonton. 13. Finance and budget. Margaret will bring a projected budget for the next year to the next meeting. Kathy presented the following list of fundraising ideas: 14. Personal Web pages. The board at its previous meeting adopted a motion authorizing personal Web pages, subject to the adoption of a policy that sets out the parameters for personal Web pages. M/S/C. That the parameters for personal Web pages be: 1) That the FreeNet reserves the right to remove personal Web pages that impose an excessive burden on system resources; 2) That the user follows the terms of the SIG and Personal Web Page User Agreement; 3) That the person with the personal Web page has the option of listing their Web page on a VRFA Personal Web Page Index. (Lorne Gray asked that his negative vote be recorded.) M/S/C. That the question of proactive equity policies for personal Web pages be referred to the Equal Access Committee for recommendation to the February board meeting. 15. Policy on co-ops. M/S/C. That registered co-ops and non-profit but unregistered coops be allowed access to the FreeNet on a case by case basis, based on the goals of the FreeNet. 16. Next meeting. The next meeting of the board will be on Tuesday, February 27, at 7 p.m. at 411 Dunsmuir.