VANCOUVER REGIONAL FREENET ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS MINUTES OF MEETINGS November 16, 1993 Vancouver Public Library The meeting was called to order at 7:10 pm. Present: Gladys We, Guy Thomas, Jacqueline Van Dyk, Steven Chan, Susan Pendakur, Fritz Radandt, Phil Lyons, Tom Hansen, Brian Campbell, Eric Yung Regrets: Greg Buss, Mike Hrybyk, Margaret Coates, Mike Lehmann 1. Agenda - approved * modification that the Board Membership and Canarie Site issues be discussed at the end of the meeting. 2. Minutes from November 2, 1993. Moved to accept minutes by Susan, seconded by Jacqueline, unanimous vote. 3. Policy Issues 3.3 Freenet Public Site * Steven brought up that such a site selection may be a lengthy process and should be started now. * Brian mentioned that in zoning development, there is some space set aside for non-profit groups. He volunteered to phone the appropriate people in social planning to see how this is obtained. * Possible sites mentioned: Gladys suggested looking into the the offices at Harbour Centre where BCNet has setup. Steven suggested looking into the new BCTF building. * It was suggested that such site- selection be placed on the Fundraising committee's "Things to do" list. 3.4 Gateways between Freenet and existing BBS organizations * Phil mentioned at the last meetinga about being approached by local sysops about a link to Freenet. * concerns were raised about information removed from Freenet and used as "loss-leaders" on other BBSs. * concerns were also raised as to who "owns" the information on Freenet. It was concluded that individual IPs control/own their information, and that the IP packages should include reminders to include a COPYRIGHT notice on all information posted to Freenet. * Tom mentioned that actually enforcing and "keeping" information solely on Freenet may be extremely difficult. * Guy mentioned possible use of "copyleft" PD schemes to protect information. Final discussion resulted in deferring this topic to a later Board meeting and possibly referring the topic to Ian at Community Content for evaluation. 4. Treasurer's report - Tom * To date, $3,347.45 in account * Tom is going to approach Vancity. However, the Vancity funds for donation are exhausted for this fiscal year, and may be deferred to January. * Vancity has expressed an interested in the disenfranchised groups as well as hosting public access terminals in its branches. Motion: (Eric Yung/Susan Pendakur) That the treasurer's report be accepted. PASSED. 5. Membership - Susan Membership totals were presented. To date 179 members have been signed up. 5 New members were enrolled. Motion: (Gladys We/Guy Thomas) That the membership report be accepted. PASSED. 6. Endorsement Co-ordinator Report - Phil * Thus far 25 organizations have endorsed VRFA, but only 6 have committed money to us. * Two added organizations: Adult LIteracy Contact Centre and a North Shore community group * suggestion by Jacqueline that a "pitch" be made at the Information Policy conference. * Brian/Tom suggested that current subscribers and member/supporters as well as endorsers should be placed on the VRFA mailing list and receive a newsletter and other mailouts ASAP. * Guy added the IPs to the list It was concluded that Susan would handle the additional mailout to the subscribers and member/supports ASAP and that information about the additional groups would be provided by Guy (IPs), Phil (endorsements) and possibly Tom (subscribers/members/supporters). Motion: (Fritz Radandt/Gladys We) That the Endorsement report be accepted. PASSED. 7. Committee reports: 7.1 Community Content committee - Guy * on Dec. 20th, the training subcommittee would be having a meeting to teach the liasons about menu design, and uploading as well as general telecommunications skills. * the training subcommittee is looking for a place to hold the Dec. 20 meeting. Phil offered use of a place on Saturdays, and Gladys suggested that Guy contact Andrew (Derry) at SFU to talk about booking a room. * Brian mentioned that the training is a priority and asked when they would be ready. Guy said that after the Dec. 20 meeting, they should be ready. Motion: (Susan Pendakur/Gladys We) That the community content report be accepted. PASSED. 7.2 Fundraising - Brian * meeting minutes e-mailed * Brian answered questions as Greg was absent. * Brian and Teresa are handling corporations and 5 have been targeted (eg. Real Estate Foundation) for large donations. * Margaret and Wallace are targeting Foundations and grant opportunities. Unfortunately, this is hampered by our not having a non-profit tax number. * a union group is going to be setup in the fundraising committee. They haven't met yet, but Brian has 3 people in mind. Motion: (Jacqueline Van Dyk/Tom Hansen) That the fundraising report be accepted. PASSED. 7.3 Public Relations - Fritz * Nov 27th, there's a swap meet at McPherson Community Centre, at which VRFA will have a display. * a writer from Newton Public Library has approached Fritz, and will take over the tasks of the newsletter and the Q&A sheet. * query about the letters to politicians. Brian suggested that this was for information, and not a formal approach. Susan suggested adding a membership letter with any such mailouts. * buttons are on the way, but Joe Average has not contact Jacqueline yet. * Rod Bellamy has offered to do a VRFA video, and has supplied samples of his work. Viewing the video and deciding this topic has been deferred to the next board meeting. * Brian raised a concern about the Newton public meeting and our conduct. Fritz responded that there is now someone who's sole responsibility is to conduct the public meetings and ensure working equipment etc. * an issue was raised about regional representation. Brian suggested that this be dealt with after launch when we have more resources to be used at forming regional groups for VRFA. Motion: (Jacqueline Van Dyk/Guy Thomas) That the Public Relations report be accepted. PASSED. 7.4 Hardware/Software/System Design - Jacqueline * Rob Clift is working on a systems features list which will greatly benefit all working aspects of the committees. * West Coast Environment Law has provided us with a database and members of the database subcommittee have been assigned to evaluating the database and initial look at converting it for Freenet. * Brian mentioned the importance of the IP upload mechanism and the database transfer mechanism. The worry was that getting information onto Freenet maybe a bottleneck. * next meeting is on Nov 27. Motion: (Fritz Radandt/Gladys We) That the Hardware/Software/System design report be accepted. PASSED. 8. Information Policy Conference - Jacqueline and Gladys * We have over 200 members signed up so far * speaker's rooms not confirmed yet * Brian will be at the BC Freenet meeting on Saturday night, and the banquet room needs to be booked/confirmed. * Brian mentioned that several professional speakers will be present and that the Freenet presentations should be of equally professional caliber. As such he suggested contacting all members of panels and working with them, as well as preparing your speaker's notes ASAP. Motion: (Susan Pendakur/Gladys We) That the Information Policy report be accepted. PASSED. At this point, the meeting was brought back to items 3.1 (Board Membership) and 3.2 (Canarie Site) 3.2 Canarie Site - Brian * post from CWC forwarded via e-mail to board. * proposal for $2.3 million over 3 years to redesign FreePort software. Stage one would be a replacement for the existing software, and stages 2 & 3 would be additions to the system. * Centre for Image and Sound Research interested in a co-proposal with VRFA * ARNet going ahead. * further discussion deferred to Saturday night, where this is on the agenda for the BC Freenet meeting, and will be brought back to the board later. 3.1 Board Membership Motion: (Tom Hansen/Jacquelin Van Dyk) That Eric Yung be made permanent Secretary to the Board of Directors. PASSED. Presentations for the Members-At-Large positions were made. Three candidates were named: Neil Guy, Rob Clift, and Eleanor Yuen. After some debate over candidates, a show of hands for each candidate was made. Rob Clift elected to the Board of Directors as a Member-At-Large. Some discussion was made about specific tasks for the new Members-At-Large and the possibility of Rob having the role of Volunteer coordinator was discussed, but nothing was determined. Motion: (Tom Hansen/Phil Lyons) That, in future, candidates for the Board be notified, and if they wish to, attend the board meeting(s) at which the will be elected. PASSED. 9. Other business * next meeting on Tues. Nov. 30/93 at 7:00pm at VPL boardroom * Okanagan freenet organizing committee has contacted Phil. Brian suggested that they talk to Gary Sherman at Victoria Freenet for further information. * Steven suggested that some unification occur in the various databases that are being kept. At this time, Susan keeps a membership database, and Mike (Lehmann) keeps a database of liasons and IPs. Move to adjourn (Phil), seconded (Gladys) and passed unanimously at 9:05pm.