Minutes for Meeting of December 9th, 2010

Next Meeting

  • December 23rd, 2010

Attending

  • Andreas Nilsson
  • Bastien Nocera
  • Brian Cameron
  • Emily Chen
  • Germán Póo-Caamaño
  • Paul Cutler
  • Rosanna Yuen

Regrets

  • Og Maciel

Missing

Recurring Items

  • Review past action items.
  • Did each person with action items send their status reports to the board list before the meeting?
  • Approve and make sure that minutes of last meeting were published to foundation-announce and foundation-list.
  • Make sure to start up the gobby server for better note taking.
  • Update foundation.gnome.org website.

New Items

  • Developer Documentation Hackfest (Andreas)
    • Things went good - discussions about tools to advertise to developers (Anjuta) and what kind of developers to target. New developer.gnome.org as an extension of library.gnome.org - working on redirects and new website to launch. Andreas thought it would be good to have another hackfest in the near future to continue to build on it.

    • ACTION: Andreas to check with Johannes and Shaun about having a Developer Documentation Hackfest.

  • Hiring Marketing Help (Brian)
    • Stormy's proposal that we hire someone on a 5-month contract to help with GNOME 3.0 marketing received 4 +1 votes.
    • Seeking references from people or consultants who would be interested in a short-term contract to improve GNOME and GNOME 3 marketing.
    • Email the marketing list with a call for bids
    • Need to set expectations

    • ACTION: Brian to draft initial email about hiring marketing help. Paul will assist with editing and send to marketing-list.

  • The "Updating Trademark Agreements" (Brian)

    • ACTION: Paul to review Justin's email about updating trademark agreements and email the marketing team for feedback.

  • FoG launch update (Og)
    • The new campaign is for general funding. The next Campaign which will start in April will be focused on funds to purchase sysadmin resources such as servers.
    • This campaign is to get 100 new subscribers by the end of the year.
    • About to set up the ruler to measure new subscriptions.
    • The next campaign starts in April and will be to purchase sysadmin resources, such as needed servers.
    • According to Zana's research, Google Checkout doesn't do recurring subscriptions. Need to investigate.

    • ACTION: Og to look into Google Checkout as an annual payment option for FoG.

  • Budget next steps. Is it ready to share with foundation-list? (Germán)

    • ACTION: Germán will provide an updated budget for review that we'll plan to send to foundation-list for community review.

  • GTK+/MeeGo project call for bids (Bastien)

    • The GNOME Foundation received 2 strong bids and one interesting, but out of scope, bid.
    • Will consider going back to Nokia and ask for additional funding for the out of scope bid.
    • Goal is to have the bid selected prior to Dec. 17th

    • ACTION: Bastien to form a working group to review the GTK+/MeeGo bids and choose a final list.

  • Annual Report (Paul)
    • Should be made public in the next week.

  • GNOME 3.0 launch events & GNOME.Asia (Emily)

    • Pockey sent two updates To the Board with 3 projects that GNOME.Asia is working on:
      • GNOME.Asia summit - Next week the host city will be chosen and announced (will be April 6th - 10th to coincide with GNOME 3.0 launch).
      • Global Launch parties (inspired by Software Freedom Day) - Details and costs and launch party materials in Pockey's email.
      • How to improve GNOME survey - The GNOME.Asia team is putting together a report to highlight how to improve GNOME for Asian users.

    • ACTION: Emily to send the budget for the GNOME 3.0 launch event activities to the board for review and vote.

Completed Actions

  • Paul - Diego had an action item to send an updated "Día GNOME" article for the Annual Report.
  • All Board Members - Review the Executive Director job description.

Status of action items

  • Andreas - Will finish the Friends of GNOME revamp and find someone with proper javascript skills to help.

  • Andreas - Will follow up with Andrew Savory from LiMo to see if relevant information from their GTK+ study can be made more public. (will ping again).

  • Andreas - To take the GUADEC feedback and post it to a public wiki page. (someone else did this I think?)

  • Andreas - To ask Kat if she can reach out to the gnome-de@gnome.org mailing list about finding local German volunteers to help with the Desktop Summit 2011. (will ping again)

  • Bastien - Will try to find people who can consolidate the feedback about the Texas Instruments Zoom2 device to provide back to Texas Instruments.
  • Bastien - Will take over the internal review process task from Diego Urrelo (hopefully he can automate it).
  • Bastien - To find a way to automate the process of exporting results from internal review process and email it to the board.
  • Bastien - To discuss the use of badges (a-la Creative Commons, last.fm page colors, or PSN badges).
  • Bastien - To talk to Olav Vitters about using bugzilla to track Friends of GNOME post card sending.
  • Bastien - To get _a_ WebOS/Palm contact from Lennart Poettering.
  • Bastien - To contact the BBC to discuss about possible collaboration in working directly with GNOME.
  • Bastien - Will reach out to Dave Richards from the City of Largo to plan for a hackfest there.

  • Bastien - Setup committee to look at GTK+/MeeGo integration bids.

  • Brian - Get information about what should be in an "Employee Handbook". Draft approved by board. Now under review by the GNOME legal team.
  • Brian - Develop trademark usage forms for common use cases. James Vasile from legal is working with Brian on this.
  • Brian - Check records of organizations with existing contracts to use the GNOME trademark. Taken over from Vincent Untz. Look at the archives in 2005 and try to determine which companies can use the GNOME trademark. Know what kind of contracts we had with them. Taken over from Jorge.

  • Germán - Will follow up with Shaun McCance about how the board can help with his proposal for funding developer documentation.

  • Germán - Will help Paul put together the Financial Report for the Annual Report.
  • Germán - To discuss with GNOME Hispano about them handling GNOME Foundation money in Euros (€).
  • Germán - To track if the new method of boletos generates more or less money from Brazil.
  • Germán - To have a draft Fiscal Year Budget in October for the board to review.
  • Og - Update the blog and planet to highlight that people are expected to sign and follow the GNOME Code of Conduct.
    • As per Paul's recommendation, I have emailed Vincent to ask him what his idea is for doing this.
    • Still haven't heard back from vuntz
  • Og - Will work to update the GNOME websites to update pages that refer to Stormy as the Executive Director.

  • Paul - Will send an email to the foundation-list and the gnucash list seeking someone to take over the GnuCash automation. Taken over from Behdad Esfahbod.

  • Paul - Will lead putting together the GNOME Annual Report.
  • Paul - To start work on next 2011 Annual Report ASAP (due start FY2012).
  • Paul - To work with Jonathan Blandford for the pants article in the annual report.
  • Paul - Will work with Gil Forcada from guifi.net and gnome-marketing to define the best way for organizations like guifi.net to participate in the GNOME community. Not many replies from the community. Diego Urrelo will draft something more concrete for gnome-marketing to determine the best name and process for managing this. There was a discussion on the mailing list and a few good ideas, Diego will wrap them up and send them again for further comments.
  • Paul - Will follow-up with Board to read the Advisory Board fees for small businesses proposal, ask for feedback and set a date to vote by.
  • Paul - To finish the Privacy Policy, get review from James Vasile, etc.
  • Paul - Will create the Executive Director hiring mailing list.

  • Paul/Germán - Automate the process of entering PayPal information into GnuCash. Taken over from Behdad Esfahbod.

  • Rosanna - Research the GNOME Guidestar website and update if necessary. Rosanna sent an update about the status of Guidestar, but work is still needed. Need to find someone to keep the website up-to-date.
  • Rosanna - Will apply for the GNOME credit card. Status: Filled out initial application, have appointment next Wednesday with the bank to continue process.
  • Rosanna - Will handle the purchase orders with Google for GIMP/GStreamer GSoC mentor payments as she has been doing it already for GNOME.
  • Stormy - To schedule a meeting with companies that do consulting work with GNOME to start discussions on how we can help (how can we work together). Sent email. Got a couple of positive responses. (Handing over to someone else.)
  • Stormy - Taking over for Og. Will assist with the GNOME 3 as a Foundation goal task and to help in getting the GNOME 3 as a Foundation Goal survey topics together. (Handing over to someone else.)

New Action Items

  • Andreas - To check with Johannes and Shaun about having a Developer Documentation Hackfest.

  • Bastien - To form a working group to review the GTK+/MeeGo bids and choose a final list.

  • Brian - To draft initial email about hiring marketing help. Paul will assist with editing and send to marketing-list.
  • Emily - To send the budget for the GNOME 3.0 launch activities to the board for review and vote.
  • Germán - Will provide an updated budget for review that we'll plan to send to foundation-list for community review.
  • Og - To look into Google Checkout as an annual payment option for FoG.
  • Paul - To review Justin's email about updating trademark agreements and email the marketing team for feedback.

Discussed on the mailing list

  • GNOME Foundation is hiring!
  • GNOME T-Shirt contest
  • Friends of GNOME (FoG) Campaign Launch

    • http://www.gnome.org/friends/

    • The new campaign is for general funding. The next Campaign which will start in April will be to purchase servers.
    • There will be updates to the FoG website.
    • New GNOME Foundation partnership with LWN
    • Schedule
      • Launch new Friends of GNOME site - Nov. 16th
      • Annual item per year (doodad) - Nov. 18th
      • Map mash-up - Nov. 21st
      • Launch promotional avenues - Nov 22nd
      • Membership cards - Nov 22nd
      • T-Shirts - Dec. 31st
  • Marketing/Finance:
    • Stormy's proposal that the board consider hiring someone to help coordinate and release GNOME 3.0 from a marketing perspective received 4 +1 votes (Andreas, Og, Brian and Emily). This would be a 5 month contract and separate from the Executive Director position. Their sole job would be to make sure there is big splash when GNOME 3.0 is released.
    • The GNOME Foundation is looking for a new accountant.

    • Finalizing an arrangement for FreeWear to sell GNOME branded merchandise.

    • Fernando Herrera, Juanjo Marin, and Dave Neary expressed volunteer interest in setting up a GNOME certification process to promote GNOME development.
    • Paul distributed a final version of the 2009 Annual Report to the board.
    • Discussion about finalizing forms for trademark application.
    • Rosanna is working to process the GStreamer Google payments. Our contact at Google plans to send us a PO shortly. Once the PO is received, people will be reimbursed.
  • Accessibility
    • The board voted to move ahead with Joanie's a11y proposal to fund orca performance improvements. Andreas, Brian, Emily, and Paul voted +1.
    • Stormy helped with sending out Certificates of Contribution to the college students that worked on GNOME with Project Possibility. A t-shirt and thank you note was sent by Brian to Moein Alinaghian for his help.
  • Sysadmin update.

    • Paul is looking into how to spent the $8,000 budget The GNOME Foundation has to purchase new servers. He has been talking with ZaReason and System76.

    • The sysadmin team are in the process of updating the wiki to reflect outstanding tasks for the whole team. Jeff Schroeder has also expressed interest in helping with the Paypal automation. There is a new contributor in the community who fixed listadmin and who is working on updates to Mango (re-writing it in Django). Large projects upcoming include:
      • RHEL 6 migration
      • New servers (if the budget stands) - we will then install VMs in RHEL6 and migrate services from the older servers
      • blogs.gnome.org upgrade (currently running an old version of Wordpress, want to get it to 3.x)
  • Mobile

    • The deadline for the GTK+/MeeGo project call for bids was Friday, November 19, 2010. Now evaluating bids received.

  • Events
  • Miscellaneous

    • All GNOME Foundation board mailing lists were updated to remove Stormy. The director@gnome.org email alias now points to board-list in the short term. Og was added to the Friends of GNOME email alias and Paul to the Amazon alias (with Rosanna and Jaap).

    • Decision to have the next board meeting on December 9th due to holiday for several board members.
    • Discussion with Bastien about setting up board peer reviews.

    • Emily sent an email to Kimseng kk and Chandara Om from Cambodia offering to assist with their OpenSource initiative.

    • Karen Sandler provided legal feedback for the "Employee's Handbook". Now processing.
    • Preparation of the minutes for the November 9th Advisory Board meeting.
    • Planning for the Wednesday, December 8th Foundation IRC meeting.
    • Stormy suggested an all open source meeting system (videoconferencing):

FoundationBoard/Minutes/20101209 (last edited 2010-12-22 20:32:26 by BrianCameron)