The National Capital FreeNet

Executive Committee

MEETING REPORT

February 12, 2002

 

 

Prepared by: Chris Cope (bz787)

February 14, 2002

 

The National Capital FreeNet Executive Committee met on the 12th of January 2002 at Master's Brew Pub, 330 Queen St. Ottawa.

 

Committee members present:              David Millman (aa342)

Sandy Campbell (dt820)

Gary Eikenberry (aa353)       

Ian MacEachern (bi207)

Chris Cope (bz787)

 

Guests:                                                Jim Elder (aa456)

 

Chris Cope, acting as Chair (and Secretary) called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM.

 

The following matters were discussed:

 

  1. Modems:  The ED reported on steps taken to replace the failing 3Com access servers noting that the Cisco AS5100 unit (formerly at Mitel) was now functioning well on 45 of 48 ports, thanks to the assistance of Cisco, and some donated assistance from 2 network specialists from Qunara. The ED also reported that some used equipment might be available from Carleton which could resolve problems on other lines.

 

Action Item:  ED/Sysadmin to determine suitability of proposed Carleton equipment and if suitable enter into purchase discussions ASAP.

 

  1. Email Attribution: The Committee discussed the issue of allowing members to use configurable Reply addresses on outgoing email. It was agreed that this issue was not a Board or Policy issue, but nonetheless, the ED had decided on a course of action. The ED recommended a simple operational policy that would allow all valid NCF domains eg. “@ncf.ca” or “@freenet.Carleton.ca” etc to be used, but only valid NCF UserIDs or PFAs.

 

Action Item:  ED to prepare staff report outlining his course of action and present it to the Board, for their information.

 

  1. Member Disk Space Allocation: The committee discussed the Watt/Gigg motion proposed for advancement to the AGM. It was thought that the issue was an operational issue and fully within the ED’s mandate to determine policy. The ED indicated that the matter of disk space allocation would be considered in the context of existing member usage and demand and as part of his development of strategies for attracting members and enhancing services. It was noted that while the Board may have drafted some NCF policies, in the main, matters such as this were among the various operational policies, which are clearly regulations that the ED may change, augment and/or eliminate.

 

Action Item:  ED to review existing policy documents. Ed to contact the Motion proponents to suggest that the motion be withdrawn, but discuss the sort of things that might be in the works. Failing withdrawal, the Motion will be presented to the Board at the February 19, 2002 Board meeting.

 

  1. Projects: The ED provided an update on progress on NCF projects. He provided his list of milestones for each and discussed timing issues.

 

March 15, 2002 is to be the “soft-launch” date for the HRDC Thin Client project with a formal launch to follow after the system is fully tested and after changes have been made to simplify registration.

 

The ED will present his detailed progress report to the Board at the February 19, 2002 Board meeting.

 

Action Item: ED with the assistance of Gary Eikenberry to prepare an RFP or perhaps an RFI describing the development needs to put this system in place.

 

  1. January Results: The ED reported that while membership numbers had not increased, donation revenue was $22K vs. our Budget of $15K for January.

 

  1. Regional vs. Global: Jim Elder presented his findings taken from a recent analysis of usage and web statistics. A discussion ensued concerning “Who should be allowed to use the NCF” Should it be anyone anywhere in the World, or should we restrict membership to citizens of our region? No clear consensus was reached, but the Committee did note certain issues could arise following our introduction of new services that are more virtual than physical as for our modem service.

 

Action Item: Jim Elder will prepare a report together with his recommendations for consideration by the Board at the February 19, 2002 Board meeting.

 

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 P.M.