Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors Meeting held on May 17, 1994 Honeywell Room - RMOC/HQ - 111 Lisgar Street Ottawa, Ontario 1. Board Members in Attendance Andrew Patrick First Vice President John Ferguson Second Vice President Al Seaman Secretary David Blackwood Julie Chahal Brett Delmage Rosaleen Dickson Richard Taylor The meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM by Andrew Patrick. MINUTES OF APRIL 19, 1994 MEETING 2. Motion by Julie Chahal, seconded by David Blackwood that the Minutes as previously circulated be approved. Motion carried. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES 3. Login/Timeout Screens. Andrew Patrick reported that progress has been made by Ian Allen on revising the screens displayed at Login and at Timeout. Registered users have the option, through the configuration menu of setting their own screens. Dave Sutherland will be revising the default Timeout screen seen by those who do not set their own. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT 4. A verbal report was provided by Andrew Patrick on several decisions or recommendations reached by the Executive Committee. a) It appears that terms "task group" and "task group leader" as used in the Volunteer Strategy are creating some confusion, and that it is preferable to revert to the terms "committee" and "committee chair" that were in use originally. In the discussion that followed, the Board raised no concern over the change. b) It is recommended by the Executive Committee that the Board should confirm the appointments of committee chairs. Motion by Andrew Patrick, seconded by John Ferguson that committee chairs be appointed by the Board on recommendation by the Volunteer Coordinators and/or the Director of Operations. Motion Carried. c) It was noted that we have received requests to include Arts and Culture as a main menu item. This will not be resolved at this time. ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY 5. In the absence of both Dave Loan, and a written copy of his proposed Acceptable Use Policy, this item was deferred to the next meeting. PUBLIC TERMINAL USAGE POLICY 6. A survey of parties concerned with usage of the public terminals at the Ottawa Public Library has ben conducted, but the survey analysis has not been completed yet. This item was deferred to the next meeting. POLICY ON ACCESSIBILITY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES 7. A policy on accessibility for people with disabilities was proposed by Ravi Malhotra. It included both wheel chair accessibility for meeting sites, and sign language interpretation of meeting discussion. In discussion it was concluded that the interpretation aspect could not be implemented. Motion by Richard Taylor, seconded by Andrew Patrick that the NCF will hold all public meetings and events (including such special activities as birthday parties and other commemorations) at sites which are wheelchair accessible. Wheelchair accessible is defined for the purposes of this policy as barrier free level access including the availability of wheelchair accessible washrooms. A passenger elevator must be available if such meetings are held above or below ground floor. The Ontario human Right Commission's Guidelines may be consulted for further clarification. Motion Carried. PROPOSAL RE BOARD MANAGEMENT SEMINAR 8. Lisa Donnelly reported on her efforts to find alternate sources of suitable management seminars, and on the proposal from the BoardWALK Management Assistance Program. Motion by Andrew Patrick, seconded by Rosaleen Dickson that NCF make arrangements with the BoardWALK MAP for the management seminar as proposed. Motion carried. FINANCIAL REPORT 9. A Financial Report is not available this month, but will be provided for the next meeting. OTHER BUSINESS 10. Monthly Public Meeting summer schedule It was agreed that the normal public meeting on the first Tuesday of the month will not be scheduled for the months of June, July and August. The meeting room and time slot will be assigned to the Helpdesk Committee, chaired by Matthew Darwin, to hold informal user help sessions. 11. Second Community Network conference A request has come from Garth Graham for NCF assistance in holding a second Community Network Conference this summer. Motion by Rosaleen Dickson, seconded by Julie Chahal that NCF will provide a corporate umbrella, and act as host for the Canadian Community Network Conference. Motion carried. 12. Lanark County Network project A community network is being implemented in Lanark County to the west of the Ottawa-Carleton region. We have received a request for cooperation with that organizing committee, and for an interconnection between the Lanark Network and NCF. Motion by Al Seaman, seconded by David Blackwood that the Board endorses cooperation between the NCF and the Lanark Network, and agrees to making an initial physical link on a basis similar to that of a public access terminal. Motion carried. 13. Updates to NCF Policy Statements Proposed revisions to two NCF Policies were previously posted by Al Seaman. The policies: NCF Policy on Binary File Transfers NCF Policy on restoring files from backup tapes In addition, Andrew Patrick tabled a draft policy on privacy: NCF Statement on Privacy The first two, being updates of existing policy, are tabled for information and feedback of any issues to Al Seaman. The Privacy policy should be reviewed for discussion and a vote at the next meeting. 14. Director of Development Announcement Gordon Pearson has been hired as the new Director of Development, and was introduced to the Board. 15. Distribution of NCF newsgroups beyond NCF David Blackwood introduced some preliminary discussion on the subject of allowing the outside distribution of NCF newsgroups. It was agreed that David will prepare a statement of the issues involved for further discussion and a decision at the next meeting. NEXT MEETING 16. It was confirmed that the next meeting will be on June 21, 1994 at 7:00 PM in accord with the Board's monthly meeting policy. It was also agreed that Lisa Donnelly would find a location for the meeting in the near future and advise the Board when that is determined. ADJOURNMENT 17. On a motion of John Ferguson, seconded by Julie Chahal the meeting adjourned at 9:38 PM.