Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board Meeting September 16, 1997 - 7:00pm Held at the Regional Headquarters (RMOC) 111 Lisgar Street, Ottawa, Ontario PRESENT: Dave Sutherland, President/Chairman, aa001 DS Andre Vellino, Vice President, an386 AV Jim Elder, aa456 JE Jean Wilmot, aa145 JW Natalie Munro, aa966 NM Colin Cantlie,ae866 CC REGRETS: Jeff Bossert, Treasurer, au025 JB Michael Mason, Secretary, an956 MM Jessica Cohen, aa724 JC ABSENT: Chris Hawley, ah654 CH NCF Staff Present: Christopher Cope, Executive Director, bz787 Yannick Gravel, System Administrator, xx136 Sheila Alder, Administrative Coordinator, xx001 NCF Members Present: E. O'Driscoll, Minute Taker, af995 Richard Bethell, cj434 Dave Crowley, dy849 ("Ottawa Computes" observer) Guests: Robert Blane Bruce Linton 1. INTRODUCTION Dave Sutherland took the chair and Jim Elder (in the absence of Michael Mason, Secretary) acted as secretary of the meeting. Directors being present and notice of the meeting having been duly given, the meeting was declared to be properly constituted for the conduct of business. 2. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING The Chairman tabled the draft minutes, amended, of the last meeting of the Board held August 19, 1997 which, upon motion made by AV, seconded by JW (two abstentions NM & DS) and carried, were approved. 3. REVIEW OF THE AGENDA No new items to add. 4. OLD BUSINESS Board Vacancies (Jean Wilmot) Colin Cantlie has been chosen to fill one of the vacancies. Bruce Linton was introduced as a possible candidate for the other vacancy. 5. REPORTS a) Treasurer's Report Jean Wilmot presented the highlights: Revenues are close to budget. Cash position is slightly higher than forecast at $81,460. b) Executive Director's Report Christopher Cope, NCF's Executive Director, presented his monthly report. More people are renewing that expected. Estimated that there will be about 27,000 members at the end of the first complete renewal cycle (one year). Confirmation from Corel of 12 copies of WPSuite 8 for auction by NCF. Several students will be helping NCF as part of a co-op program. No further news on Trillium grant application. It has been decided to use HD for the search engine. WebGlimpse was found to be slow; all reviewers (11) of the two search engines preferred HD. Pointers to the search engine will be installed. Yannick has put up some info on the sysadmin area for perusal about "FreeNet Next Generation" (technical development plans). By the next board meeting Yannick will be able to do a presentation. Yannick explained that from mid-Aug, NCF has received a number of probes which was affecting the machines. The probes are coming from about 4 different places, mostly local. JW asked about the security. Yannick talked briefly about the current security and plans for the future. The extended access project is going well. Jeff confirmed that the Cisco terminal server will be shipped and Bell has confirmed that the new lines can be used as planned (overflow from the existing lines). DS hopes that if the project proves feasible that the two universities would be able to join in, as originally envisioned, increasing the visibility of the project to all involved. Some discussion about the publicity for all the donors. Chris will be meeting with local partners for assistance. Auto-Install Diskettes: Nearly complete. Volunteer Richard Bethell is finishing off Internet Explorer and the Mac product. It is hoped that a Netscape version will be available too. Diskettes may be available from the FreeNet Office and as an alternative, have diskettes available at the Ottawa Public Library. One problem with the library distribution is that some of their PCs will not write to the A drive, for security reasons. Some discussion on the possibility of a floppy-disk-based graphical web browser to allow members to try graphical browsing without having to load new software on their hard disk. Some discussion on getting member input for the design of FreeNet's main web page. DS suggested the Carleton's School of Industrial Design could be approached for feedback on design or participate in some cooperative effort. 6. NEW BUSINESS a) 1998 Draft Strategic Plan Chris reviewed the paper that was circulated earlier, including comments by JB. The document will drive the budget, prioritize upcoming activities and guide staff and volunteers. The draft document is posted with hope that members will comment. It was noted that NCF usage data and surveys seem to indicate many members would desire the following: 1. Getting an answer when dialing in (no busy signals) 2. Reliable email 3. Web browsing There seems to be another large group of members that might list the following priorities: 1. Getting an answer when dialing in (no busy signals) 2. Reliable email 3. Newsgroups and chat Some discussion on the large number of members (about 80%) still using the text interface. It was observed that an increase in the number of members without a corresponding increase in capacity (eg. modems and processor power) might cause people to become dissatisfied with services and donate less. Conversely, NCF might get more support (eg., donations) from fewer members if those members get good service and decide to donate more. Some discussion on including usage stats on the login menu to give members a sense of how many people are online. It was suggested that the Board could use more info on service measures to help evaluate the system from the user standpoint and to better understand service as a whole. Some discussion on the definition of useful metrics and what measures, other than cash flow/budget items, might be developed. It was remarked that comprehensive content may keep members coming back. A plan could be constructed to target certain under-represented groups to increase their membership interest. It was suggested that many organizations and members may prefer their own domain name for their web pages; Chris was asked to investigate the feasibility of providing this. Some discussion on NCF's partnership with Carleton University and ways to enhance it synergistically. It was suggested that Carleton's involvement with NCF should be better communicated to users and guests of NCF so that Carleton's contribution is better recognised. It was suggested that NCF develop something like a 'Welcome Wagon' for first time users that explains FreeNet clearly, step-by-step but in an entertaining manner that encourages registration. Generally the board was pleased with the draft strategy document and asked Chris to incorporate input and further develop the document with more detail, to be discussed at the next board meeting. b) Thank you to volunteers Ian Allen and Richard Bethell for their contributions NCF members and the community benefit from volunteer efforts. Moved by Jim Elder, seconded by Jean Wilmot, that the Board thank Ian Allen and Richard Bethell for their contributions over the last few months. DS JB JC JE CH MM NM AV JW CC Votes: y - - y - - y y y y The Board thanks everyone who makes NCF possible, especially the members and community partners. 7. DATE OF NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 21, 1997 at 7:00 p.m. at the St.Laurent Branch of the Ottawa Public Library, 515 Coti Street, Ottawa. 8. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.