VANCOUVER REGIONAL FREENET ASSOCIATION MINUTES OF FOUNDING ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING June 10, 1993 BCTF Building, Vancouver, BC Present: Approximately 100 members in attendance, plus a number of observers. 7:00 pm. Membership registration conducted by acting Membership committee and Treasurer. 7:35 pm. Meeting Called to order by Brian Campbell, acting Chair. Agenda: Adoption of the agenda as distributed was moved, seconded, and carried unanimously. 1. Concluding Report of the VRFA Steering Committee - Brian Campbell Brian reported on the activities of the fifty or so volunteers drawn from the approximately eighty attendees of the previous public meetings. The Constitution and by-laws as submitted by the Steering Committee have been accepted by the BC Societies' Registrar. An application for charitable tax status with Revenue Canada is being prepared. VRFA's current mailing address is care of the Vancouver Public Library and a voice mail telephone will be installed in three weeks. Plans were announced for a day-long strategic planning session for the newly-elected directors to address some of the issues VRFA faces as it moves towards the establishment of a full Vancouver FreeNet, and to provide direction for the large number of interested volunteers. The process and vision of the FreeNet, and the move from the original core group to a full society, were outlined. The importance of substance versus form, and especially the importance of real community content were emphasized. The current statistics on personal computer ownership (less than 20% of Canadians, and a much smaller percentage with modems) illustrate the need for an extension, via the FreeNets, of the power of electronic communications to groups and sectors who are not traditionally users of the technology. Due to it's unique sources of information, the FreeNet is well- placed to help to "fill the gap" between information-rich and information-poor. It is felt that as governments increasingly seek to "re-sell" public information, the role of the FreeNets as advocates for free public access to that information is vital. In an effort to coordinate the Canadian and BC FreeNets, and to explore differences in focus, there is a conference planned of representatives of FreeNets for November of this year. The work of the past acting committee chairs, Stuart Hertzog of Fundraising, Gwenda Ellwood of Publicity and Derek Dowden of Community Content was noted and praised. 2. Acting Treasurer's Report - Phil Lyons ** get from phil It was moved, seconded, and carried unanimously to accept the acting Treasurer's report. 3. Elections - Chair assumed by Bill Andrews The procedures as set out in the Constitution and By-Laws were described. The Nominations Committee report was given Sandy Mayo. The process of candidate selection (recommendation by the working committees) was described and a list of eligible candidates was submitted. The following members were duly moved, seconded, and acclaimed to the accompanying positions: President Brian Campbell Vice President Margaret Coates Secretary Sandy Mayo Treasurer Tom Hansen Chair, Membership Committee Susan Pendakur Chair, Fundraising Committee Greg Buss Chair, Public Relations Committee Fritz Radandt Chair, Community/Content Committee Guy Thomas Chair, Hardware/Software Committee Mike Hrybyk Chair, System Design Committee Jacqueline van Dyk Members at Large Mark Gendron Phil Lyons Gladys We Michael Lehmann Steven Chan 4. Sub-Committee Reports - Chair assumed by Brian Campbell Fundraising Committee - Greg Buss The committee's terms of reference were presented. The committee is working on a case statement as a first priority and targeting funds and donors in conjunction with the Hardware/Software committee. The importance of raising funds early in the project was emphasized, as was the need to involve a variety of groups and volunteers. Membership Committee - Susan Pendakur It was announced there were fifty-eight members prior to the meeting with fifty new members signed up that evening. The terms of reference of the committee were described. A membership database is under construction. Hardware/Software Committee - Jacqueline van Dyk A joint report of the this committee and the System Design committee meeting as the joint technical committee was given. A mailing list for the joint committee has been set up (freenet- sysdesign@sfu.ca). A project plan has been developed, and a Systems Requirement document has been prepared. There are working groups on user support, hardware, and telecommunications, and the software working group has recommended the use of FreePort software. The joint technical committee's next meeting is 2:00 pm June 26th, at SFU Harbour Centre. Public Relations - Fritz Radandt The committee's terms of reference were described and the importance of making the public aware of FreeNet and educating them in it's use and benefits. The brochure was distributed, and other methods such as newsletter or speakers bureau were suggested. Q: How will members of VRFA receive notice of meetings etc? The policy of allowing e-mail notification, and the declaration of a member's preference on the membership form was explained. The PR committee will next meet on June 17 at 6 pm. Community/Content - Guy Thomas The importance of content to building a FreeNet was stressed, and some areas which require immediate work are the locating potential information providers, and expanding the capabilities of the committee to meet the challenge of developing information providers (either for or by VRFA). Q: Do we have any ideas of what "communities" will make up FreeNet? - The committee is developing a list of organizations and contacts and assessing the readiness of the information providers to have their information on the FreeNet. Q: Has a (software) "metaphor" been developed? - This is being done in consultation with the technical committees. This is a very broad process with input from different committees and groups. ** short sample list of providers Q: Will Community/Content work on training with PR? - Yes, see answer to previous question. Q: Is there a potential problem that the most interesting information (for users) may be available to the FreeNet in a least-accessible form? - This shows the need for Community/Content to facilitate the process of information providers putting their information on FreeNet, to provide training or translating services. Q: Will we stay not-for-profit? (with an eye to the danger of becoming subservient to commercial providers) - We are bound by our constitution to be non-profit. The Community/Content committee now has an e-mail mailing list: freenet-comcontent@native-ed.bc.ca Q: Will VRFA provide language translation services? - This will be looked at as numbers and interest warrant. (Noted that NCF is going bilingual English/French; the VRF may be driven by numbers to be English/Chinese.) Q: Why is VRFA not on the VPL community organizations list? - To be rectified asap. 5. Demonstration of National Capital FreeNet (Ottawa) - Mike Hrybyk At this time, an overhead-display demonstration system was used. A visit to a mock-up Van FreeNet on CIX software was shown, and a telnet connection was made from there to the National Capital FreeNet (NCF). A guest login was used, and an informative tour of the menu structure and reader capability of the FreePort software was given. The NCF is running as a pilot project for a series of Canadian FreeNets, and in six months time has become the second largest FreeNet in usage terms after the original Cleveland FreeNet. The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 pm.