Meeting Notes 2017 05 30: Difference between revisions

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These are the notes from the [https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Category:Meeting_Notes The XXXth Meeting of Noisebridge].
These are the notes from the [https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Category:Meeting_Notes The XXXth Meeting of Noisebridge].
Date: 2017-05-30
Date: 2017-05-30


Note-taker: Ben
Note-taker: Ben
Line 8: Line 8:


== Meeting Summary ==
== Meeting Summary ==
FIXME FILL OUT AT END OF MEETING AND SEND TO MAILING LIST
TLDR what happened at the meeting:
TLDR what happened at the meeting:
* Announcements: Week 2 of memorial fund consensus. Merlin is a philanthropist! Funds for safety equipment.
* Announcements: Week 2 of memorial fund consensus. Merlin is a philanthropist! Funds for safety equipment.

Revision as of 22:14, 30 May 2017

These are the notes from the The XXXth Meeting of Noisebridge.

Date: 2017-05-30

Note-taker: Ben

Moderators: Lizzie

Meeting Summary

TLDR what happened at the meeting:

  • Announcements: Week 2 of memorial fund consensus. Merlin is a philanthropist! Funds for safety equipment.
  • Finances: $88,060.68 in the bank. Around $30K for Noisetor. Exactly $783.29 in the laser maintenance fund, $510 in the Thomas Shutt memorial fund, $7,356.39 in the equipment fund. That means there is at least $49,411.00 in the general fund, or just shy of 10 months regular expenses. We have paid our rent for June.
  • New members: Lee (first week of sponsorship)
  • New philanthropists: Merlin
  • Consensus Items: Memorial fund for John Shutt's brother, Thomas.
  • Discussion Items: VR upgrades. Funds for safety equipment.

Introductions

Noisebridge is a hackerspace and a social experiment in anarchist organizing which means that there is a non-hierarchical structure and that's pretty cool. You can do anything here! As long as you're excellent. You can't sleep here. You can sleep here if people think it's excellent, but not otherwise. <Elaborate set of rules concerning bananas.> Anyway, that's what Noisebridge is. (what Noisebridge is about is a 501c3 nonprofit that provides a space for creation, collaboration, and learning about technology and creative projects. Noisebridge provides space, power tools, and infrastructure to help the public learn new skills and create cool things. Noisebridge continues to exist through and depends entirely on membership fees and donations. Our code of conduct is 'Be excellent to each other'.")

  • Lizzie: I do computer security and electronics. I come to Noisebridge because there's a lot of cool people.
  • Jade: I've been coming here for a long time, but it's been maybe a year since my last meeting. I come for the neurohacking meetup.
  • Sondra: I know Jade.
  • Roy: I read the wiki.
  • Alex: I do not understand the question, and I will not respond to it.
  • Merlin: I used to be here a lot, I haven't been, and I'm hoping to do that more.
  • Ben: I'm here to take minutes.
  • Chris: I don't recall.
  • Daryl: I do stuff with robots, I'm learning about shaders, and I can show you the laser cutter!
  • Cowlicks: I work on privacy stuff, and I've been working on Javascript stuff lately.
  • Lee: I worked on this photobooth project at Maker's Faire, that was fun. It currently takes passport photos. I'm also working on Gnar!
  • Lady Red: I come here to make stuff.
  • Alex: Gamebridge and VR
  • Yuki: I'm a developer!
  • Moses: I'm a developer for Upload Studios.

Short announcements and events

  • Chris would like to discuss safety equipment funds again.
  • Lee: The Noisebridge Research Limited Security Research LLC, LLC infosec meetup Thursday 6/1/2017 at Sycamore, across the street from nb
  • Lady Red: The NB 10th anniversary is coming up in August! We're planning the Noisebridge Ball on Slack. #ball-wg

Safe Space

Blake: Noisebridge is a safe space. It means NB should be free from harassment, including subtle things like giving someone unwanted attention. If you're not sure what that means, just talk to someone about it.

Q: What should I do if I see someone harassing someone else? Should I tell someone about it?

A: Yes, do something. Say something.

Lizzie: I guess part of keeping NB safe is having conversations with people, and asking people to leave when necessary. If you have questions about how to go about that, please ask someone currently raising their hand.

Participation

Alex: Everyone can participate in NB, and everyone who's being excellent can continue to do so. There are members with more responsibilities to the space, but everyone is treated equally otherwise. People can attend NB between 11 am and 11 pm. If you want an access token, a member can give you one for access during open hours.

Philanthropists

  • Invite a knowledgeable volunteer to describe Philantropy, and the application process.

Lady Red: People can become a philanthropist of Noisebridge by making a recurring donation of $80 each month, which allows for 24 hour access to the space.

  • Binder: Merlin. Andrew Grosser isn't here but has an application in the binder.
  • If there are no objections, they're a philanthropist! Their pledge should be handed over to the Secretary posthaste, after which their token will be updated to give them the 24/7 access they've earned(?)

Merlin: I used to come here a bunch, and I used to teach people to make smart bike lights. I really enjoy that - teaching people stuff! One specific part of it is coming here at 11 and staying until maybe 3 or 4 in the morning with all the people that are here. Nota bene: I used to be on the board around 2013. I think I'm trustworthy, and I'd like to have that access to the space. I work with microcontrollers, and I like to show people how to do stuff with electronics?

Alex: Where is that? Hackster.io.

Lady Red: Were you a member before? Yes! I had to be in order to be on the board.

Lizzie: Does anybody have any objections? <Crickets>

Merlin: Who's current treasurer?

Lizzie: John Shutt is.

Membership Binder

Merlin: There's a binder, and some deadlines, and some forms. (Notetaking fell behind here.)

Lizzie: What does membership mean?

Alex: A member cares about NB's future, and the quality of people and the community moving forward. The main power of membership is the ability to veto in space's consensus process. If you have been around NB long enough, being a member is awesome, and you should talk to someone about joining.

Lee is in the binder.

Lizzie: Who wants to apply for membership?

Lee: I moved to SF for NB. It's a cool space, and I've started getting started in different infrastructure stuff. I feel like I've gotten past the bootstrap stage, and I feel like I'm ready to move out of the peanut gallery.

Lizzie: This is week one of Lee's sponsorship.

Financial Report

Lizzie: Report from #slack-wg: $88,060.68 in the bank. Around $30K for Noisetor. Exactly $783.29 in the laser maintenance fund, $510 in the Thomas Shutt memorial fund, $7,356.39 in the equipment fund. That means there is at least $49,411.00 in the general fund, or just shy of 10 months regular expenses. We have paid our rent for June.

Lizzie: We're pretty good on money, but we want to maybe buy a building, or maybe this building, and we need a lot more money to do that.

Alex: And it can be done! Sudo Room and OmniCommons raised the funds and bought theirs in Oakland.

Lizzie: We'd like to do that at some point, so money is good.

Consensus

Lizzie: Can someone give a brief primer on the a brief primer on consensus process?

Daryl: Consensus comes in two forms - little c consensus and big C concensus. The primary difference is capitalization, but in consensus, the idea is to just ask if people are cool with you doing something. In Consensus, there's a bit of a process. You formally introduce the concensus idea at a meeting, and members have two weeks to block the idea. It shouldn't get to the point that anyone has to actually block it! We just passed two consensus items, and they're both about funding. These were the first two in AGES! And that's a good thing, because it means the little c consensus is working! If we can get stuff done without formal process, then that's good. That's what NB is about - dissolving barriers to things.

Proposals from last week

Proposals for next week

Lizzie: Can anyone introduce John Shutt's consensus bill?

Lady Red: The current treasurer's brother recently passed away, and he's starting a memorial fund. <Reads bill from Current Consensus Items.> He won't be back until June 5th, but if there are concerns they can be voiced on Slack or over the phone.

Alex: Is he saying that the meeting where this would be consensed would be after the memorial the donations would go to?

Lady Red: I'm not sure what happened to the money donated thus far.

Lizzie: I don't think we should worry about it.

Lady Red: <Repeats possible sources of funds, above>

Lizzie: Does anyone want to raise any questions or concerns for when John returns?

Jade: What's the timeline?

Lizzie: I'm not sure.

Lady Red: What are the tax implications of buying a bunch of stocks and transferring them?

Alex: if he can address those before consensus, I would approve of it. Obviously he's dealing with a lot right now, but could there be some kind of a writing club or something...? Like the purpose of the fund is to help young writers and this could be a good time for it. Not necesseraily a consensus obligation, buyt could be a cool thing.

Discussion

Lizzie: Does anyone have a longer discussion item? Alex, Chris, anyone else?

Discussion Items

Alex: VR has foam now! If anyone wants to explore virtual noisebridge or play one of the crazy games, join us aftewards!

Chris: A little while ago I asked if we could use equipment fund money to upgrade safety equipment.

Lizzie: What do you need from us?

Chris: I do need funding, because in the past I've been the only person donating towards the projects I've proposed in the past, and I'd prefer to avoid that this time around.

Alex: I donated $60 to buy more lockers for tools that were being repeatedly stolen, but we never found a locker and bought it. This would be a start. I think that having lockers for that purpose as well would be important as well.

Chris: Yeah, but this isn't so much about security as safety.

Lizzie: How much?

Chris: About $1200.

Lee: I think it would be helpful to frame the discussion as an infrastructural requirement, not a funding proposal.

Lady Red: How do we agree? Can we do anything at this meeting?

Lizzie: I don't know that we can, but I'm totally on board.

Daryl: It seems like we need one, so I'll just donate one.

Lizzie: I'll commit to donate some money towards the other.

Chris: Okay, I'll put up the donation page.

Lady Red: Definitely buy it!