Date: 2006-03-04
Start Time: 3pm
Stop Tim: 5pm
Attending: Dub, Five, Ron Scott, Speed, Tiffie, vudu
Very free form meeting...
We discussed some of the history of ColumbusFreenet and some of the original goals:
1. Free Wifi for the community (downtown area)
2. Learning experience for the Volunteers
3. Raise awareness of Columbus' technological community
(I'm sure there are 100 other; eater please feel free to add)
Ron brought up the subject of Local Government participation/approval/non-participation/etc.
I explained to him that we'd been very open and honest about our intentions from the beginning with local government and had never had any opposition from government itself.
Some local internet/data service providers had shown some initial concern but that has since subsided.
Ron discussed some of the legal concerns other community wifi ventures have had and how other "Freenets" had been forcibly shut down by local government. We were all in agreement that this is mostly about the journey and even if ColumbusFreenet had to cease operations in a year or two years or 2 months from now... we were all still willing to participate until such time.
Next steps: (Documentation, Structure, Recruiting, Learning)
Documentation:
We need to get an idea of exactly which boxes are providing which service(s) on the network as well as topology. Since we have yet to perfect the eater-to-pc-neural-interface*, I'll get with eater and manually pick his brain about what we've got running on the network. I can help with topology as I helped run a lot of the cabling. This will all get documented somehow and placed on the wiki for all to see, analyze and critique. This is a social gig... EVERYONE is encouraged to contribute (post to the wiki, come to meetings, etc). Once we've got an idea of what we have... we will need...
Structure:
We definitely need to start having some people take ownership of certain things. Fromthe beginning this has always been a problem. We have plenty of great ideas... now we just need to SEE THEM THROUGH. Eater can't carry us any longer. I'm sure he's more than willing to help where needed, but we have to take some ownership of thing if it is to continue.
In an attempt to get the ball rolling... at one of our next meetings we need to identify each individuals strong suits.
For example... if I've got decent Bind-Fu I can sign on to accept Bind-related responsibilities for the network. That way... when there's a DNS problem, we'll know who to contact.
This leads into...
Recruiting:
As a group, we need to make it our immediate mission to come up with ways to recruit new members. First to CHAOS, then to
CFn.org if they have interest.
To me, new member recruitment is vital to the survival of ColumbusFreenet. We always need new ideas and fresh enthusiasm for the project! Once we've got some additional people we can start...
Learning:
I know one reason I started coming to CHAOS and CFn.org meetings was to learn new things. I think as geeks it's in our nature to be inquisitive and I think it's safe to say most of us enjoy learning. Let's give the new recruits something to learn.
Remember up in "Structure" we got some people to take responsibility for certain aspects of CFn.org? Well lets say we get a new recruit who is interested in learning Apache. S/he can hop over with the Apache owner and learn everything they are willing to teach. Not only will this help someone learn something, after the new person is comfortable enough, they can become backup for the original owner... or... they can move on to be trained on something else... or take ownership of that process.
It was the general consensus that Saturday mid-day meetings seem to be best for everyone... so I'd like to suggest another meeting this coming Saturday (03-11-2006) @ 2pm @ The LOLpht above JudyBugs Books on Broadway in Beautiful Downtown Columbus, GA. (TM)
I look forward to feedback from everyone and I urge everyone to make a serious attempt to show up.
Tentative topics to be discussed:
Individual Strengths
Network Documentation
Network Topology and discussion
New membership ideas (overly hyped Installfest anyone?!)
Partnership Ideas (CSU, Businesses, etc)
The main thing taken from the meeting is that ColumbusFreenet still has HUGE potential. We (each and every one of us) just have to re-commit ourselves to the effort.
Sorry for the lengthy, rambling, incoherent email... this is why I don't post more often.
Comments are appreciated
vudu
* eater-to-pc-neural-interface (C) vuduco, inc Patent Pending.
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- March 4th Meeting Notes -- Long but please read i am vudu
