Minutes of the SLUG committee meeting 26th March 2002
Present:
* Jeff Waugh
* Craige McWhirter
* Jaime Wilkinson
* Peter Hardy
* Mary Gardiner
* Tony Green
* Jan Schmidt
SLUG Meetings
Decisions:
* Meetings to be more closely moderated, particularly Q&A Sessions.
Tony Green to chair meetings.
* Less time to be spent on general Q&A.
* Introduce small 5-10 minute presentations.
* Meeting announcements. Three weeks beforehand, with a reminder one
week before the meeting.
* Next month's talks:
Jeff Waugh on postfix
Andrew Bennetts on python
Tony Green to demonstrate spamassassin
Stronger moderation is needed during meetings to keep the discussion
on topic, and to prevent excess disruption during speaker
presentations.
We would like to reduce the time spent on general Q&A sessions, as
this is already well-serviced by the mailing lists. This time would be
better spent with small 5-10 minute presentations, to demonstrate a
new or interesting piece of software, showcase work the speaker has
been doing, or similar. It's hoped this will lower the bar and make it
easier for people to participate in SLUG, and we'll be actively
seeking people to give talks in this category.
Suggestions for future talks:
Jan Schmidt offered a talk on various video issues under Linux.
Desktop software comparisons (GNOME, KDE, ...). Distribution
introductions and comparisons. Linux communities. Network
bootstrapping with cfengine. Migrating to Linux. Contributing to Linux
(for coders and non-coders). Migration from one Linux solution to
another (eg: sendmail to postfix). Managing spam. Linux for corporate
desktops.
As always, volunteers for these or any other talk would be most
welcome.
SLUG website
Decisions:
* Final decision on the new SLUG website will not be made until Jeff
can demo his new code based on work done for gnome.org.
* SLUG logo will remain unchanged.
Angus Lee's beta website (http://beta.slug.org.au) was considered for
the final site, but concerns were raised about future maintainability.
The other alternative is Jeff Waugh's new website, which he will
demonstrate shortly after his return from Spain. It was agreed to
withhold a decision until then.
Alternatives to the logo displayed on the current SLUG website were
discussed. We would like to keep the current logo, but would like to
obtain higher-quality images for the new site. This will be the
responsibility of the new website maintainer.
Other activities
* Gamesfest? This will be partly covered by the Workshop, but we'd
like to hold a dedicated one if there's enough interest.
* Codefest. We should approach UNSW Compsoc for another codefest.
Possibly incorporating a bug-squishing event.
* These fests need organisers.
* Social events. Craige will be organising another paintball day
soon. Bowling or lasertag were also discussed as possible
activities.
Financial business
Actions:
* Need a current signatory to grant access to accounts. Jamie
Wilkinson to organise.
* Unpaid accounts:
Insurance
Dep. Fair Trading for incorporation.
PO Box renewal
* Insurance statements still going to Jamie Honan. Jamie Wilkinson
to acquire, change address.
Other business
Actions:
* Jeff Waugh to update membership details on SLUG website, and Peter
Hardy to reply to ACCC.
* Jan Schmidt to research the purchase of a video camera to record
SLUG meetings.
Decisions:
* General Meeting to be held at May SLUG meeting to discuss proposed
changes to the Constitution.
* Jan Schmidt to research the purchase of a video camera to record
SLUG meetings.
The cost of membership stated on the SLUG website doesn't specifically
include the GST. This is in breach of Sections 52 and 52(a) of the
Trade Practices Act, and we have recently received correspondence from
the ACCC in regards to this. Jeff Waugh is to correct the website.
We would like to modify the terms of membership as follows: Payment of
fees grants membership until the next AGM. Fees will be $25, or $12.50
after September.
We also need to collect contact details of financial members. This
will most likely take the form of an email address. A suitable privacy
policy governing the use of these details needs to be formulated and
approved.
These changes require amendments to the Constitution and must be voted
on at a General Meeting. Mary Gardiner to announce.
We would like to investigate purchasing equipment to allow us to
record and distribute talks presented at SLUG meetings. Jan Schmidt
will look into this and get back to us next month. Other issues to
look at are the distribution of media files and caring and storage of
SLUG equipment. It was agreed to hold off discussion of this pending
Jan's feedback.
--
Peter Hardy
SLUG Secretary
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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