April 2007 Minutes

Held on Thursday 5th April, 2007 at

483 Victoria Street, West Melbourne. Meeting opened at 6.10pm

Present

Chair: Kylie Davies

Present: Jan Smith, Tony Calenti, Con Validas, Adam Jenkins.

Apologies: Rob Brittain, Julien Goodwin, John Simpson.

1. Welcomes by chair – Kylie Davies

2. Confirmation of previous minutes:

a. The previous January minutes were confirmed.

Proposer: Con Validas . Seconder: Jan Smith. (CWD).

b. The Special general meeting minutes were confirmed.

Proposer: Jan Smith. Seconder: Con Validas. (CWD)

c. The short march meeting minutes were confirmed.

Proposer: Jan Smith. Seconder: Tony Calenti. (CWD)

3. Matters arising

3.1 Progress report on selling gaming computers in shop. Held over to next meeting.(HOTNM).

3.2 Database (DB) Update. Update on looking at other databases (e.g. Freegeek, Tiny Erp, e-commerce) and retrieving data out of current database. (Kylie/Con/Jan).

Jan Smith will be the new Database manager with assistance from Michael (Jan's son) and Con. Other interested helpers targeted for special needed skills will be sought via the email list.  The email list will be notified of the skills needed and a meeting will be held on Wed 11th April.

3.3 Promotions, new flyer and poster. Progress report. Is someone contacting TBSL?

Flyer is effective and promotion is going well. All are welcome to distribute the flyer. Jan will contact The BrotherHood of ST Lawrence (TBSL) re selling our PCs via their outlets.

3.4 a) LCD Screens. Progress report on sales through the shop. LCDs are selling well. However, to ensure CVI receives maximum value from the sale of LCDs the following motion was proposed and passed without dissent.

Motion: That CVI only sells LCD monitors with P4 upgrades.
Proposer: Jan Smith. Seconder: Kylies Davies.

b) Refund policy. Progress report. Research legal issues (Rob). Implementation.
Work is progressing on signage for the shop (a sign has been put up in shop) and the Disclaimer is in the processing of being written. Legal issues have been checked with Business Victoria and no outstanding issues have been identified.

c) Sealed box policy. Progress Report. Implementation. Kylie to look into getting void stickers or alternatively using paint on screws.

e) Volunteer commitments. New documentation. Bonuses (Tony). Tony to look up and write up the bonuses CVI volunteers receive by being volunteers at Computerbank.

3.5 WFD funding update. WFD has been rolled over to August 23 and the participant numbers have been increased from 10 to 12, this slightly increasing funding.

3.6. Legal issues re motions passed at last meeting. Office of fair trading policies.

See item 3.4b above.

4 Agenda

4.1 WFD update to staffing (Kylie). Adam Jenkins is the new WFD supervisor. Congratulations Adam.

4.2 Update to Plone site (Jan). Testing of the updated site is still being done. Part of the information on the issue tracker may be lost. Free hosting of our web sites is no longer available through Obsidian, expected charges could be around $300 for them to host our site. As we have had free hosting from them since 2004 unless a better and much cheaper alternative host can be found CVI will remain with Obsidian for the time being.

4.3 National Update (Kylie). That is the National Bank's donation of computers update. CVI is awaiting a reply from the Bank's donations coordinator.

4.4 Returns policy re PC systems needs to be discussed (Jan). See matters arising item 3.4b.

4.5 Distro. Jan proposes that we name and number our distro versions. Committee will ask Barry (current distro coordinator) to develop a numbering system and changelog for minor alterations and improvements to the CVI Debian based Linux distribution. As well, the distribution number will be incorporated into the database. The following measures will be implemented:
-Number version of distribution and name it.
-Record the version number and name on the Tech specs sheet.
-Place version info in comments area of Database for now.
-Distribution menu. Place a reference to the distro version number and name on the Start menu which can be launched by the Firefox browser.

4.6 Sealed Boxes. Update on what is happening about having out computer boxes sealed in some way so we can quickly see if a return has been tampered with. (Jan) See matters arising item 3.4c.

4.7 Tux Login. In the next release of the distro do we still want to continue calling
the login Tux login. I think computerbank login makes more sense. Or the login could be the same name as the distro. (Jan). Tux login is only seen in command line mode and is not really a problem. Adam Jenkins suggested that the next distro incorporate a user friendly message that could appear when there is a mouse problem. A mouse problem can result in the appearance of a command line console with no indication of what the problem might be. A message could appear saying that the reason for the appearance of the command line console may be due to a mouse problem. This message would give any support person some idea of how to tackle the problem. For example the mouse may be plugged into the wrong port.

5 Reports

5.1 Coordinators report/WFD Report (KD). See website and email list.
Special thanks to Jan, Jessica and Allan for their work on the front desk and shop.
Thanks to Tony re the door and minutes.

5.2 Treasurers report (JS/KD)
Noted income increases for last few months.

5.3 Projects (RB) Distro Test Guide - see wiki(BK)
Distro test guide to be posted on the list by KD.

5.4 User Support (Jsimpson)
5.5 Donations report (See Coordinators report)
5.6 Documentation and websites report (Jsmith). See list.
5.7 Internal systems report (JG). See list.
5.8 Technical Coordinators report (Jsimpson)

6. Other Business

6.1 The following motion was proposed by Kylie Davies and seconded by Con Validas:

Motion: That CVI accepts the application by Community Media Services to join Computerbank as a community group member. (CWD).

6.2 Jan Smith suggested rewarding coordinators with payment if income keeps increasing. There is also a need to reward certain volunteers who need to be carrying out certain duties at Computerbank and this might be possible if income trend keeps rising.

6.3 Allan (a desk/shop volunteer) asked committee to consider a security issue. He suggested that only authorised persons or persons accompanied by an authorised person be allowed to enter the warehouse. He suggested that a bell on warehouse door could be considered and that the warehouse doors should be kept closed when CVI is open to the public.

6.4 A good WFD project could be to create a library and APC magazine database.

7. On Hold

7.1 Awareness documentation, Business cards and new CVI logo (all)

7.2 DGR (Jan). Jan has volunteered to review and restart (revisit) the DGR issue in collaboration with our advisor Simon Bowden.

7.3 Surplus Shop/Ebay seller Policy Documents (Kylie). Some tips – starting to happen.

7.4 Tony to develop grievances procedure policy.

Meeting closed at 7.50pm.