Meeting notes

From SkullSpace Wiki
Revision as of 06:29, 25 March 2014 by AlexWebr (talk) (Mar 18th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

2013 minutes are at Meeting_notes\2013

2012 minutes are at Meeting_notes\2012

2011 minutes are at Meeting_notes\2011

2010 minutes are at Meeting_notes\2010

Mar 18th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members present: not recorded

  • Reading of minutes
    • Wiki updates
    • Electrical updates
    • Fire extinguisher
    • Donation tracking/lockboxes
    • Meme cookbook
    • Yuri's night
    • Brewery tour
    • Jordan Justice became a member
  • Fire extinguishers
    • Alex purchased at a cost of ~$102, slightly more expensive than expected
    • Nobody objected to repaying Alex
    • Two fire extinguishers
      • 2A-10B-C located near the front (main) door
      • 1A-10B-C located near the rear (fire escape) door
    • They are not mounted yet
  • Plexiglass box for donations
    • Jeremy brought it down
    • Requires some modifications
      • Slot to be added
      • Lock to be added
  • Server electrical
    • Upgrade was funded by Ian
    • Two new 20 amp circuits have been installed
    • Load has been split between the two circuits
    • Before installing more servers, please seek approval
  • Netops mailing list
    • The list has fallen victim to endless amounts of spam
    • New list will be created and not archived
    • The board will discuss with members of this list regarding power usage for non-critical machines
  • Wiki updating
    • AMichael began revising some pages
    • AMichael added dates to some events
    • Nothing else significant to report
  • Yuri's Night
    • Party at the museum!
    • We can get /very/ creative with our presence
    • A member asked "What is the goal/purpose of us having a presence?"
    • Answer: "Not to sell anything. Just to raise awareness and hopefully make the event more fun."
    • April 12th - contact Jay for more information
  • Brief financial update
    • More complete financial update for the previous calendar will be next week
    • We are "uncomfortable" with less than three months of rent in our bank account at all times
    • We currently have ~$2400 in our bank account
    • Our expenses per month are ~$2500
    • Cian asked (paraphrased) "At the AGM, our balance was much higher. Why the discrepancy?"
    • Alex responded: "The last date on graph was 3 months ago, in December."
    • Our membership dues (not including donations) are $2200, so we are not losing much per month but we need to be careful
    • Cian asked (paraphrased) "Why did we drop from $5000 to $2000?"
    • Ben explained that the graph was likely generated between collecting member dues and paying rent
    • The board's thorough report next week will provide a much clearer picture
    • Cian suggested that the board include cash flow projections in the report
    • A member asked about the hydro bill. The board said they will be doing meter readings in the future to prevent wild swings in bills.
  • Bathroom maintenance
    • Sean replaced the paper towel holder in the men's washroom
    • He will replace the one in the women's washroom, but would like to reimbursed. ($30)
    • The repayment was approved
  • Half Pints
    • The tour is a go
    • March 22nd at 1pm
    • First come, first serve. Contact Jeremy[1] for more details
  • Tabletop day
    • GameKnight and Imagine have been approached for sponsorship
    • Planning for the event is underway
    • Having some SkullSpace ambassadors would be nice
    • April 5th - contact Nate for more information

Mar 11th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members present: Cian, Brittany, Courtney, Nate, Jay, Alex, Colin, AMichael, Zoe, Stef, Ben, Alex, Brian, Robert K, Edwin, Sean

  • Agenda and minutes
    • Ideally, the board sends the minutes out on Saturday/Sunday
    • They were late last week
    • Aside: once minutes are posted, they become "official" and cannot be changed, so delays are expected
  • Reading of minutes postponed until the end of the meeting
  • Protelec automatic door unlocking
    • No update yet
    • Action item: Colin C will talk to the landlord and Colin Stanners about this forward and provide an update in the future
  • Fire extinguishers
    • Alex volunteered to buy two small ones and bankroll them
    • Show of hands was taken to pay Alex back, majority said "yes"
    • Stef suggested we find out what we require to pass an inspection and buy those instead
    • Action item: Alex to buy extinguishers
  • Wiki updates
    • Many pages are out-of-date and a lot of them are ugly
    • SkullSpace has changed a lot and the wiki has not kept up
    • Brittany is looking for some people to help with this
    • AMichael stated that he is organizing a strike force to handle this issue
  • Electrical upgrades and server hosting
    • The circuit is approaching overload
    • The quote is $250 to effectively double our capacity
    • Possible solutions
      • Negate the need by getting rid of non-critical servers (VM sever, mailing list, DNS)
      • Fund the upgrade through crowdfunding
      • SkullSpace can pay for it if the membership agrees
    • Rich from Voi offered additional Internet service dedicated to the servers
    • Find out the interest level for people who have machines in the rack?
    • Member comment: "if we upgrade the power, it's not a free-for-all, the power still costs us"
    • Action item: the board will discuss with the server owners and gauge crowdfunding interest
  • Donation tracking
    • Proposal: obtain cash boxes that allow deposit but require a key for withdrawal
    • Jeremy volunteered to donate a plexiglass box that he owns
    • How many lockboxes are required?
      • Donations
      • Drinks
      • Snacks
      • 3D printer
    • Lockboxes with non-unique keys are acceptable
      • Stef was asked about the 3D printer box - he indicated that he did not require access to it
      • No other boxes need to be opened by members that are not on the board
  • Reading of the minutes
    • Discussed the AGM
    • Discussed the general and student member audits
    • Discussed the splitting of the calendars into community
    • Covered the meetup, and that everybody can create events (not just Brittany)
    • Discussed the CODE event
    • The membership in attendance was not asked to approve the read minutes
  • Meme cookbook
    • If anybody is interested in resurrecting the meme cookbook, talk to Nate
    • Needs a lot of work, but Nate is confident we could publish it and sell it someday
    • Ideas
      • Asking Wil Wheton or Penny Arcade to write a foreword
      • Organize with them for the proceeds to go to charity
    • Brian proposed that we simply start working on it as a blog, and then we'll put it all together
    • AMichael suggested that this will be positively affected by the wiki cleanup
  • Recurring community events
    • Nate proposed that we have a rotating list of events to mention during meetings to keep members informed
  • International Tabletop Day
    • ITD is an event organized by the folks that run the "Tabletop" web series
    • This year's day is April 5th
    • SkullSpace is hosting a get-together for International Tabletop Day
    • Talk to Nate for more information
  • User groups and using the space
    • The PHP user group was here, and it went very well
    • The Android user group wants to have their meetings here as well
    • If you want to book the space, email admin@lists.skullspace.ca or talk to Colin Childs
  • Yuri's Night
    • April 12th at the Manitoba Museum's Science Gallery and the Planetarium
    • Action item: Brittany will follow up with Jay about getting a table or having some other kind of SkullSpace presence
  • Brewery tour
    • Jeremy has a contact at the Half Pints brewery, and might be able to organize a tour
    • By show of hands, many people were interested in doing that
    • Jeremy will email the mailing list to gauge interest
  • New members
    • Jordan Justice became a full member today
  • Adjournment

Mar 4th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

  • Introductions
  • Reading of minutes
    • AGM last week
      • New board elected
        • Alex Weber
        • Ben Bergman - Financials
        • Brittany Postnikoff
        • Colin Childs
        • Courtney Lofchick
      • Events from last year discussed
  • Audits
    • Student membership audits
    • General membership audit
    • What is a membership audit?
      • Making sure we have financials backed up for every member
      • Making sure we have forms and the like
      • In short, due dilligence
  • Calendars
    • Colin split the calendar into two calendars
      • One for community events
      • One for SkullSpace events
    • Kevin V. wrote a calendar webapp
      • API integration with Meetup?
      • API integration with Google Calendar?
  • Meetup
    • Lots of people ask Brittany to add events
    • Anybody can add events if they are subscribed as a SkullSpace member (???) (5:28)
  • CODE
    • People from Meetup showed up
    • People scrummed
    • Not much happened at the space
    • Pizza, ideas, and then people went home
    • Mark Jenkins put in a lot of work
      • when-ei.ca
  • External community emails (8:35)
    • Once per week, generate a digest of some kind?
    • Forward with the meeting reminder?
    • Bring up during the meeting
  • Adjournment

Feb 25, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members present: Alex, Mark, Michael, Kevin, Jason, Courtney, Nate, Ian, Cian, Brittany, Edwin, Jay, Sean, Thor, Dave, Ric, Colin, Jeremy, Nishan, Stefan

Annual General Meeting 2014

  • Year in review
    • Alex presented with some pictures throughout the year
    • Events
      • CTFs, user groups, social, cryptoparties, Comic Con, hack-a-thons,

movie nights, Peg Jam, Freeze Frame, CDC, game nights

    • Financial update
      • A proper one will be coming, but summary is we are stable
    • The future
      • Fire safety
      • Occupancy permit
  • Bylaw changes
    • Late dues
      • Intent is to remove some process and make it smoother for the board
    • Minutes being read
      • Intent is to ensure minutes are taken and agreed upon by members
      • Could be implemented as a policy if the bylaw is voted down
  • Board nominees
    • Cian, Brittany, Courtney, Alex, Colin, Sue, and Kenny
  • Vote results
    • New board: Ben, Colin, Courtney, Brittany, Alex
    • Both bylaws passed

Feb 18, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members present: Courtney, Brittany, Ben, Stefan, Ric, Thor, Brian, Edwin, Sean, Colin, Ian, AMichael, Adrian, Alex, Marcel, Troy, Kevin, Rob

  • Nominations closed today
    • 8 people running
    • Last minute nominations allowed, but earlier the better
  • Door is almost ready to open when fire alarm goes off
    • Last part is getting building panel connected, which is locked
    • Fire alarm might not even work
      • No battery and no phone line - landlord should bring in alarm company
    • Remote access needs to be tested
  • LES.net upgraded our phone line
    • Calls now last more than 30 minutes!
    • No MTS landline needed anymore
  • Coinfest last weekend
    • First Bitcoin ATM in Winnipeg!
  • David - heritage/community museums
    • Looking for interested members to help create interactive electronic exhibits
      • Push button activated sounds for guessing game
      • Electric fire glow
      • Lit routes on map
      • Fibre optic lights modified to be activated by motion sensor or push button
      • And more!
    • Many small contracts available
  • Raspberry Pi users group this weekend
  • Booking the space is awkward right now
    • Suggestion made for a webpage for applying to use the space
  • Wiki needs updating
    • Brittany will be working on this, contact her if you are interested in helping out
  • Switch inside for when we are open
    • Notification on website/IRC/Twitter?
    • Light in the window?
  • Next hackathon - Manitoba retro computing
    • Winnipeg was the BBS capital of Canada at one time
    • Some speakers already contacted, more being contacted
      • Les
      • Bill Reed
      • Michael Gelespie

Feb 11, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members present: Ian, Mark, Marcel, AMichael, Brian, Colin C., Courtney, Alex, Kevin, Thor, Stefan, Troy, Rob, Cian, Edwin, Ben, Zewwy, Colin S., Dave, Ric

  • You have less than a week to nominate yourself for the board
    • Email admin and Nathan
  • Crypto currency day last weekend - success
    • Slides will be posted on discuss
  • Crypto party last weekend - success
    • People can learn about privacy protecting technology and do key signing
    • Everyone should come to the next one
  • Door hardware - no news
  • CDC Feb 20
    • 3rd year
    • 10 high school teams
    • No more volunteers needed
    • Virtual env. for students to secure
    • Feel free to come by and hang out
  • Sci-fi skirmish day coming up - info on discuss
  • AGM Feb 25
    • Email coming to paid-up members with voting codes
      • Make sure you are paid up by the 15th!
  • Big hydro bill
    • Likely due to air conditioning for the summer
    • Will check if the bill is est. or act.
    • Will look into going on a budget
  • Things that annoy Ian
    • Booking the space and not showing up
      • Please email pics of the space to admin so we can use it to show off to potential renters
  • Dedicated IPv6 network being installed by Voi
    • CDC storage servers will be installed here on that network, Octopi donating blade server for VMs
    • Early stages, nothing bought yet, still discussing
  • MTS Future First providing stuff like shirts and scholarships, sponsoring CDC
    • Talk to Cian if you are interested
  • By-law amendments
    • Can be policy instead of by-law - vote against by-law if this is your choice
  • PHP users group tomorrow

Feb 4, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members present: Phoul, Sean, Alex, Thor, Ian, Cian, Stefan, Jeremy, Ben, A. Michael, Adrian, Edwin

  • AGM - 25 Feb.
    • Elect new board
    • Vote on two by-law amendments
      • Membership dropped if no payments for 3 months
        • Nominate yourself by Feb 17 ??pm
          • admin@skullspace.ca
      • Read minutes
    • Voting
      • You will get a token by email
      • Bring token to do your vote
      • OR give token to a proxy to vote on your behalf
  • Door & occupancy permit stuff
    • Getting fire extinguishers
    • Front door quote was really expensive - ~$2000
    • Colin Stanners will be fixing door himself next week
    • New drink machine process
      • If a drink is out, feel free to buy drinks at Giant Tiger, put receipt with name in cash box
  • CryptoParty
    • OTR & Tor - Phoul
    • Security from ISP perspective - Theo
  • Crypto currency day - Sat. at noon
    • Dogecoin "samples"
    • Crypto stuff regarding block chain
  • Big Hydro bill
    • Need to check if that is a reading or an estimate (might be overage from summer)
    • Keep some drinks in the fridge, only use drink machine for events
  • Beefs
    • If you schedule an event on the calendar, show up
      • Game day and movie night had people show up when no one was hear
  • CDC Feb. 20
    • If you are interested in helping kids fix sketchy networks, contate Nathan
  • Thanks to Dave for sorting out the electronics bench
    • There was a mediocre round of applause
  • Sunday RPG day
    • D&D style, combining many different games
      • Bring any game rules you have to make the system more robust
    • More info coming to mailing list soon

Jan 21, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members present: Ben, Countney, Stefan, Michael, Alex, Thor, Phoul, Brittany, Marcel, Brian, Edwin, Ian, Rob, Jared, Sean, Aemilianus, Cian

  • International Table Top Day
    • Beginning of April
    • Nate is taking charge
  • CDC
    • This Saturday, Linux experts presenting Linux Security Part 2 with Jared and Theo
    • Preperation for CDC high schooler event Feb. 20
  • Hackathon
    • Ghost in the Shellcode - 20th place
      • Pretty impressive, considering we were a small team doing it part time
    • Jim's Unity talk at the last hackathon
      • Went well, Jim is willing to do more Unity talks in the future
  • The Annual General Meeting cometh - Feb 25th
    • Need signage for what is being voted on (ie. board and by-laws) 21 days prior to AGM
    • Board vote
      • Everyone that is interested in running for the board should nominate themselves
      • If you want to nominate someone, email admin@
      • You may nominate yourself the day of the election, but it is prefered that you do it sooner so your name can be on the ballots
    • Tabling of bylaw amendments / special resolutions
      • If you haven't paid your dues and haven't made special arrangements, your membership will automatically lapse (currently we need a vote by the board)
      • Probation period for new members, not just two week delay (other spaces have this)
        • Should this impact privelages, ie. voting?
        • Should they be required to be at a minimum number of events? (eg. 3 regular meetings and 3 other events)
        • Should members need to be vouched for by n number of full members by the end of their probation period in order to be a full member?
          • Execution could be complicated
          • Could be combined with complaints
          • Ian's perspectives (food for thought, perhaps need more discussion at a future meeting)
            • Is it in our best interest to make it harder to become a member?
            • Are we looking for people to improve our cash flow?
            • Are we looking to be just sustainable? More than sustainable? Should there be a membership cap? We are the most expensive technology group (other than AssentWorks) in the city
      • If there are any other proposed special resolutions, email the list
  • Fundraising
    • Bowling night?
      • All you can eat pizza/popcorn/soft drinks - $25/person ($20 without pizza)
    • Minigolf night?
    • Doodle coming for choosing date
      • Saturday is likely cheapest
  • Programming for Beginners course
    • Jan 27, for 6 weeks
    • lectures and assignments
    • Will be a very dense, professional course
    • $60
    • In SkullSpace classroom

Jan 14th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members present: Brittany, Ian, Nate, Thor, Brittany, Courtney, Brian, AMichael, Ben, Jeremy, Phoul, Edwin. Sean, Ric, Colin, Alex, Stef

  • Financial update
    • We're stable
    • One social or other event per year covers unexpected expenses pretty easily
  • Our "Meetup" account
    • We have 80 people, lots of people that aren't members
    • If you want non-members to come, post your event on the Meetup
  • Minutes
    • A request was made to send an email when meeting minutes are published
    • Minutes should also be uneditable by the general public
  • Hackathon!
    • Ghost in the Shellcode CTF
    • Unity talk
  • Cleaning
    • The cleaner charges $100 for 3-4 hours of cleaning
    • Ian has been paying for it
    • Quick vote was taken: overwhelming "yes" for SkullSpace to foot the bill
  • CDC
    • 1/3 forensics, 1/3 presentations, 1/3 securing servers
    • February 20th is the big event
    • If you want to help out with the event, talk to Ian
  • Fire alarm/door locks integration
    • No news
  • AGM
    • The next Annual General Meeting is on the of February 25th
    • Please consider running for the board
    • Please consider any bylaws you would like to be modified
    • More information to follow
  • Comic Con
    • Pop Culture Expo is coming up
    • Last weekend in March (?)

Jan 7th, 2014 - 18:00 @ 374 Donald

Members Present: Ric, Thor, Jarred, Ian, Jeremy, Sean, Courtney, Alex, Nate, Jay, Brian, Stefan, Colin 2, Cian, Michael

  • Game Day
    • The place was left a mess
    • Please clean up after yourselves and please date you food
  • Missing Gloves
    • If you find them they belong to Dave Stewart
  • AGM
    • Will be Feb 25
  • Cleaner
    • Will be coming in Jan 13
  • Hackathon
    • Jan 18
    • Jim is giving a talk on Unity
  • Network Changes
    • See discuss
  • Meetings
    • This Saturday, 9:30-11:30 a server security talk for the CDC
    • The PHP user group is going to start meeting at the space
    • Game day is every second Sunday
  • Door
    • Ian will talk to Bob