[Fsuk-manchester] Minutes of Manchester Free Software meeting (09/06/2008)

[Lucy]

Manchester Free Software Minutes
=========================
19:00, Monday 9th June 2008

Attendance: Simon, Dave, Lucy, Dave, Matt Morten, Tim
Apologies: Paul


Last Meeting:
The minutes of the last meeting on 20th May 2008 were read and approved.


Announcements:
Manchester Free Software have been given publicity by the Loiterers
Resistance Movement, who blogged about our next talk on OpenStreetMap
at 
http://nowhere-fest.blogspot.com/2008/06/open-street-map-at-manchester-free.html.


Aims:
Discussion continued about creating a mission statement/aims for the
group. No feedback was received after they were published as part of
the minutes for the last meeting.

It was decided that the aims were not required and that the text of
the mission statement was sufficient. A few minor changes to the
mission statement were agreed upon and the revised text is now as
follows:

    Mission Statement
    ---------------------------
    Manchester Free Software was formed in response to a growing
apparent need for a group based in the Manchester area that focuses on
free software and GNU/Linux primarily, but also on topics such as
Digital Restrictions Management and other issues which impact on the
freedoms of computer users.

    The purpose of this group is to:

        * Increase awareness and promote the use of free software
within Manchester.
        * Provide a friendly and accessible community for individuals
in Manchester to learn about and discuss free software, with
particular emphasis on ethical considerations.
        * Be a source of information regarding free software to
individuals and organisations in Manchester.

ACTION: Lucy to mail the list to get final feedback from members.


Responsibilities:
As Simon had not had the chance to review the responsibilities after
the previous meeting, a list of current responsibilities was drawn up
during the meeting along with the person currently in charge of each.
The list is as follows:

    * Chairperson (general coordinator, leader of meetings and
responsible for most announcements – Simon
    * Mailing list moderator – Simon, Paul, Matt Lee
    * Minute taker – Various
    * Talk organiser – Various, mainly Dave and Simon
    * Web admin – Paul, Simon (with Tim also having an account)

It was also agreed that we should have someone responsible for finding
speakers and for contacting special interest groups for particular
talks. It was agreed that the person(s) responsible for this will vary
depending on the speaker, although it was emphasized that everyone can
and should try to find new speakers.

ACTION: Simon will add Dave as a website admin.
ACTION: Tim agreed to create a wiki page with a list of places to
promote talks regularly. This will include mailing lists, Indymedia
and other local groups.
ACTION: Tim agreed to get Manchester Free Software listed on the Free
Software Foundation website as a free software group.
ACTION: Tim to submit an article about the upcoming talk to Indymedia,
with Dave's help.


Speakers:
No further speakers were confirmed and Dave was unable to contact Mick
Fuzz about a potential talk. So, it was decided to assign members
present a the meeting speakers to contact from the list of possible
speakers on the wiki.

ACTION: Dave to email Mick Fuzz, Jason Clifford (who runs the UKFSN
ISP), John Pugh (Lib Dem MP) and Steve Durrant (Green Party).
Tim to contact Alan Burlinson, Stephen Fry and a representative of Moodle.
Simon to contact Howard Welte, Tim Fletcher and Ian Forrester.
Lucy to contact Ben Green from Bristol Wireless.


Venue:
No change. We are booked until September and further bookings will be
made once July's talk is confirmed.


Web Site:
No time was available for discussion on this item.


Any Other Business:
ACTION: Simon to contact Matt Lee to arrange an IRC meeting for
discussion of the future and planned direction of FSUK.

LUG Radio Live: Simon, Lucy and possibly Tim are planning on attending
this event and it was felt that it would be a good idea for Manchester
Free Software to have a presence. Suggestions included having a stall
or working with the planned FSF stall.

Software Freedom Day: Dave suggested creating a LTSP cluster in
central library to promote free software.

ACTION: Matt to pass on contact details for the appropriate people at
the library to Dave, and Dave to contact to them.


Next Meeting:
Everyone was happy with the Waterhouse as the location for the meeting
and so it was decided that the next meeting should take place at the
Waterhouse, on Monday 14th July at 7pm.