2nd Binaryfreedom Meeting March, 10th 2007
From BinaryFreedom.INFO
Contents |
[edit] Items
Note: Under construction. Will be done soon!
[edit] Participants
- Albert
- Chris
- Dan
- Daniel Clark
- Jacob
- Peter
- Tatiana
[edit] Converting Binaryfreedom to a non-profit organization
Chris is looking into what needs to be done to declare BinaryFreedom a non-profit organization at the IRS. It seems to be pretty straightforward, but the type of the organization is not clear yet. (Science, Religion, Medical, etc.). Chris will get in touch with the FSF to get suggestions.
[edit] Which day is best for our meetings
We tried to figure out which day is best for most members and came up with Thursday. Please, let us know, if Thursdays don't work for you!
[edit] Possible items for meetings
The basic question was, which items or subjects are of interest to the members of BinaryFreedom. Beside talking about free software and how to advocate it, ideas were to offer presentations and/or workshops about new technologies or applications (perhaps centered on a certain vertical market, such as accessibility), speeches from members of other organizations, copying the Ithaca idea of acting as either free consultants or liaisons/a marketing department to local professional free software-supportive consults, etc.
- Daniel: Perhaps it would be good to get a speaker from an organization that is recognized at being really good at activism/PR. Ideas: ACLU, MassPIRG, Greenpeace, Human Rights Campaign, DNC. Deb (from FSF) may be able to help us here; she has contacts in the non-FSF nonprofit world.
- Daniel: The FSF has a consultants list, but it doesn't look terribly up to date (unless Bradley Kuhn is still doing consulting at $40/hour); a possible project would be to contact everyone on the list to get up to date info (or even better, redo the list to be more like the fsf directory - e.g. people able to edit their own entries - adding feedback from customers would be an interesting feature as well)
[edit] Rooms for meetings
For the kind of meetings we discussed we need different room setup. In case of speeches or for technical presentations a small room will just not do it. Dan will look into opportunities at the MIT. Thanks, Dan!
- Daniel suggested opening the meetings to a wider (/lazier/parenty-er :-) audience via a call-in number or equivalent
- Dan offered that he can easily obtain microphones, projectors, audio equipment as long as someone reminds him with enough lead time
[edit] Miscellaneous
The following items were discussed briefly without a solution or an answer...YET!
- In which ways can we support the FSF?
- Joining exhibitions or fairs to present BinaryFreedom and free software.
- How to approach other organizations to build up communication and support?
- How can we support accessibility application development? (important i.e. for visually impaired GNU/Linux users)
[edit] Action Items
[edit] Everyone Action Items
- Email list if Thursday is bad for you
- Help us advertise the meetups
[edit] Assigned Action Items
- (Daniel) Research a way to allow dial-in number like functionality, using only GPL software; contact Dan if done in time to get A/V equipment from MIT
- (Daniel) Contact Deb re: activist organization speakers; contact orgs listed above
- (Daniel) Contact FSF re: updating consultants list (I'm not sure I have time to do this now, but I'll find out if it is something they want to do, and of they have any programming language / web framework suggestions/requirements if one was to take the automation route)
[edit] Adopt an Action Item
- Need a link to fliers, or someone to make a nice flier
- Flyers on MIT Bulletin boards, passed out at BLU, BBLISA, and other local groups BF Meetup members attend.
