Minutes for August 11, 2011

Minutes of the Plone Foundation Board of Directors

Calvin called meeting to order at 12:13pm PDT

Housekeeping

Attendance

Attending: Matt, Calvin, Steve, Geir, Mark
Absent: Alex, Jon

Plone Conference Organizers

Liz and Spanky not available

Approve Minutes for July 28th, 2011 board meeting

After a few changes made by consensus, Matt moved approval of minutes
Mark seconded
Approved (Calvin and Geir abstained)

Committee Reports (marketing, membership)

Marketing
15 questions about Plone brochure has been expanded to 20 questions with the help of Gabrielle Hendryx-Parker. Will be available in InDesign format.
Membership
Deferred in Jon’s absence

Old business

ZEA Indian Trademark Transfer

Matt emailed David Powsner about this seeking clarification. DP believes it may be worthwhile transferring the trademark even though it’s for an older version of the logo.
Matt will check price and contact/filing requirements.

Possible trademark abuse

Viewlets trademark issue note forwarded by Matt to David Powsner and gave him some background on the community use of the term viewlet.
No response yet.

Security Patch Process Update (2 week checkin)

Calvin said he’d checked with Matthew Wilkes and believed his concerns were being addressed. So no need for further check ins.

New business

Conference Anti-Harassment Policy

General agreement that a policy that goes beyond the Plone Conference is the sort of thing that would be good for the business meeting. Geir suggested the board work on a draft.|
Steve suggested framing this as a community recommendation rather than policy — like the diversity statement. Mark suggested including links to others policies to show this is part of a general movement.
Mark will work on draft.

Support for South American Conferences

The organizers of PSSA requested $2,500 in support of travel for Alan Runyan to attend and keynote three South American conferences including PSSA.
Mark moved acceptance
Geir seconded
Unanimously approved
Steve will notify Érico Andrei

Transparency Proposal

Geir, Mark and Calvin offered “A Proposal for improving the transparency of the Plone Foundation Board to Foundation members” with parts including

  1. Access to Recordings of All Board Meetings
  2. Advance Access to Agendas
  3. First Reading and Foundation Comment Period on Significant Items of Interest

General positive discussion about advance agendas and first readings. Steve expressed concern about meeting recordings that could represent an alternative record of meetings that might be subject to multiple interpretations and might lack context. He also thought few would find value in listening to the recordings.
Geir thought recordings might be good for transparency, but would make board members talk to a perceived wider audience rather than each other. Mark noted how much he disliked the "speaking to an empty room" effect of some televised meetings.
Mark said he felt less strongly about the recordings proposal than the other items and that he’d be happy to withdraw that part. Calvin agreed.

Mark moved that the board resolve that:

  1. Advance Access to Agendas
    Agendas for Plone Foundation Board meetings will be published in the meetings area on Plone.org and emailed to the foundation members list at least 24 hours prior to the meeting. For all items of new business, a description of the item will be included with the agenda - not just a title.
  2. First Reading and Foundation Comment Period on Significant Items of Interest
    For all items considered by the Board which would broadly affect the project, create new teams/committees, significantly modify the goals of existing teams/committees, or which would substantively change existing processes; an overview of the purpose/implementation of the item would be made available to the membership for comment for a period of at least 1 week prior to a board vote. All board members would be expected to read comments and feedback on items prior to any vote. This would not apply to routine fiscal matters or other actions of the board which are part of normal operations.

Geir seconded
Unanimously approved

Meeting adjourned at 1:17pm PDT