October 14, 2015 Board Meeting Minutes

Quorum

Quorum reached and meeting called to order at 15:12 UTC

Attendees

Board Members

  • Deb Bryant
  • Richard Fontana (arrived 15:34UTC)
  • Leslie Hawthorn
  • Patrick Masson
  • Mike Milinkovich
  • Simon Phipps
  • Allison Randal
  • Stefano Zacchiroli

Guests

  • None

Expected, but Not Present

  • Bruno Souza

Sent Regrets

  • Paul Tagliamonte
  • Tony Wasserman

Officer Reports

Board Topics

  • Our approach to coalition building with Conservancy and FSF – What are our goals? What is our mandate?

Communications Topic

Two volunteers (UAlbany PhD candidates) to manage community (volunteers & interns). Will work to develop job descriptions for positions of interest from Board Members, then publisize and manage the work.

Membership Topics

  • Affiliate Applications Marist College & Ocelot, Inc & Snowdrift.coop

Legal Topics

  • See License Committee Report re Free Public License and OSET Public License
  • OSET: modification of MPLv2 to address procurement issues identified by OSET community.
  • License appears to seek methods to work within contracting practices within goverements.
  • Boils down to one section, “inability to comply due to statue or regulations.” OSET license expands reasons for not compliung to include, national security or nes. of public interest.
  • Two versions of posted license are inconsistant (need clarity of final text).
  • See an open source license that addresses concerns of procurement officers in government.
  • This gives government users an escape route that others do not get. This sets up a two class system. 
  • Violates OSD no discrimination of persons or groups.
  • Also allows self-identification for non-compliance.
  • Richard recommend revise one section to revert to corrisponding section of MPL2. Also note the two versions of license. Remove notification information, “This license issued by OSET…”
  • Differences from existing (MPL2)
  • Termination section: Remidy for violate the license, you can be asked to post source so that general public can access it.
  • Soveriegn immunity
  • Important notion the OSI should speak to: inequality in use related to status/affiliation/association.
  • Free Public License
  • Similar to CC0, getting at quasi-public domain, where there is a license with no conditions
  • Cannot be argued to violate OSD, appears more permissive that MIT, i.e. no copyright notice required nor required to include license text.
  • Review has focused about issues from a policy perspective: requireing preservation of copyright licenses and text. Without such, users would not know who copyright holder is.
  • One benefit is that it re-uses existing lanuage from existing and understood licenses (basically the ISC License).
  • This might be a thought experiment–is it really going to be used?
  • Essentially the same as the WTFPL license.
  • Should we consider criteria for use when assessing licenses.

Infrastructure Topics

New architecture and design is up. Some new content was created, due to re-architecting (e.g. “Membershp” & “Community.”. Please review www-dev/opensource.org (project page for comments at: http://wiki.opensource.org/bin/OSI+Operations/Website+re-Architecture
Incubator/Project Topics
Review of Timeline

  • Planning Timeline

Next Board Meeting

Face to Face in SF Nov. 9, 10 & 11

Motions

Motion (Mike): Approve and post the meeting minutes of September 9th, 2015
Second (Allison).
Discussion: Much praise for such fine work
Vote: 7 Yes; 0 No; 0 Abstain.

Motion (Deb): Approve Marist as Affiliate
Second (Simon).
Discussion:
Vote: 7 Yes; 0 No; 0 Abstain.

Motion (Deb): Approve Snowdrift.coop as an Affiliate Member
Second (Simon).
Discussion:
Vote: 7 Yes; 0 No; 0 Abstain.

Motion (Ricard): Approve Free Public License 1.0.0
Second (Simon).
Discussion: See above.
Vote: 8 Yes; 0 No; 0 Abstain.NOTE: we will have a review done to assess potencial harm to open source community with such a format.

Appendix A – Treasurer’s Report

Primepay didn’t code Patrick properly and his second payroll for  September didn’t happen until October 2nd.  Since this is a new quarter the quarterly reports for payroll will be affected this past quarter and next quarter.  I spoke to the Primepay supervisor who was very apologetic.The IRS agent, Mr. Garuda, admitted he should have told me more about the problem with our payroll reports and has filed for an abatement of the outstanding penalties.  Very good news!Jim Zemlin has offered to support the OSI with a Premium Sponsorship through Linux Foundation.

Treasurer’s Report For the Month Ending September 30, 2015

Total Assets at Beginning of Period: $65627.08

Income or Sources of Funds:

  • Contributions: $ 45.00
  • Memberships: $ 680.00 (17 x $40)
  • Open Hatch: Received $273.86 paid $273.86
  • Interest: $ 1.26

Total Income or Sources of Funds: $ 726.26

Expenses or Uses of Funds for Operations:

  • Payroll $ 4515.42 (only one payroll)
  • Professional $ 936.09
  • Bank Fees $ .38 (includes refund of payroll fees from Intuit)
  • Software $ 7.95
  • Postage, Shipping $
  • Conferences/Conv $ 1791.00
  • Working Groups, Project
  • Meetings $
  • Website Hosting $ 65.00
  • Paypal $ 24.12

Total Expenses or Uses of Funds for Operations: $ 7339.96

Payroll Liabilities $582.38+2629.62 $ 3212.00

Total Assets at End of Period $55801.38

Major Contributions 2015:

  • Renewing Sponsor $ 4000 Invoiced 9/7/15
  • Current Sponsor $ 2500 invoiced 1/29/15 received 3/3/15
  • Current Sponsor $ 25000 unsolicited received 3/6/15
  • Current Sponsor $ 20000 invoiced10/29/14 received 1/20/15
  • Current Sponsor $ 20000 invoiced1/20/15 received 4/6/15
  • Current Sponsor $25000 invoiced 6/16/15 received 7/24/15
  • Current Sponsor $ 5000 Invoiced 6/3/15 Received in 8/28/15
  • Current Sponsor $ 20000 invoiced 1/26/15 paid 5/15/15
  • New Sponsor $ 1000 invoiced 4/10/15 paid 4/10/15
  • New Sponsor $ 5000 Invoiced 9/28/15 paid 10/4/15
  • Previous Sponsor $ last invoiced 6/6/2014 received 7/1/14

Appendix B – Team Reports

Communications Team

Membership Team

Infrastructure Team

Legal Team

Incubator/Projects Team

Appendix C – Applicant(s) Qualifications

Marist College (https://www.marist.edu/)
Completed documentation on Affiliates Wiki Page

  1. Institution is currently recognized and in good standing by an appropriate accreditation body.
    ✅ Accredited by Middle States Commission on Higher Education: http://www.msche.org/Institutions_Directory.asp
  2. Evidence of institutional/departmental authority to affiliate with external organizations.
    ✅ Application submitted by Josh Baron, Assistant Vice President, Information Technology for Digital Education, Marist College
  3. Mission statement describing purpose and goals of institution/department.
    ✅ “Marist is dedicated to helping students develop the intellect, character, and skills  required for enlightened, ethical, and productive lives in the global community of the 21st century.” – http://www.marist.edu/ir/factbook/missionandvision.html
  4. Documentation by the institution recognizing organization (academic and administrative departments only), e.g. organizational chart.
    ✅ President’s Cabinet: http://www.marist.edu/about/admin.html
  5. Publicly available release of a product(s) or service(s) in line with the goals, values and mission of the OSI.
    ✅ IV. Advance our Leadership Role in Using Technology to Support Teaching, Learning, Scholarship, and Institutional Effectiveness. Initiatives:
    1. Implement and influence new open-source strategies and further promote community-source projects to 
    2. enhance quality and effectiveness, maintain first-adopter advantage, and reduce operational costs.
      – Page 8, https://www.marist.edu/strategicplanning/pdfs/strategicplan.pdf
  6. Examples of software used and/or supported within the institution/department with an OSI approved open source license.
    ✅ Multiple systems used, contributed to and internally developed: https://www.marist.edu/search/?cx=011686685756761272083%3At9l2p2gvaj4&q=%22open+source%22&sa=+&cof=FORID%3A11
  7. An active community
    ✅ Methods for current and interested individuals/organizations to join and participate in your community
    ✅ Active participation from multiple contributors, i.e. individuals and organizations other than founders (contributions may be other than programming/technology)
    ✅ Multiple systems contributed to and internally developed. Active participant in OSI Affiliate Apereo Foundation: https://www.marist.edu/search/?cx=011686685756761272083%3At9l2p2gvaj4&q=%22open+source%22&sa=+&cof=FORID%3A11
  8. References from other open source projects, ideally a current OSI Affiliate Member.
    ✅ Ian Dolphin, Apereo Foundation; Julian Tenney, The Xerte Project; Ken Udas, USQ; Patrick Masson, OSI.

OSCELOT, Inc. (http://www.oscelot.org/) Completed documentation on Affiliates Wiki Page

  1. Currently recognized as a (or application submitted for) non-profit / not-for-profit (or equivalent) by the national government were organized.
    ✅ Certificate of Incorporation: http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B5VuRfdJQJ7LYjU5MjMxMzYtMzI5Ni00MTkwLWI4YjktMThkNjlkZDcxMGRk&hl=en
  2. Mission statement describing purpose and goals.
    ✅ OSCELOT About page: http://www.oscelot.org/OSCELOT/about
  3. Documentation formalizing organization, e.g. by-laws.
    ✅ OSCELOT Bylaws: http://www.oscelot.org/OSCELOT/board/bye-laws
  4. Publicly available release of a product(s) or service(s).
    ✅ OSCELOT Projects: http://www.oscelot.org/OSCELOT/projects
  5. Use of an OSI approved open source license (software development projects only).
    ✗ The Podcaster Project (http://projects.oscelot.org/gf/project/podcaster/) uses the LOI Community License, Version 1.0 license. This is not an OSI Approved Open Source License.
    ✗ Bboogle’s license (http://projects.oscelot.org/gf/project/bboogle/)  is listed at “Other/Proprietary License.”
    ✅ Lexinomicon (http://projects.oscelot.org/gf/project/lexinomicon/) GPL
    ✅ Blackboard webservices (http://projects.oscelot.org/gf/project/webservices/) GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
    ✗ Sign-up Tool (http://projects.oscelot.org/gf/project/signup/) Unknown license.
  6. Documented approach for participation by the public.
    ✅ Provides forums, lists and events as well as hosting a code repository for projects (http://www.oscelot.org/OSCELOT/membership)
  7. An active community:
    ✅ Methods for current and interested individuals/organizations to join and participate in your community
    ✗ Last event seems to be July 8, 2012
    ✅ The mail list appears to be active (http://lists.vcu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind1509&L=bb-open_src)⚠ The repository/project sites seems to be alive but perhaps not too active active with latest post 2015-06-11 (http://projects.oscelot.org/gf/)
  8. Active participation from multiple contributors, i.e. individuals and organizations other than founders (contributions may be other than programming/technology)
    ✅ Appear to have many projects and contributors.
  9. References from other open source projects, ideally a current OSI Affiliate Member.
    ✗ Patrick Masson originally worked with a few OSCELOT projects but based on further research has several questions.

Snowdrift.coop (https://snowdrift.coop/)Completed documentation on Affiliates Wiki Page

  1. Currently recognized as a (or application submitted for) non-profit / not-for-profit (or equivalent) by the national government were organized.
    ✅ Submitted Articles of Incorporation with the State of Michigan under a non-profit statute as a non-profit cooperative. Has an IRS EIN, but we do not yet have 501 status. Working to finalize legal status and determine applications and options for long-term operations and legal status.
  2. Mission statement describing purpose and goals.
    ✅ The Snowdrift.coop mission is described at: https://snowdrift.coop/p/snowdrift/w/en/mission
  3. Documentation formalizing organization, e.g. by-laws.
    ✅ Articles as originally filed in Michigan: https://snowdrift.coop/p/snowdrift/w/en/articles. May amend the Articles in the process of finalizing status. Bylaws draft (not accepted as final Bylaws yet) is at https://snowdrift.coop/p/snowdrift/w/en/bylaws
  4. Publicly available release of a product(s) or service(s).
    ✅ The website https://snowdrift.coop has substantial writings and prototype-in-progress publicly available.
  5. Use of an OSI approved open source license (software development projects only).
    ✅ AGPLv3+ for code
  6. Documented approach for participation by the public.
    ✅ Actively work with volunteers around the world: https://snowdrift.coop/p/snowdrift/w/en/how-to-help
  7. An active community:
    ✅ Methods for current and interested individuals/organizations to join and participate in your community
    ✅ Although project affiliation with us is not finalized yet, we have email lists, IRC channel, discussions on the site, volunteer application, and more: https://snowdrift.coop/p/snowdrift/w/en/how-to-help
  8. Active participation from multiple contributors, i.e. individuals and organizations other than founders (contributions may be other than programming/technology)
    ✅ Volunteer designer is in Germany, several volunteers elsewhere in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The site has approaching 1,000 users who have registered to test the prototype. Participated in conferences and expos and have many interested folks and a slowly but continually growing community interest.
  9. References from other open source projects, ideally a current OSI Affiliate Member.
    ✅ The majority of the OSI Board Members are familiar with Snowdrift.coop and have met members of the project at conferences and in other interactions. Mike Linksvayer, who is involved in OpenHatch and many other projects has been a long-term steering committee member of Snowdrift.coop. Snowdrift.coop has some connection and informal support from those involved in many different projects including Chris Webber of GNU MediaGoblin, Asheesh Laroia of Sandstorm and OpenHatch, Mark Frischmuth of DemocracyLab, Stefano Zacchirroli of Debian, and many others. Snowdrift.coop ran a fund-drive in late 2014 and had substantial support from Linux Fund, Aleph Objects, and many others including several other affiliates of OSI.