OSI Board Meeting Minutes, Friday, June 14, 2019
Minutes of a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Open Source Initiative held via Jitsi conferencing on Friday June 14, 2019.
Quorum
Quorum was reached and the meeting was called to order at 17:08 UTC.
Attendees
Present
Molly de Blanc
Patrick Masson
Elana Hashman
Hong Phuc Dang
Chris Lamb
Christine Hall
Pam Chestek
Simon Phipps
Declarations of Interests
Directors were asked to declare any actual or potential conflict of interest material to items on the meeting agenda (italicised below). None were declared.
Officer Reports
Motion to approve minutes (Simon)
Simon advised that the minutes for the May face-to-face meeting were still in preparation
President’s report on representation (Molly & Josh)
Molly advised that she had no representation of OSI to report. She advised the Board of upcoming meetings.
Treasurer’s report (Hong/Josh)
The Board had not received the monthly financial report, for personal and temporary workload reasons of the Controller. Patrick assured the Board there was no obvious issue of concern.
General Manager Report
Patrick outlined the contents of his report (see Appendix B) and answered questions.
Board Topics
Staffing Committee report (Josh, Molly)
Molly reported that a meeting was held which discussed gaps in good HR practice and shape of a future staffing strategy. No minutes were provided.
Membership Topics
Affiliate Membership for OpenStack (Patrick)
Motion (Patrick): Approve OpenStack Foundation as OSI Affiliate member.
Second (Simon).
Discussion:
- Patrick provided the Board with due diligence research demonstrating that OpenStack meets OSI’s current requirements for Affiliate membership.
- The membership committee will bring discussion of (c)(3) vs (c)(6) categorisation at a future date but the question was tabled for now to allow unanimous admission of OpenStack..
The motion was approved by unanimous consent.
Membership Committee report (Elana)
Elana identified the Membership Committee actions from the June 2019 meeting as:
- Create a membership communication role (part-time staff position)
- Hold a quarterly call for affiliate members
Elana identified the Membership Committee goals for 2019 as:
- Expanding the OSI membership, including new individual/affiliate members and increased representation outside Europe and the US
- Increased engagement with communities the OSI has not traditionally interacted with
- Reviewing membership benefits and types
Elana provided the Board with reference material for the Committee (in online storage) but no minutes were presented for acceptance.
Elana led a discussion on the clarity of messaging for individual members and affiliates, concluding that OSI needs a “soundbyte” to communicate the board’s mission for the OSI to the membership in a brief and clear way.
The phrase emerging from the discussion was “OSI will promote and represent the open source community, protecting the meaning of the term and development model through community and standards work.”
KDE Advisory Board member (Patrick)
The OSI sits on KDE’s Advisory Board. The OSI representative was Italo Vignoli. With his departure, this seat needs a new representative.The commitment is detailed at https://ev.kde.org/advisoryboard.php
Chris Lamb volunteered to fill the role and the board agreed by unanimous consent.
Communications Topics
Twitter messaging (no owner)
This item was tabled in the absence of a topic explanation.
2nd half of 2019 Event Attendance (Hong)
Patrick explained the current event strategy to the Board:
OSI has rarely held event ourselves. Rather, 1) we identify strategic events that general directors would attend and promote them, or 2) we align selected conferences with the annual planning and make them staff responsibility to arrange OSI presence.
(Simon noted the exception of a very successful government workshop in Washington DC)
Conferences in 2019 Annual planning: OSCON, DebConf (?), Linux Foundation Open Source Events (??), All Things Open (??, Pam lives close to the venue, can staff the booth for some time, Christine/Molly will be there)
Alignment: current process: Email the board > Add the event to OSI calendar > Social Media
Action Item: Create list document of proposed events (Patrick)
Historical:
OSI wiki page, “Planning Rubric” https://wiki.opensource.org/bin/Main/OSI+Operations/Conference_Planning_Rubric/
OSI Operations wiki page (see, External Events): https://wiki.opensource.org/bin/Main/OSI+Operations/
Prepare for OSCON (Patrick)
Logistics for the booth: Patrick is taking care
Who will be there: Hong, Carol (?), Elana (tbc), Molly, Josh
Who needs exhibitor pass: Elana
Awareness request: ICANN/UASG Information on Updated Internet Standard (Patrick)
Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG) – Apple, Google, ICANN and Microsoft
Initial proposal and follow (via email, attached)
3 blogs submitted by ICANN/UASG for outreach to your members.
UASG101 – Introduction to Universal Acceptance: http://get.uasg.asia/docs/UA101-Intro-2019-03-20.pdf
UASG102 – Email Address Internationalization (EAI) http://get.uasg.asia/docs/UA102-EAI-2017-05-17.pdf
UASG103 – Programming Language Hacks http://get.uasg.asia/docs/UA103-Hacks-2019-03-20.pdf
Legal Topics
Status of Cryptographic Autonomy License and discussion:
Pam explained that the Licensing Committee had decided to issue a rationale document with each license approval, and since CAL would be the first approval with a substantial rationale document the Committee sought the Board’s consent before proceeding.
Pam explained the findings of the committee and agreed to make a version of the rationale document for the Board’s review prior to sending a version to the license-review list per the published process. The Board consented to publication of the report after a short review period.
Approval of LBNL BSD License
Motion (Pam): Resolved that the LBNL BSD be approved as an Open Source Initiative Certified license in the “legacy” category of licenses.
Second (Chris).
Discussion:
The Board accepted the Committee rationale document.
The motion was approved by unanimous consent.
Moderation of license-{discuss,review} (Chris)
Chris waived discussion as the Licensing Committee had commenced a new moderation strategy.
Incubator/Project Topics
These agenda items were not discussed.
ClearlyDefined update (Carol)
Carol was not present.
Standards update (Simon)
Simon waived discussion pending changes in the Working Group taking effect.
Open Source Africa (Josh)
Josh was not present.
Next Board Meeting
The next OSI board meeting is scheduled for 19 July 2019 subject to confirmation by the Standing Committee.
The meeting was adjourned at 18:50 UTC.
Appendix A (Treasurer’s Report)
Open Source Initiative
Treasurer’s Report
As of May 31, 2019
Total Assets at Beginning of Period, 05/01/19: $498,489
Revenue or Sources of Funds
| Contributions | $659 |
| Memberships | $640 |
| Interest | $11 |
| Total Revenue or Sources of Funds | $1,367 |
Expenses or Uses of Funds
| Compensation | $10,599 |
| Fundraising Expense | $0 |
| Legal & Professional Fees | $1,000 |
| Office Expenses | $110 |
| Program Service Expense | $20,000 |
| Promotional Expense | $0 |
| Travel & Entertainment | $7,948 |
| Other Expenses | -$820 (Gandi.net refund) |
| Total Expenses or Uses of Funds $10,599 | $38,837 |
Changes
| Change in Accounts Receivable | $0 |
| Change in Accounts Payable | $10,500 |
| Other | $3 |
Total Assets at End of Period, 05/31/19: $471,523
Appendix B (General Manager’s Report)
- Shifting from technical infrastructure to operational infrastructure.
- OSI staff planning page
- GM Activity, May 2019.
- Creating annual, Calendar of Events
- Goal is to list recurring OSI activities to enable event planning, and ensure operational continuity.
- Joined New York Council of Nonprofits (NYCON) & Empire State Society of Association Executives (ESSAE)
- Resource for services (e.g. D&O Insurance), compliance (e.g. GDPR), and “best practices.”
- Peer networking.
- Professional development opportunities for OSI staff and board.
- Creating annual, Calendar of Events
- Wiki gardening contracting with XWiki.
- Annual Plan, Status of those initiatives outlined in the Fall 2018 FWF meeting and planning session
- Annual long term investments: Red (Seeking provider, NYCON)
- Engage Board Alumni: Yellow (engagement less than 10 alumni/events)
- Engage Advocacy Circle: Yellow (engagement less than 10 alumni/events)
- Responsive to community inputs, developments: Red
- Support Open Source and Standards Working Group: Green
- Administer License Review Process: Green
- Increase Individual Membership: Red
- Expand Affiliate Membership: Yellow
- Develop Professional Development & Higher Education Courses: Yellow