Minutes of the Foundation Board, 23rd January

[Allan Day <aday gnome org>]

= Foundation Board Minutes for Tue, January 23th 2018, 18:00 UTC =

Next meeting date Tue, January 30th 2018, 18:00 UTC

== Attending ==

 * Allan Day
 * Carlos Soriano
 * Nuritzi Sanchez
 * Meg Ford
 * Cosimo Cecchi
 * Rosanna Yuen
 * Neil McGovern

== Regrets ==

 * Alexandre Franke
 * Didier Roche

== Missing ==

== Agenda ==

 * Conference spending policy updates (see ongoing agenda item and
mailing list proposal) (Allan)
 * GNOME Maps (Meg)
 * Publishing of minutes (Allan)
 * Ad board prep for FOSDEM (Carlos)
 * FOSDEM/Libreplanet approvals (Neil)
 * LAS conference proposal (Allan)
 * Review ongoing items
 * Membership committee call update (Carlos)

== Minutes ==

 * Conference spending policy updates
  * Postponed until next week

 * GNOME Maps
  * Meg had a meeting with their team last week, and proposed work on
client-side rendering
   * That would not actually help the problem of many downloads
   * What may help is working on client-side caching to reduce the
number of requests instead
   * Another option could be to also write and maintain our own caching server
   * Ideally we'd love to formulate a longer-term plan with the team
  * They want to have some time to adjust their infrastructure to
reduce the number of requests, and would like in the meantime to have
the ability to work with the same current number of requests
  * If Maps is installed by default on more distributions the requests
would go up
   * Considering this, it strikes as a good idea to have a limit of
requests server-side
  * Right now we'd pay a discounted price compared to market
  * Is there a possibility for a targeted fundraiser for this?
   * Possibly, if a fundraiser is appropriate would be a conversation
for the Engagement team if the Board decides to raise money for this
  * ACTION: Meg to ask the Maps team about what kind of resources we'd
need to build a caching server on GNOME's side, and if client side
caching with pre-made data packs could work as well.
  * ACTION: Neil to ask Mapbox if they can put a cap on the number of
requests on their side
  * ACTION: Neil to ask advisory board members if there's anything
that they can help with (money or developers)

 * Publishing of minutes
  * Minutes have not been published since last October
  * Alexandre is not here today, so we may need to discuss this another time
  * ACTION: Cosimo to review the current minutes backlog and publish them

 * Ad board prep for FOSDEM
  * There's going to be a call tomorrow to prepare for the advisory
board meeting at FOSDEM

 * FOSDEM/Libreplanet approvals
  * Approve FOSDEM travel
   * VOTE: approve Neil's travel to FOSDEM
    * +1 Carlos, Nuritzi, Cosimo, Allan, Meg. VOTE PASSED
  * Hire the room for FOSDEM advisory board and an USB speakerphone
for people to dial in
   * Neil will pay for these with his own spending powers
  * Approve Libreplanet travel
   * End of March in Cambridge, MA
   * VOTE: approve Neil's travel to Libreplanet
    * +1 Nuritzi, Allan, Meg, Cosimo, Carlos. VOTE PASSED

 * LAS conference proposal
  * We need to respond to Sri's proposal
  * ACTION: Carlos to email the LAS team with a summary of the board's
thoughts on the latest proposal, and to ask the team to send us a
fresh proposal to decide on

 * LAS update and budget request
  * A bid for Denver has been put together
  * They want to book the venue as soon as possible
  * We didn’t get any information before the meeting and we would like
some time to get through it
  * Vote will happen on the list.
  * 2018-01-09 Sri joins the call
   * https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/private/board-list/2018-January/msg00038.html
(with slides)
  * 2018-01-23
   * ACTION: Carlos to email the LAS team with a summary of the
board's thoughts on the latest proposal, and to ask the team to send
us a fresh proposal to decide on

 * GNOME Maps and Amisha's email
  * The Mapbox service is going to run out at the end of the year
  * Meg spoke to some of the Maps developers about this the last time
it was an issue. Available options back then:
   1. Get another coupon for free access
   2. Pay, but with a discounted rate
   3. Run our own tile server
  * We probably need a short-term solution before the coupon runs out,
and we don't have long
  * We think that the current coupon was organised directly between
the Maps developers and Mapbox - the Foundation Board probably wasn't
involved
  * Neil backs a short-term solution by renewing the coupon; then need
to calculate how much capacity we're using and what it would cost
  * ACTION: Meg to speak to the Maps developers about renewing the
coupon and calculating the long-term cost
  * 2017-12-19
   * We got a cost estimate and they are willing to give us a
discount, we need to tell them how much we’d be able to pay
   * They are willing to extend the free coupon temporarily
   * We need to explore options
    * Client-side rendering + our own vector server should be the preferred one
   * ACTION: Meg to discuss with the Maps team
  * 2018-01-23
   * Meg had a meeting with their team last week, and proposed work on
client-side rendering
    * That would not actually help the problem of many downloads
    * What may help is working on client-side caching to reduce the
number of requests instead
    * Another option could be to also write and maintain our own caching server
    * Ideally we'd love to formulate a longer-term plan with the team
   * ACTION: Meg to ask the Maps team about what kind of resources
we'd need to build a caching server on GNOME's side, and if client
side caching with pre-made data packs could work as well.
   * ACTION: Neil to ask Mapbox if they can put a cap on the number of
requests on their side
   * ACTION: Neil to ask advisory board members if there's anything
that they can help with (money or developers)

 * Events code of conduct arrangements
  * Draft in progress
  * Once ready, we can start a community consultation phase
  * Current draft mentions a committee that would help resolving incidents
   * Is the board ok with forming a committee for that purpose?
   * No objections, the responsabilities and attributions will be
explored further down the line
  * When a local organisation handles the event in Europe for us, we
need a contract with them
   * This contract should cover handling of personal data that they
collect for us
   * See http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/international-transfers/transfer/index_en.htm
for the standard contracts
  * The board needs to consider letting the community vote eventually

 * GNOME.Asia committee & Board membership
  * Nuritzi is considering joining the organizing committee, to be the
board liaison
  * Other directors can think about it and eventually join too

 * Follow-up on "Reviving Free Software Macedonia"
  * Monthly rental fee for the place where they meet (€300)
  * They seem to have a lead for sponsors, but would like us to help bootstrap
  * Not clear what their ask is.
  * We recommend they come up with a clear plan and specific outcomes
for GNOME, then take it to the engagement budget holder

 * Conference spending policy updates
  * The current policy would allow organizers to spend money they
haven’t raised yet, which could lead to a loss
  * Carlos suggested to approve two complementary budgets
   * a part that can only be spent if raised
   * a part that can be spent even if not raised, to make sure the
conference happens
  * Organizers are expected to make a profit, but a small loss would
not be a problem
  * The main goal should be to make a good conference
  * How does the organizers forecast the amount they’ll raise?
  * How does the newly appointed sponsorship committee tie in with that?
   * Coordination between the two is expected
  * VOTE: approve new policy with 2 budgets for conferences (minimal +
extras depending on money raised)
   +1 Carlos, -1 Allan, Meg. Abstained: Alexandre. VOTE DOESN’T PASS
  * VOTE: conference organizers should be required to have a new
budget approved by the board if they raised less than 70% of their
budgeted income
   +1 Allan, Meg, Abstained: Carlos, Alexandre. VOTE PASSED
  * 70% by what time? The problem is that conferences often don't know
what their income is going to be until very late - sponsors are often
confirmed at the last minute.
  * VOTE: invalidate the previously passed vote (let's give this more
time to see if we can find a good solution)
   +1 Alexandre, Allan, Carlos, Abstained: Meg. VOTE PASSED
  * 2017-10-31
   * Neil suggests new rule that allows to limit the loss and gives
organizers a bit of leeway, taking into account the evolving nature of
account balance
   * ACTION: Allan to prepare a new proposal to revisit this at a later meeting

 * Privacy campaign funds
  * 2016-09-27
   * Draft is out for the Board to review and give feedback
   * ACTION: Cosimo to try and form a committee to review internship proposals
  * 2016-10-26
   * We are aiming for an internship round in spring 2017
  * 2017-07-26
   * Carlos and Zeeshan are taking this over -- the plan is still to
do internships
  * 2017-10-14
   * Carlos created wiki page at https://wiki.gnome.org/Internships
  * 2018-01-10
   * Carlos in contact with mentors, going to publish this as soon as
one of the mentors confirms dates.

 * Intention to create marketing committee
  * To dispense money for small events and marketing line items
  * In the meantime, we would have an individual budget holder
  * VOTE: appoint Nuritzi as the temporary budget holder
   * +1 Nem con. VOTE PASSES
  * There are concerns about the correct course of action.
  * ACTION: Nuritzi to come up with a charter for the proposed committee

 * Zazzle store
  * We have a link on the page where we list vendors
  * Andreas confirmed that Stormy is the one with access
  * ACTION: Allan to try to reach out to Stormy
   * 2017-10-08 - Allan got in touch with Stormy and got some login
information, but he still can't access the account. More followup is
required.
  * ACTION: Nuritzi to assess the quality and check whether we want to
continue using them

 * Looking for sponsorship for GitLab runners
  * To increase our Continuous Integration capacity on the GNOME
GitLab server, we'll need to provision some more servers, as we
migrate more projects there
  * We could ask for help to our Advisory Board, or use our network to
ask for support from other companies
   * It would make more sense to ask for hardware/cycles directly,
rather than fundraising, since server bandwidth is a recurring cost
  * 2017-10-08
   * Neil is waiting for verification before this can proceed further
   * 2017-10-31 - we're verified! Neil to talk to sysadmin
  * ACTION: Neil to talk with Andrea Veri about this
  * ACTION: once done, Neil to announce it
  * 2017-12-12: [NM] av prodded again

 * Calls with committees
  * Twice a year with each committee, once after the board elections
(end June/early July and then late November-early January).
  * The call is a touch point - a way of checking in. Needs to
stimulate ongoing conversations and ad hoc problem solving. Committees
will be invited to calls with the whole Board to problem solve around
specific things.
  * One board member and the ED meet with each committee (or a board
member and the director of operations if there's no ED).
  * Where possible the same board member should be consistent.
  * Board representatives then feed back to the rest of the board.
  * 2017-10-08
   * First meetings in the sequence to happen in November. Should
focus on collaboratively setting goals and identifying issues.
   * Once the
   * ACTION: Carlos to meet with membership committee, see if we
should update committee charter
https://wiki.gnome.org/MembershipCommittee. - DONE
   * ACTION: Alexandre to meet with the travel committee, see if we
should update committee charter
https://wiki.gnome.org/Travel/Committee
   * ACTION: Cosimo to meet with the sponsorship committee
  * 2017-12-19 Committee check-ins - we were supposed to have done
this in November
   * Travel call should happen in January, currently being scheduled
   * Membership call should also happen soon
   * Cosimo is not on the call and won’t be back from travel until the
end of January

 * Foundation support for Flathub
  * 2017-05-09
   * The Board voted to try and use some of our pro-bono counsel time
towards the Flathub legal framework, provided our lawyers agree
   * ACTION: Neil to connect to Luis
  * 2017-05-16 - Exact questions to ask Luis are being worked up
  * 2017-06-06 - Questions sent to Luis, being looked at.
  * 2017-09-05 - Being passed to Karen now, discussions have stalled a
little, Neil chasing up
  * 2017-10-08
   * Neil and Rob are going to meet Karen at Freenode Live and try to
talk about this
  * 2017-10-31 - Rob got sent to Indonesia, Neil to set up call with
Karen/Rob to discuss
  * 2017-11-14 - Prodding email sent
  * ACTION: Neil to send another email to Luis and check if he’s available.
  * ACTION: Meg to ask Karen whether she can recommend someone
  * 2017-11-21 - Karen came back, call set up for next week
  * 2017-12-12 - Karen is drafting some texts which should get Flathub
the legal framework required.

 * Hackfest process documentation
  * 2017-02-14
   * ACTION: Nuritzi to take a stab at updating the documentation for
the process to request a hackfest and responsibilities between Board
and TC
  * 2017-05-02
   * Nuritzi will work on this by end of May, check in then
  * 2017-09-05: Nuritzi updated the wiki about a week ago but we
should go over this in Berlin.
  * 2017-10-08
   * Part of this was done at the hackfest, we'll need to update the wiki page
   * Another part is pending reply from Pam about how an event can use
the GNOME wordmark
   * ACTION: Nuritzi to update the wiki page, including Alexandre's
proposed statement about openness of hackfests

 * Friends of GNOME
  * 2016-08-10
   * ACTION: Allan to get in touch with Tobi and the sysadmin team to
migrate the FoG infrastructure over to GNOME
  * 2017-03-07
   * Allan will pass this on to Neil, and connect him to Tobi
  * 2017-04-18 - Neil has CRM working (ish) on the gnome website,
we're looking at how to move the PayPal IPN to CiviCRM
   * At sysadmin meeting at GUADEC
  * 2017-10-31 - Should happen around december

=== Ongoing but stalled ===

'''This section includes items which haven't seen an update in the
last 30 days.'''

 * Dropping dates in copyright claims on our websites
  * 2016-12-06
   * ACTION: Alexandre to send an email to foundation-list with a
proposal for discussion
  * 2016-12-20
   * Next step seems to be to reach out to Creative Commons to get
advice on what exactly can and should be done
  * 2017-01-24
   * Alexandre reached out to Creative commons
  * 2017-02-28
   * Alexandre will try alternative channels
  * 2017-05-02
   * We got a reply, Alexandre to follow up
  * 2017-05-30
   * Two options
    * Have terms of use on the website that state that linking to a
page is sufficient attribution
    * Require contributors to assign their attribution to the GNOME Foundation

 * Paypal Giving Fund
  * Alexandre suggested in december 2015 to get us enrolled in the program
   * That would give us exposure. For example Humble bundle allows to
direct the charity part of purchases towards any of their participants
  * Zana tried to get us in sometime before may 2016, we never heard back.
  * 2016-09-06
   * ACTION: Zana to look into it

=== Ongoing but no director assigned ===

'''This section includes items which haven't seen an update in the
last 30 days and have no Director assigned'''


== Nice to have ==

'''This section includes items which we would love to see happen at
some point but lack the time to effectively become reality'''

 * Contract template for future use organizations for which we handle money
  * Kat to draft this
  * Alexandre took over
  * 2017-07-26
   * This is close to being done

 * Privacy policy for GNOME services
  * Current draft is at https://wiki.gnome.org/Foundation/Privacy
  * Sysadmin Team's NDA should also be covered when dealing with this item
  * Kat or Allan to write up the policy
  * Kat or Allan to write up recommended wording for distribution
privacy policies, regarding the behaviour of GNOME software
  * 2017-07-26
   * Allan is still working on this, but with low priority

== Discussed on the mailing list ==


== Completed actions ==

 * Name for internships for privacy funds
  * If there is no contract it is not technically an internship
  * Discussion needs to continue on list
  * 2017-10-24
   * GSoC are not called internships and there is no contract with the student
    * The organising entity also does not have authority over the
participants, the project entity does
   * Outreachy on the other hand is called internship and there is a contract
    * Same kind of relationship
   * We could try and reuse the contracts from Outreachy
   * ACTION: Zana to get a copy of the contract
    * Done
   * ACTION: Neil to ask Karen
    * 20171031 - Done, karen says steal away.
   * ACTION: Carlos to prepare a version for us
    * You can check at
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ew2nW5EJfCERFWsOM11_BoPPO5B8sWjugPpXLaX4Jno/edit?usp=sharing