Monthly Meeting Tues 6 th February 2007

Monthly Meeting Tues 6th February 2007

PRESENT

• Pete F
• Jim F
• Sean K
• Sam R
• Ben G
• Matt T
• Chris P
• Matt L
• Mike B
• Everton
• Lloyd
• Michael H
• Woodsy
• Andy S
• Tom T
• Jules

APOLOGIES

• Andy L
• Jon Elmes

MINUTES OF LAST MEETING

Following amendment of item under Financial Matters (1) to read "It was proposed by Pete F and seconded by Sam that the 2004 AGM minutes be corrected to clarify that the auditor's interpretation was correct", the minutes of the last meeting were approved.

MATTERS ARISING

1. Weekly management - approval of methodology: Sam R reported on the formal structure established for project managers to seek contractors for work and the weekly review procedure implemented, which is working well. Sam R is to report back to next meeting with review. (Action: Sam R)
2. Recycling: There is a need to appoint one person to oversee workflow on selling recycled computers, etc. Sam R, Everton, Ben G and Lloyd are to submit proposals on this matter to list as per usual procedure by 5 pm on Friday 9th February. The proposals are to be voted on by Friday 16th February (Action: Sam R, Everton, Ben G and Lloyd).
3. UFI - Appointment of project manager (wireless): details of the Werburghs connection project have been posted on the wiki and funds have already been secured. A project manager is required to oversee the project. Sam R was proposed by Sean K and seconded by Lloyd. Approved nem con.
4. UFI - appointment of liaison project manager (Werburghs Community Centre): Linda of WCC would like Bristol Wireless to be involved in delivering the project. Our involvement would nevertheless be conditional on Linda's approval of paid liaison. Jim F was proposed as liaison manager by Rich H and seconded by Lloyd. Approved nem con.
5. BW Debian install (aka distro): the metapackage, which will be installed on refurbished machines, is now available for testing on the public-facing repository as version 0.1.5. The news article posted when it was only available on magico is to be amended/commented to reflect this change. (Action: Woodsy)
6. Organising a wireless meeting with CitySpace, etc.: Connecting Bristol has a budget of £0.5 mn. for wireless networking. However, this is not coming our way, hence there is a need to organise a meeting with the partners in the scheme to discover proposals and if there is any common ground with ourselves. Pete F reported on a Digital Challenge partners meeting he attended where Stephen Hilton gave a brief presentation of the bid. Bristol Wireless is the lead partner or partner on 3 work packages. In addition, Bristol's Digital Challenge bid is the only publicly available bid to date!
7. Pay structure: Lloyd reported on the work he had been doing on this topic on the admin wiki based on external documentation from Voscur. He has proposed 3 bands for remuneration at an hourly rate based on degree of difficulty of work. Jules commented that Bristol Wireless is primarily a volunteer-driven organisation and that the volunteer aspect needs preserving. In addition, Jules stressed that it would be undesirable for Bristol Wireless to be seen as an employer by HMRC. Jules suggested all work done be provided on a self-employed basis. It was also stressed that work should be paid by the job rather than by the hour. All bids for work should be competitive. The Voscur documentation should be used as a reference for pricing future work. All those providing services to Bristol Wireless on a paid basis were requested to provide tax reference and NI numbers by the next meeting.
8. BMEX & bandwidth shaping: Lloyd reported we have a forthcoming meeting with Matt Hamilton of BMEX. Traffic shaping has now been implemented on the network limiting users to 512w kb/s down and 128 kb/s up; this limiting excludes KWW, the lab and BMEX Light customers. It was also pointed out that BMEX bandwidth is expensive and network users give rise to heavy traffic. VoIP quality has been limited to 1,700 kb/s. Ensuring VoIP quality is a matter needing discussion with BMEX. As regards sales, we need 5 BMEX Light customers to cover bandwith costs. The BMEX Light page on the admin wiki needs amendment to edit out burstability element and it can then be moved to the main wiki. Jon Elmes has stated that some of our traffic could be routed by proxy through the City Council network; permission would be needed for this. Finally, it was agreed that a bandwidth meeting be arranged via the list before the next monthly meeting.

REPORTS

1. Microclient purchase: Ben G reported that the microclients still have to be bought. Attempts to contact the suppliers had met with limited success to date. Nevertheless, Ben is still pursuing them.
2. Network diagram: Lloyd has produced a network diagram. This is to be worked on further so it can be made available in a variety of graphic format (Action: Lloyd).

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

1. Sean K reported that the South West Regional ICT Hub Conference is being held on 7th March in Taunton. It was suggested that Bristol Wireless attends with the LTSP suite as an exhibitor. Producing a publicity banner was also suggested. Sean K shall research event, whilst discussion of a budget shall take place on the list (Action: Sean K).
2. Ben G reported that strummer now exists as a legacy server only. He advised all those still accessing services on strummer that these could not be guaranteed and that the new addresses should be used instead.
3. Woodsy reported that Bristol Wireless and Connecting Bristol are organising an OpenStreetMap mapping weekend on 23/24 February. Anyone interested please get to Watershed by 10 am on those days for instructions and GPS kit.
4. Dorkbot Bristol: event being held this Thursday at Watershed at 7 pm.

Date of next meeting: Tuesday, 6th March 2007 at St Werburghs Community Centre