Welcome to the [Live] July 2003 Meeting Notes, July 22, 2003 - Scribe - Sam Churchill

Audio ---http://personaltelco.net:8000/status.xsl

Images---http://wsmf.org/pickle/index.php?album=pictures/2003/0723-ptpmeeting/

This meeting is uniquely important since we are electing a new president. Adam Shand, who founded and steered Personal Telco from its inception about 2 years ago, announced last month that he has accepted a job working for an animation studio in New Zealand.

In a very busy June, Adam packed up and had a quick (if hurried) going away party.

So, here we are.

Personal Telco is now officially a 501c(3) thanks in no small measure to LucasSheehan and therefor requires a permanent president. Tonight's the night we're going to elect one. So stay tuned...

These notes are made in real time and will paraphrase the comments of the PTP Presidential candidates, it is not an actual transcript. Keegan is again recording this meeting so an accurate transcript shoulod be available in a day or two.

It's 6:30, the meeting has begun....

NigelBallard and AaronBaer are on stage for introductions and conducting the meeting.

(1) DatNguyen is first up:

Dat wants to use PlayDays, Streetfares, and promotion for PTP. He says he wants as president, to build a master plan for a city-wide network.

Next up - DonPark:

(2) Don Park is running because PTP needs to build a network. WiFi is as important now as the internet was in the 90s. Goals for first 6 months is to catalog how people work together and create special interest groups, and differential our services so people can meetin each other, location specific. Don is dedicated to fair and honest dealings for both people and the community at large.

Next up - DarrinEden :

(3) Darren Eden: Eden is a technolgist with a social bent and found fun connecting with people. PTP is a continuatiion of this. Grew up with a satellite station in his back yard (to antartica). Intertwined radio networks, computers and communications in current interests. Strong communications and computer skills will bring a healthy dose of technology to the job. But it's about people. Met friends at PTP, and Portland know how to do community.Wants to give it his all, dedicated to bringing people together. Education and accreditation is a goal, giving credit to people doing the work. Wants to bring to small business. Focus on non-profit and volunteer organizations perhaps a network to San Francisco. Our duty and responsibilty to share our knowledge with the community. Let's have some serious fun - without wires.

Okay, that's all three of Personal Telco's Presidential candidates.

It's time to vote....and the Voting is underway!

The ballot box is full. Last call to vote. The polls are closed (at 6:50pm). LucasSheehan is leaving the room and counting the votes.

Meanwhile the meeting is going on. Topics are open.

The first topic: Slashdotting of PTP over a story that appeared in OregonLive.com (Oregonian Newspaper)' today. Nigel is telling the story how PGE Park "got Wi-Fi". Nigel says he was approached by a gentleman after one of his Wi-Fi speeches. The fellow's office is across the street from PGE Park. So they installed a Free PTP Node.

PGE park management objected when they heard of the situation and wanted to prevent the signal from entering the downtown outdoor ballpark. Meanwhile, Nigel says, the node is up. It covers half the Max Light Rail station and (incidently) PGE Park...[applause]. Nigel said [in effect] getting all parties to agree and reduce concerns by all parties would be good.

Nigel also says the Pioneer Square Node is going back up, bigger and better with a new and influential sponsor. It will be announced in about a week and will soon be offering free wireless again at Portland's premier hot spot location.

Lucas has counted the votes and asked for 2nd parties to check. Lucas said that this has been a very stressfull election. It was a very close vote.

And the results for the Presidential Election in July, 2003, are in:

Congratulations to DarrinEden, who has just been elected as the new Personal Telco President !!!

[Highest regards and sincere appreciation go to Presidential candidates DatNguyen and DonPark! They have dedicated hundreds of hours and helped to make happen dozens of events over the last few years. It's people like them who make Personal Telco a successful [and fun] organization, often working behind the scenes. And let us not forget all the Personal Telco members who have worked hard and given their valuable time and talent to make this organization succeed. Best wishes and thanks, also, to Adam Shand, without whom this organization would not exist]

More meeting news:

AaronBaer gave a short report on the Open Source Software Convention (OSCON) held in Portland earlier this month. Many PTP members attended. DAT says there's a good chance that OSCON will come back to Portland next year. The state of Oregon may be pursuing more open source projects and policies. Aaron says Lucas brought hardware to help their wireless network which was built and maintained by community wireless people from around the Open Source community.

Aaron says Portland is a hot bed of open source software with lots of projects underway. It was cool.

And with that the Personal Telco meeting was ajourned (about 7:30 pm).

NOTE: These notes are paraphased. The recording by Keegan will provide an accurate record (in streaming audio) in a day or two.

- Sam Churchill 23/07/03

PS: Here are the official candidates statements posted on the list server yesterday. They were posted by AaronBaer and give the replies to a series of questions asked by each of the candidates; DatNguyen, DonPark, and DarrinEden.

(1) DatNguyen

> How will you, as president, facilitate new development of work or work already being done in Personal Telco?

Use existing talent and leadership to achieve specific goals of PTP and develop a master plan in line with the mission statement. Elect a board of directors and committee chairs in accordance with the bylaws.

> How would you lead the Personal Telco members and volunteers into making further inroads into neighborhoods and communities?

• Create small groups from members and volunteers to:

1. Attract new membership through community involvement and participation. 2. Create a regular newsletter for the membership and volunteers. 3. Continue to have PTP play days to educate the community about WIFI and the benefits of Community wireless. 4. Connect neighborhood organizations to their specific needs. 5. Write grants to fund specific projects. 6. Appear at community events, i.e. neighborhood street fairs. 7. Work with government bodies to create wireless access, i.e. Work with Tri-Met have WiFi on their bus shelters, MAX and Commuter train stations. 8. Connect with the business community for their financial and moral support.

> In the two years of your term would you focus more on creating hotspots or growing a city wide network infrastructure?

• I believe that we should focus on hotspots. At this time we do not have

a long range plan to build a citywide network. I will create committees consisting of members, non PTP- members and other community organizations to build consensus to create hotspots with the ultimate goal of building a citywide network.

> Do you include the Wireless Commons Manifesto into the goals of Personal Telco? Why?

Yes, I believe the Wireless Commons Manifesto is a great building block and useful as a springboard for our technical members. However, itÿs wording may be overly complex for sharing with the community at large. Perhaps a simpler statement is worth exploring.

> Where do you want PTP to be in 5 years?

As an educational body teaching communities across the world.

PTP as a wireless community organization that can bridge social, political and economics barriers.

(2) DonPark

> How will you, as president, facilitate new development of work or work > already being done in Personal Telco?

Personal Telco needs clear goals. I would facilitate work by presenting a clear plan of how the group gets from where it is to where it needs to be. I put an emphasis on expanding existing opportunities. Personal Telco needs to involve more people in following up on leads, and it needs a system to keep tabs on existing projects.

> How would you lead the Personal Telco members and volunteers into making further inroads into neighborhoods and communities?

By providing a satisfying experience to the node bulding that we are currently working on, I believe positive word of mouth will be a good tool in making further inroads into communities.

> In the two years of your term would you focus more on creating hotspots or growing a city wide network infrastructure?

Both goals are important. I would focus on standardizing the documentation for soliciting hotspot owners and for hotspot installers. Most of the effort would go into the planning and deploying of a city wide network backbone.

> Do you include the Wireless Commons Manifesto into the goals of Personal Telco? Why?

The Wireless Commons Definition has many good guidelines for building a wireless network, much like the PicoPeer agreement, that should be followed as PTP grows.

> Where do you want PTP to be in 5 years?

I want PTP to have a large and diverse network moving gigabits of information per second with systems for management and provisioning, owned and operated by people who are invested in the network both with hardware and with effort, for use by the public at no cost to the public.

Don

(3)DarrinEden

> How will you, as president, facilitate new development of work or work > already being done in Personal Telco?

The volunteers dedicated to educating their friends, colleagues and neighbors opening the possibilities of our public wireless network are this organization's single greatest asset.

As president of PTP I will facilitate collaboration and cooperation driving for measurable success along these four specific goals (in order):

1) Volunteer education and public accreditation. 2) Unwire small business owners while providing channels aimed at bringing customers through the front door. 3) Liaise with community bodies in the metropolitan area focusing on non-profit, volunteer-driven organizations. 4) Extend free network infrastructure towards Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area.

> How would you lead the Personal Telco members and volunteers into > making further inroads into neighborhoods and communities?

I have found that there is no substitute for face-to-face meet-ups. As PTP president I will call for meetings, classes, events and play days to be held alongside other community, non-profit and volunteer organizations in each of Portland's varied neighborhoods.

> In the two years of your term would you focus more on creating hotspots or growing a city wide network infrastructure?

We've publicized quite a few interesting spots where lots of folks gather for different reasons. A certain focus on point-to-point links would be a natural swing of the pendulum.

> Do you include the Wireless Commons Manifesto into the goals of > Personal Telco? Why?

My message as president of Personal Telco will remain the same: As individuals learning together we are building free digital networks surpassing the utility offered by any incumbent's artificially asymmetric network.

How do we do it? -- you make face-to-face connections with local community organizations that are right outside your front door, while PTP takes action together.

Start by showing up at a PTP meeting with flyers you've gathered from your community's local organizations where you've introduced yourself. I'll bring the map. We'll draw on it.

> Where do you want PTP to be in 5 years?

A body of teachers encouraging the next generation of thinkers to freely innovate far beyond our imagination.

• Thanks again,
  • Darrin Eden

End of Meeting Notes, July 23rd, 2003, Sam Churchill, scribe