1. Meeting overview and key information
Present
- Joel Addison (President)
- Sae Ra Germaine (Vice-President)
- Russell Stuart (Treasurer)
- Neill Cox (Secretary)
- Jennifer Cox (Council)
- Andrew Pam (Council)
- Jonathan Woithe (Council)
Apologies
- None
Not Present
- None
Meeting opened at 20:11 AEDT by Joel and quorum was achieved.
Minutes taken by Jonathan.
2. Log of correspondence
- Change of meeting software – there was some confusion about which video conference software we were using. We got it sorted.
- [Purplecon] Update on the status of Purplecon 2024 – final report on the status of Purplecon 2024
- Linux Australia’s 2023/2024 audit – Russell has asked the auditor for a progress update on Linux Australia’s audit
- Accessibility report for ticketing platforms – The council has been asked to provide input on a project to improve accessibility of conference ticketing platforms.
- 11 emails from fastmail about bounces/unsubscribes/changes of address for the Linux Australia mailman list – because of the migration
- Not sure what happened here, but…………….. – from Keith Bainbridge in reference to the above
- New online forms and changes to voting conducted by ballot – notification from NSW Fair Trading
- Request for approval of >$5k invoice – PyCon AU – Russell has responded
- Important: Upcoming update to our Personal Web Hosting effective 13th January 2025. – notification from Digital Pacific. The changes are not applicable to our situation.
- News re: IRD loan – Notification that no further payments on the IRD loan will be required.
- Letter to Linux Australia Inc. 11.12.24 – letter from Clayton Utz re a copyright claim over an image from LCA 2003(!)
- IMPORTANT: Year-End Payment on Redbubble – notification the Redbubble are making a change to how they process payments.
- Upcoming Domain Renewal Notice – Please Do Not Reply – notification re renewal of opensource.org.au
- Disruptions to the rail system – business impacts – survey request from the NSW Small Business Commission
- Linux Australia’s 2023/2024 audit – requests for information from the auditor
- Fwd: [Linux-aus] Science Cafe – Admin team clarifying whether a mailing list is still needed. It is not required and can be closed down.
3. Items for discussion
- LA Election
- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EfYCMUVhSsxpDoTNOc_tY2r6LDEocnKhMJKGEAAMcmc/edit?usp=sharing
- Notice of AGM to be sent out tomorrow (19 Dec 2024).
- Nominations open on Monday, close on 3 Jan 2025. Voting opens on 5 Jan 2025, closes on 13 Jan 2025.
- AGM
- The AGM will be on the Monday of EO2025 (20 Jan 2025). Two weeks notice is required.
- Annual report must be out a week out from the AGM. Deadline for reports to Sae Ra is 3 Jan 2025, but preference is as early as possible. Reports are required from Joe, Neill and Russell.
- Put stuff in here please https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yJ38Pi30cvJ-OjZ2OffEslvT-Chg-llA?usp=drive_link
- Makerspace Adelaide Grant Request
- Total grant request is $5082 for 6 laptops at $847 each.
- Open source and Linux will be used on the laptops.
- The size of the grant is a concern: half the grant budget.
- Could we meet them half-way?
- There is concern that the laptops might be under-spec’ed for some of the software they plan to use (Blender for example).
- Could they consider second-hand laptops (ebay, ex-Government auctions, Grays Online, etc). LA has done this in the past. Sometimes with reconditioned systems there’s a short manufacturer’s warranty. Some manufacturers also have direct sales of refurbished laptops.
- For example, on Ebay (Australian Computer Traders), a similar specified Dell i5 laptop is $285 tonight. Six of these would be $1800.
- Motion: that Linux Australia approves the grant request for six laptops at $847 totalling $5082.
Moved by Joel.
Seconded by Jonathan.
The motion was defeated.
- While the motion was defeated there was general agreement that LA would be willing to consider a revised application around more cost-effective options (such as second-hand laptops). An invitation to revise will be sent to Kylie by Jonathan. An update will be sent to the grants list once the final arrangement has been determined.
- Suitability of jitsi for meetings
- In general it seems to be working. It struggled with the number of participants when subcommittee members also joined.
- Could jitsi be used for council and zoom for subcommittees? This was thought to be a piece-meal approach.
- What about other options? BBB has been tried by other LA-affiliated groups over the last two years. It has been very tricky to get a stable platform. It seems to suffer from scaling issues.
- We will probably have to seek out a paid hosting provider due to bandwidth and other resource issues which could be challenge in our current server accommodations.
- Since zoom is being paid, there is little reluctance to paying for a hosted solution (be it jitsi or some other open source platform).
- Action item: Andrew to explore commercial open source video conference solutions. Number of participants: work on 20. This would gcover a hybrid AGM too.
- Copyright claim
- The photo is the Ariane 5 launch from Bdale’s LCA talk in 2003. The photo is from ESA. Reuters don’t own can’t claim copyright on an image they don’t own.
- https://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2023/02/ariane_5_v135/24699582-2-eng-GB/Ariane_5_V135_pillars.jpg
- On the lower right side is a copyright statement: © 2000 ESA – CNES – ARIANESPACE / Photo Service Optique CSG. The photo is clearly not a Reuters image based on the available public evidence.
- Russell has asked a lawyer for advice. It appears that our position is strong: the image is marked copyright ESA, and therefore Reuters can’t claim copyright.
- The claim requires a response by 17 Jan 2025. In the instance, LA will await a response from Russell before deciding on the next steps.
- IRD Loan
- The news that the debt is no longer being held against Python NZ is welcomed.
- Joel noted that there was no discussion in the letter about repayment of the installment that has already been paid.
- Neill has followed up with Danny to ask for clarification from the IRD. His response:
not with this message (the only one received so far), and didn’t want to push that yet.
We’re waiting for the transfer to happen, it may mean a credit already, or a follow up.
- Accessibility report for ticketing platforms
- The request is about making ticketing platforms accessible to vision-impaired people.
- Action item: Sae Ra will talk to Rowland about possible sources for grants and other in-kind support LA can offer.
4. Items for noting
- None
5. Other business
- None
6. In camera
- One item was discussed in camera
7. Action items
7.1 Completed Items
7.2 Carried Forward
Meeting closed at 21:29 AEDT (UT+1100)
Next meeting is scheduled for 2025-01-08 at 20:00 AEDT (UT+1100) on Jitsi.
