1   Attendance

The following members of the Board of Directors were present at the meeting: Stephan Deibel, David Goodger, David Ascher, Tim Peters, Brett Cannon, and Martin von Löwis. Also in attendance was Kurt Kaiser (Treasurer).

2   Minutes of Past Meetings

The 9 April 2007 Board meeting minutes were approved by a 5-0-1 vote (in favor – opposed – abstentions).

3   Status of Past Action Items

(Pending action items appear like this.)

4   Frank Willison Award

D. Goodger reported:

I got a reply from O'Reilly. They just need a name from us, and Betsy Waliszewski will handle the certificate & the prize (a pass to OSCON). One month's notice prior to OSCON is enough for O'Reilly -- so we should target mid-June... which is coming up fast. I will coordinate this with Betsy Waliszewski of O'Reilly.

I suggest asking Guido and past winners for candidates, then bringing it to the Board for a vote. If we go this route, obviously current PSF Directors and Officers either would not be eligible, or [nominees] would have to recuse themselves.

As for the recipient having to be present at OSCON, that was a misunderstanding. Nat Torkington just wants to know in advance if the person will be there or not, to avoid confusion when presenting the award. It's okay to award to someone in absentia.

I asked about the possiblitiy of funding the OSCON travel & hotel of the recipient. Betsy Waliszewski and Nat Torkington will get back to us on that.

I will set up a page on www.python.org to list the recipients of the Frank Willison Award. I'd like to include photos of recipients with their awards. Andrew Kuchling has a couple of photos up on his site and on Flickr, and I'd like to get photos of the other recipients too.

Betsy Waliszewski sent a 2006 certificate to Alex Martelli. I informed Anna that it would be arriving. She intercepted it, noticed that the wording was strange ("for his outstanding contribution to the python community in 2006"), and asked Betsy to redo it (remove "in 2006", and add the date separately). A revised certificate has been received and presented to Alex.

The Board agreed with the suggested approach to selecting recipients, and that any Directors nominated should recuse themselves from deliberations.

D. Goodger will coordinate the selection of the 2007 recipient of the Frank Willison Award.

D. Goodger will set up a page on www.python.org to list the recipients of the Frank Willison Award.

5   Funding for Jornada Python en Santa Fe (Argentina)

Facundo Batista asked that the PSF fund the "Jornada Python en Santa Fe" (Argentina); further info at http://www.pythonsantafe.com.ar/.

RESOLVED, that the PSF will provide a US $500 one-time grant to assist in funding the Python en Santa Fe (Argentina) meeting Jun 9th, 2007.

Approved 6-0-0.

S. Deibel will notify Facundo Batista about the PSF's grant for the Jornada Python en Santa Fe (Argentina).

6   EuroPython Sponsorship

Andrew Kuchling has been discussing PSF assistance with the EuroPython organizers. Separately, Guido van Rossum wrote to D. Goodger suggesting that the PSF become a sponsor and backer of EuroPython. In email, Steve Holden proposed that the PSF sponsor up to $5000. S. Deibel noted that a "Gold" sponsorship is 2000 euros, and they don't seem to have platinum. The Board agreed that the PSF should sponsor beyond the Gold level.

RESOLVED, that the PSF will provide up to US $5000 as a sponsor of EuroPython 2007.

Approved 6-0-0.

D. Goodger noted that we need to formulate a policy regaring event sponsorships.

A. Kuchling will contact the EuroPython organizers to arrange for the PSF's sponsorship.

7   PyCon Uno (Italy)

S. Deibel reported that Valentino Volonghi contacted him to ask if they can use the logo. We don't have a PSF logo though so he gave permission to use the Python logo. S. Deibel checked and reported the logo in use (at http://www.pycon.it) was a variant of the Python logo, but with wrong colors.

S. Deibel will ask PyCon Italia to correct their usage of the Python logo.

M. von Löwis and D. Goodger both suggested they use the PyCon logo instead. D. Goodger noted that he'd rather see them use the PyCon logo, perhaps with color variation.

S. Deibel asked if we should have a PSF logo, for example to show PSF support. D. Goodger replied that he has been meaning to make one.

D. Goodger will produce a PSF logo based on the Python logo.

RESOLVED, that the PSF will pay 1500 Euros for a gold sponsorship of PyConUno (Italy) 2007.

Approved 6-0-0.

S. Deibel will notify Valentino Volonghi about the PSF's sponsorship of PyCon Uno (Italy).

D. Goodger noted that a gold sponsorship allows for a banner and comes with 3 conference passes. He further noted that we'll need a banner for EuroPython too, and it can stay in Europe.

D. Goodger will look into making PSF banners.

S. Deibel will notify the PSF members about the availability of passes to PyCon Uno (Italy).

8   Request to Change python.org Home Page

Jeff Rush sent email requesting some changes to the python.org home page. The Board agreed that we don't need to decide; this is a matter for the pydotorg maintainers.

S. Deibel will refer Jeff Rush to the pydotorg mailing list for changes to python.org.

9   Advocacy Coordinator Progress

Jeff Rush updated his accomplishments (http://wiki.python.org/moin/AdvocacyAccomplishments) and to-do list (http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonAdvocacyCoordinator). M. von Löwis remarked "the activities listed look right to me". T. Peters noted that the Board should not micromanage; this type of review should be up to the supervisors (S. Deibel and S. Holden), unless the supervisors feel it necessary to ask the full Board.

T. Peters questioned the wisdom of the Advocacy Coordinator reviewing a textbook, which can take a lot of time: "If the goal is to review its Python content for accuracy, perhaps; if it's to review the textbook as a whole, no way."

D. Ascher: "In general, I get the impression that he ends up putting things on his TODO list that he wants to do, not things we're likely to think are good ideas." T. Peters: "That's my impression too. And that's the same thing I'd do if I were him."

10   Budget Discussion

T. Peters:

As a business, we need a serious written budget. Long-term goals live or die by whether a budget can support them. We tend to bounce around based on the last thing someone complained about. Forcing ourselves to write a serious budget would force a serious debate about long-term goals.

D. Ascher noted that we don't actually spend any real money. S. Deibel replied that the money going to the Advocacy Coordinator is fairly substantial over a full year. K. Kaiser concurred: "it approximates (or exceeds) our PyCon plus Sponsor income."

D. Goodger: "We should be spending money. If we spend it wisely & well, more should come in."

D. Ascher:

I also think that there's a problem in that the board is saying we'll do what the membership wants and the membership doesn't really say what they want.

The fact is the PSF has no authority on the language, which is what people actually care about.

D. Goodger:

I started a "Budget & Action Plan", but it needs to be fleshed out. Would anyone like to help?

(No one stepped forward.)

S. Deibel: "The real issue may be not $ but time and effort no one has available."

11   Adjournment

S. Deibel adjourned the meeting at 17:59 UTC.