PSF Meeting Minutes for June 8, 2009

Subscribe via RSS

The Python Software Foundation
Minutes of a Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors

June 8, 2009

A regular meeting of the Python Software Foundation ("PSF") Board of Directors was held over Internet Relay Chat beginning at 16:00 UTC, 8 June 2009. Steve Holden presided at the meeting. Pat Campbell and David Goodger prepared the minutes.

All votes are reported in the form "Y-N-A" (in favor — opposed — abstentions; e.g. "5-1-2" means "5 in favor, 1 opposed, and 2 abstentions").

Contents

1 Attendance

The following members of the Board of Directors were present at the meeting: Brett Cannon, David Goodger, Raymond Hettinger, Steve Holden, Andrew Kuchling, Martin von Löwis , David Mertz, Tim Peters, Jeff Rush, and James Tauber. Also in attendance were Kurt Kaiser (Treasurer) and Pat Campbell (Administrator).

2 Minutes of Past Meetings

The 11 May 2009 Board meeting minutes were approved by a vote of 10-0-0.

3 Votes Taken Between Meetings

Two votes were taken since the last Board meeting on 11 May.

3.1 Support MSU/Snakebite Funding Application to Mellon Foundation

RESOLVED, that in the event of the "Python Bildhaus" proposal receiving funding from the Mellon Award for Technology Collaboration, the PSF will contribute complimentary PyCon registration and hotel accommodations for two students involved each year for the duration of the project.

Approved by unanimous email vote, May 14, 2009.

3.2 $800 Grant to GNOME Foundation

RESOLVED, that the PSF support Libre Graphics Meeting 2009 through an $800 grant to the GNOME Foundation.

Approved by unanimous email vote, May 16, 2009.

4 Status of Past Action Items

(Pending action items appear like this.)

Action items are tracked in the private PSF wiki and their status is recorded in the regular minutes. The numbers in square brackets (like "[0]") refer to the action item ID on the wiki.

4.1 Carried Forward

The following are action items carried forward from the 11 May 2009 meeting, as highlighted in the minutes (Section 4, Status of Past Action Items). Numbers in [brackets] represent the item ID in the PSF private wiki.

[11] Originally from June 2006, Section 6, PSF Records: The Board agreed to assemble the existing records in one place, have them scanned, and enter them into the PSF data repository. D. Goodger will coordinate this work and maintain the records. [Update 2008-12-08] D. Goodger will identify the records for scanning and send photocopies to P. Campbell. [Update 2009-03-10] Copies received by P. Campbell [Update 2009-06-08] D. Goodger to send more copies to P. Campbell for scanning.

Item updated on 2009-06-08.

Status: active.
[30] Originally from August 2006, Section 10: T. Peters will ask the advice of Larry Rosen regarding concerns with the contributor agreement.

Status: pending.
[23] Originally from 14 April 2008, Section 5, Treasurer's Report: S. Holden will assist K. Kaiser with accounts receivable reminders.

Item passed from S. Holden to P. Campbell on 2008-12-08.

Status: active.
[15] Originally from 14 April 2008, Section 7, PyCon Asset Record-Keeping: D. Goodger will update the assets file in PSF CVS with the details of the laptops and VGA2USB boxes purchased for PyCon 2008.

Status: pending.
[16] Originally from 14 April 2008, Section 12, Sponsor Membership Issues: D. Goodger and P. Campbell will update the member information in members.xls (sponsors & nominated members) & sponsor-addrs.txt, in PSF CVS.

Status: active.
[22] Originally from 16 June 2008, Section 6.1, Treasurer's Report: K. Kaiser will submit an expanded report to psf-members.

Status: active.
[4] Originally from 16 June 2008, Section 6.2, Treasurer's Report: D. Goodger will follow up regarding the PyCon transaction analysis.

Status: pending.
[5] Originally from 16 June 2008, Section 6.3, Treasurer's Report: D. Goodger will ensure that documentation for unpaid PyCon tutorials is found and provided.

Status: done.
[9] Originally from 16 June 2008, Section 6.7, Treasurer's Report: D. Goodger will follow up regarding unpaid PyCon sponsorships.

Status: done.
[10] Originally from 16 June 2008, Section 6.8, Treasurer's Report: D. Goodger will follow up regarding unpaid PyCon registrations.

Status: pending.
[25] Originally from 11 August 2008, Section 6.2, PyCon UK Sponsorship: R. Hettinger will propose a blanket policy for sponsorships, instead of one-off requests.

Status: pending.
[17] Originally from 8 September 2008, Section 7, PSF Logo: D. Goodger will produce final layouts for a PSF logo.

Status: pending.
[34] Originally from 8 December 2008, Section 5, Role of Administrator: D. Goodger and P. Campbell will verify and update the member contact information.

Status: active.
[38] Originally from 12 January 2009, Section 7.2, Trademarks Committee (TMC): J. Tauber will work with the Trademarks Committee on establishing voting procedures.

Status: pending.
[39] Originally from 12 January 2009, Section 7.3, Trademarks Committee (TMC): J. Tauber will document the Trademarks Committee procedure as discussed at the Board meeting.

Status: pending.
[40] Originally from 12 January 2009, Section 7.4, Trademarks Committee (TMC): J. Tauber will work with counsel on a proposal to register Python trademarks.

Status: pending.
[42] Originally from 12 January 2009, Section 10, Legal Issues: K. Kaiser will look into acquiring errors and omissions insurance for the Board of Directors.

Status: pending.
[43] Originally from 9 February 2009, Section 9, Internet Domain Management: S. Holden will frame a motion regarding the management of the PSF's Internet domains.

Status: done.
[44] Originally from 9 February 2009, Section 12, PSF Community Awards: D. Goodger will ask the members for nominations for the PSF Community Awards.

Status: done.
[46] Originally from 12 March 2009, Section 5, Internet Domain Management: S. Holden will ask Sean Reifschneider about domain management services.

Status: done.
[50] Originally from 12 March 2009, Section 8, Account Signature Authority: K. Kaiser will obtain signature cards from the PSF's bank and coordinate their signing.

Status: pending.
[51] Originally from 27 March 2009, Section 4, New Members: D. Goodger and P. Campbell will inform the new members of their election, invite them to join the psf-members list, and will update the membership records.

Email sent to new sponsor members on 2009-06-08.

Status: active.
[52] Originally from 27 March 2009, Section 5, PSF Community Awards: P. Campbell will add "PSF Community Award nominations" to the Board agenda quarterly.

Status: active.
[45] Added 2009-05-08: A. Kuchling will design, write, and deploy a Python for Beginners site. (Discussion/notes in public wiki).

Status: active.
[57] Added 2009-05-08: A. Kuchling will analyze how much 'coverage' we have in contributor agreements and if there are any high-profile contributors who haven't signed agreements. Go after people to improve our coverage. (Transferred from #13, Dec 2006 §4.)

Status: active.

4.2 New On 11 May

These action items originated at the 11 May 2009 Board meeting on IRC.

[58] Section 5, New Memory for PSF Computer: M. von Löwis will purchase new memory to replace faulty memory on a PSF computer.
[59] Section 6, PyCon Funding for GSoC Administrator: S. Holden will notify Titus Brown and Arc Riley about the PyCon funding for the GSoC Administrator.
[60] Section 7, "NiceTime" Grant Application: S. Holden will ask Ian Benson for an updated "NiceTime" proposal with a detailed budget.
[61] Section 10, Funding Application for EuroPython: S. Holden will inform the EuroPython organizers of the PSF's funding and will ask for an invoice.
[62] Section 11, Nominations for Frank Willison Award: D. Goodger will confirm the Frank Willison Award selection process with Guido van Rossum, and will communicate the Board's feelings as discussed at the 11 May Board meeting.
[63] Section 11, Nominations for Frank Willison Award: D. Goodger will coordinate the gathering of nominations for the 2009 Frank Willison Award.
[64] Section 12, Quarterly Nominations for PSF Community Awards: P. Campbell will mail out awards to first quarter recipients of the PSF Community Awards.
[65] Section 13, Board Email List and Repository Access to PSF Administrator: S. Holden will initiate further discussion via email about adding the PSF Administrator to the Board email list and granting access to the repository.
[66] Section 14, Contract Renewal for Conference Coordinator: S. Holden will draw up a formal renewal contract for D. Goodger, with the assistance of V. Lindberg.
[67] Section 14, Contract Renewal for Conference Coordinator: S. Holden will make a formal written offer of employment as Conference Coordinator to D. Goodger once the contract is agreed.
[68] Section 15, PyCon Report: D. Goodger will update the Board by email as soon as the PyCon 2009 financial information is available.

4.3 New Between Meetings

No action items were added since the last Board meeting on 11 May.

5 Grant Funding for SciPy 2009 Student Sponsorship

The Board discussed a $10K funding request for the SciPy 2009 conference to sponsor student attendance.

T. Peters: "I like the SciPy proposal. It was clear and nicely justified."

M. v. Löwis: "I'm a bit skeptical about funding registration. Otherwise it looks fine to me."

D. Goodger: "Last year's SciPy grant was $7500."

T. Peters: "This year it works out to $1K for each of 10 "involved" students, which seems an investment to me."

RESOLVED, that SciPy 2009 be offered grant funding of $10,000.

Approved, 10-0-0.

[71] S. Holden will inform the SciPy 2009 organizers of the PSF's funding for student attendance and will ask for an invoice.

6 Domain Name Management

The Board agreed that it was reasonable to put PSF-owned domains under external management. S. Holden: "Basically I am just trying to ensure continuity without action by directors/staff."

RESOLVED, that all domains under PSF control should be managed by tummy.com ltd, at an annual cost of $25 per domain.

Approved, 10-0-0.

The pycon.org domain was discussed. While there is a strong desire to bring the domain under the PSF's control, the domain's owner (Marc-André Lemburg) is reliably and responsively managing it.

A. Kuchling noted that "we do need to document how new domains will be brought to tummy's attention".

S. Holden: "Good point. I imagine they'll brief us on procedures. We need to keep Pat in the loop there."

7 Funding for PyCon Talk Recording Process Improvement

S. Holden:

Carl's point is that we need to train video volunteers for PyCon 2010, and that we will also get some user group content. I feel this would be helpful. He will also improve the documentation.

Mostly he wants to fine-tune his system so that user groups can eventually get a kit and record their own meetings.

If we could get to the stage where the equipment we have bought can be used to help user groups produce better recordings, I think that would be very worthwhile.

Aspects of the proposal were discussed: the money is for compensation for time spent; concerns about Carl's ability to do documentation; the link to recruitment of A/V volunteers.

RESOLVED, that Carl Karsten be funded with a grant of $2,000 for approximately 40 hours of experimentation and documentation work to improve the video recording process.

Approved, 9-1-0.

8 Licensing of PSF Trademark Policy

S. Holden: "Do we want to license the policy, or simply declare that anyone who wishes to is free to derive their own policies from it?"

The Board discussed adding a Creative Commons license the trademark policy text. It was proposed to release the policy text to the public domain. T. Peters noted that "our last lawyer (Larry Rosen) insisted that it was legally meaningless for us to try to put anything in the 'public domain'". D. Goodger mentioned the CC0 license as a possibility.

RESOLVED, that the Trademark Policy be published under the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution license at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/.

Defeated, 4-5-1.

After further discussion the initial vote was defeated and the Board agreed to consult with V. Lindberg on licensing. His advice was forthcoming by email during the meeting and a further vote was taken on an amended motion.

RESOLVED, that the Trademark Policy be published under the Creative Commons CC0 license (http://creativecommons.org/about/cc0).

Approved, 9-0-1.

[73] S. Holden will inform the original inquirer of the trademark policy licensing under the Creative Commons CC0 license at http://creativecommons.org/about/cc0.
[74] D. Goodger will edit the trademark policy web page to reflect its Creative Commons CC0 licensing.

9 PSF funding of PyCon 2010 Conference Planning

The Board discussed PSF funding be provided for a business trip to Atlanta by Sean Reifschneider and David Goodger to plan for the PyCon 2010 Conference, discuss PyCon internet, and survey the venue.

RESOLVED, that the PSF fund travel expenses including meals for David Goodger and Sean Reifschneider to visit Atlanta and plan PyCon 2010.

Approved, 9-0-1.

10 PyCon 2011 Venue

D. Goodger requested the Board's approval to hold PyCon 2011 in Atlanta at the same venue as PyCon 2010. The Board agreed.

D. Goodger noted that the venue contract would be coming soon, and that an email vote will be required.

11 CTE Contracts for PyCon 2010

RESOLVED, that David Goodger is authorized to obligate the PSF under the Conference Technology Enhancements, Inc. (CTE) Housing & Meeting Planning contracts ([1], [2]) for PyCon 2010.

[1] pycon/2010/CTE-housing.pdf in PSF CVS

[2] pycon/2010/CTE-meeting-planning.pdf in PSF CVS

Approved, 9-0-1.

A. Kuchling:

Housing will use CTE's registration system. Could we contemplate using CTE's system for online registration, too? Should we?

D. Goodger: "Our needs are so odd that [CTE's] system doesn't apply."

[75] D. Goodger will sign and fax the CTE contracts for PyCon 2010.

12 PSF Community Award Nominations (2nd Quarter)

S. Holden noted that the Board had already decided to grant Stephan Deibel a PSF Community Award.

RESOLVED, that Sean Reifschneider (of tummy.com, ltd) be awarded the PSF Community Award for long-term assistance with PyCon networking.

Approved, 10-0-0.

D. Goodger recommended that those attending EuroPython look for deserving people there.

[69] P. Campbell will mail out awards to second quarter recipients of the PSF Community Awards.
[76] S. Holden will write PSF blog entry about second quarter recipients of the PSF Community Awards and send email to PSF members.

13 Frank Willison Award Nominations

The Board took some time to decide on a recommendation, since everyone nominated is worthy of the award.

[Details temporarily omitted from the public minutes, to be restored after OSCON 2009.]

[78] S. Holden will communicate the results of the Frank Willison Award nomination to G. v. Rossum and O'Reilly.

14 Progress Reports

A. Kuchling: "Still working on Python introductory micro-site. ... I'm increasingly thinking we need to pick up the budget task again."

D. Goodger: "Nothing new on PyCon since my email reports last week. ... I have some forms to send to Pat [Campbell] for scanning."

R. Hettinger: "I'm still working on contributor agreements. Several more people have replied."

[70] A. Kuchling will draw up a PSF budget plan.
[77] S. Holden will write to CTE Housing Staff to thank them for the excellent results involving PyCon and the hotel attrition charges.

15 Adjournment

S. Holden adjourned the meeting at 17:05 UTC.