Regular Member Meeting 2012 11 13

Time and Location

November 13, 2012

Meeting called to order at 8:05 by Ben

Members Present: Ben, Sharad, Katie, David, Tim C, Elizabeth, Timothy, Jamie, Tim S, Martin, Dan, Chris, Eric, Andy

Others Present: HB, Joe

Quorum met? Yes

Approval of Previous Meeting's Minutes

Regular Member Meeting 2012 09 11 - No quorum last month, need to approve this month.

Regular Member Meeting 2012 10 09

Director Reports

Vice President's Report

The Project Byzantium team spent last weekend in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn working with the Red Hook Initiative to roll out a mesh network and deliver Internet access to public parks and the the public housing buildings, many of which are still without power. Read about it here: http://techpresident.com/news/23127/red-hook-mesh-network-connects-sandy-survivors-still-without-power

The Elements of Computing Systems is starting back up, class tomorrow on Machine Language. Sign up on Meetup. http://www.meetup.com/hac-dc/events/90687312/

We have applied for a FEMA grant along with OTI, MtPCWN, CHCWN, and the Mount Pleasant Solar Co-op to develop a disaster-resilient mesh network that will provide communication and services in the event of an emergency which disrupts traditional infrastructure (similar to what RHI is doing in Brooklyn).

Project Byzantium attended IS4CWN in Barcelona and built connections with other community wireless and mesh networking teams and experts from around the globe.

The Broadband Bridge is in the planning stages of forming a Co-op ISP that would be able to re-sell the DC-CAN fiber network at more reasonable pricing. We may finally be able to get Internet that doesn't suck at St. Stephens.

While I was away I visited HacMan, Manchester's Hackerspace. It was surprisingly familiar. Pictures here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/116908653486386430967/posts/2o9uDogWKPy

One picture is a sign they posted titled "Clean Bench Policy". It reads, "Clean Bench Policy: Non-tool items left on this bench will be either put into the teardown boxes or binned. / If you want to keep something, this is a bad place to leave it! / Let's all work together to keep this area tidy." I thought that was an idea worth fork()-ing.

Treasurer's Report

Here is the financial summary spreadsheet for October 2012: File:HacDC Financials 2012 10.pdf We had one member join (Robert King), and two members are being dropped because of not paying dues or responding to emails (Alan McCosh and Lawrence Scott). After a flurry of emails, non-paying members are down from eight to four - thanks to everyone that paid up their back dues!

Quroum remains at 14.

We had a bunch of one-time donations in October which resulted in a surplus: $300 from Shana Kim, $200 from the family Christina Kalavritinos in memory of self-taught maker Ralph Ochsman, $100 from Christine Prefontaine (earmarked for Byzantium), donations to cover missed dues payments, and a wad of cash from the tip jar that had piled up in between trips to the bank (including about $100 from the Raspberry Pi workshop). As a result we had a $1558 surplus over expenses!

Project Awesome

Because of the large one-time donations, I am able to declare a $1000 Project Awesome dividend for October 2012. We could give up to $1300 this month and still add $150 to the reserve, but I wanted to spread out the dividend and dedicate $300 of this month's surplus for November's projects. Since only one project had been proposed as of Oct 31st - Project LASER - it got 100% of the votes and money for October.

I am disappointed that more projects haven't been proposed, but maybe this amount will get peoples' attention - if you had proposed and voted for your project you'd have at least $250 to spend on it. I don't know of any similar donations in the coming months but like the lottery, you can't win if you don't play.

Here is the spreadsheet I'm using to track Project Awesome funding: File:HacDC PA Projects-2012 10.pdf.

Secretary

Planning to improve website. Add clearer directions/guidance for guests and new members. Add Tools page which highlights and describes tools available at the space. Also planning to improve entry-way - organize and clean up. Possibly remove workstation.

Director-at-Large Reports

Martin

We got our ARRL affiliation and we now show up on the ARRL website when people search this area. November 28th the DC Amateur Radio Emergency Services Coordinator will be presenting at HARC.

Andy

We need to locate the DC Maker Unfaire! Suspect it was target of a CoD..

Project Awesome Reports

Project LASER

Money building up ($2500 now earmarked) but still shy of >$4000 for the larger FSLaser 40W model. Should we try to raise money or just wait for more PA funds? Found a less expensive water cooler option at Rabbit Laser, avoids mess of tank under laser table: http://www.rabbitlaserusa.com/WebShop/Chillers.html This uses a heat exchanger and fan to bring the cooling water down to room temperature, but maybe we can put it in front of a window A/C unit to get active cooling. --TimS

Member Reports

Timothy

• Successful Makey Makey Monday! Banana pianos and more.
• Interested in projects using RasPi and Kinect, offer bounty for new projects.

Katie

• Hacking the Gender Gap workshop went well. A dozen or so attendees - most non-members. Good discussion was had.
• Beginning of November hosted Lightning talks - 8 speakers. Will post to YouTube soon.
• Ordered 1000 Byzantium stickers, will arrive soon.

Chris

• OccuSensor was taken offline to retrofit with Ethernet shield, make self-aware and take over the space. Planning to broadcast UDP status packets on the network.

David

• Inherited a computer museum. Looking for good quality antique computing equipment, books, software, etc.
• Going to bring in clear plastic boxes to organize the basement space.
• Brought in some DIY bio equipment to donate.

New Business

Disperse Funds for Byzantium Stickers

Proposal: Disperse the $100 donated by Christine P. to be used toward Project Byzantium stickers to Katie, who has ordered said stickers.

Elect a new President

Brad has resigned, according to the Bylaws we need to elect a new President to replace him.

HacDC Stickers

[Approved] Propose to approve funding for a new batch HacDC stickers. Stickers are really popular with visitors and prospective members. $100

PLA for 3D Printer

[Approved] Propose to allocate funds to purchase a spool of PLA filament. $20

Fund Laser Cutter

[No] Propose to fund remainder of Laser Cutter cost from Project Awesome. -- continue with Project Awesome and bakesales

New Members

Joseph Curtin

[Approved] Software engineer for websites. Django! Building a RasPi supercomputer.

Adjournment

Adjourned at: 8:xx pm