Ocf minutes 2003 09 18

Open Computing Facility (OCF) Board of Directors (BoD) Meeting 18 September 2003 minutes by elliot@OCF.Berkeley.edu

In Attendance (name - login - position) Elliot - elliot - secretary Will - wharris Yonathan - yonasfaw Nick - njstahl Shiva - shivab Rupert - rupertc Karl - karlchen (soon to be 'quarl') Akop Pogosian - akopps - Site manager Devin Jones - jones - Site manager Patrick Feyh - cpfeyh David - remlluf Gabriel Gonzalez - gmg Bem Jones-Bey - ajani Kaisen Lin - kaisenl Solitaire - sajmm Adrian - adrian Eleen - eleen - General manager Jimmy - jkit - General manager

BoD Members Present (name - login) Eleen - eleen Jimmy - jkit Devin - jones Akop - akopps Patrick - cpfeyh Solitaire - sajmm Elliot - elliot

BoD Members Not Present (name - login) Jun - kitajun [first non-attendance]

People Elected to BoD This Meeting (takes affect next meeting) (name - login) Will - wharris Yonathan - yonasfaw Nick - njstahl Karl - karlchen (soon to be 'quarl') David - remlluf Gabriel Gonzalez - gmg

"Pre-Meeting" Personal Introductions - Name, year, major and OCF position of everyone Password Policy - Out of state has to fax copy of drivers license and ID - this policy has already been articulate on our website - or mail/fax desired password Site Manager (SM) Report - Devin's been orienting people - would love to hear new ideas - Projects - training - website redesign - trying to figure out - what needs to be done - by wheen - who does it - Akop - openssh security upgrade done - sendmail issues and upgrade - patrick moved monitors to math dept.

Posting Office Hours
    - Talked about instructions for using the whiteboard
        - top drawer of filing cabinet has markers
    - Office Hours File
        - /home/s/st/staff/staff_hours

Board of Directors Meeting Starts (even though it technically could have started earlier since quorum had been achieved) (quorum = 2/3 of BoD or 5 members, whichever is greater) (7/8 were present) (7/8 > 2/3)

Disk Management - Chris Weber (Berkeley Science Review) - From the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab - is the editor of the Berkeley Science Review (BSR) - Wants an OCF account to serve as a document management system - system would serve press-ready documents for magazine publications - i.e. huge, high dpi documents - system would need to support uploading and editing text and images

    - Disk Space Options for Them 
        - 300 megs 
            - do-able but a hassle for them
        - 2 gigabytes to 5 gigabytes
            - What they'd ideally like
    - Our servers are currently running at about 30%
    hard disk capacity, but this is given that very few users
    are taking advantage of their webspace quota.

    - Akop: "Why does this need to be on our webserver?"
        - (as opposed to ftp, etc.)
        - Web interface is ideal for them, publically
        accessable, used by non computer professionals.
    - Are they a legitimate campus organization?
        - yes, they're a student official publication
    - Are they for profit?
        - doesn't seem like it,
        ad-supported campus publication

    - Will the OCF benefit from giving them an extra-large account?
        - They said they could acknowledge the OCF on 
        "the masthead"

    - Potential Issues
        - If we give BSR more space, will other people
        demand more space?

        - Who sponsors the BSR?

        - Where would the space go?
            - web interface
                - BSR writes the document management
                software
                - or Devin helps them find some
                open source software.

        - Do we have the server resource?
        (CPU, HD space/bandwidth, network bandwidth)
            - yes

            - if they trash the server resources
            we can limit them

[Quick review of BoD policy happened] - What is quoroum - Need quorum to vote
- Who is on BoD this mtg. - you have to have been voted in previously - If you miss two consecutive meetings you're automatically ejected

[Discussion of Berkeley Science Review resumed] - Motion to give BSR one (1) gigabyte of space - seconded. - Motion passes 5/7 BoD members present - In Favor [name (login)] - Devin (jones) - Eleen (eleen) - Patrick (cpfeyh) - Solitaire (sajmm) - Elliot (elliot) - Against - Akop (akopps) - Jimmy (jkit)

- Regents' and Chancellor's Scholars Association (RCSA)
    - Wants to increase account size to 350 megabytes
        - more space for pictures
    - Wants
        - registration pages used to volunteer online
        - text
        - pics
    - elliot objects to giving them 350megs just for pictures
    - motion to give 350mb passes (6/7)
        - In Favor [name (login)]
            - Eleen (eleen)
            - Jimmy (jkit)
            - Devin (jones)
            - Akop (akopps)
            - Solitaire (sajmm)
            - Patrick (cpfeyh)
        - Against 
            - Elliot (elliot)

End of Disk Management Section

  • Cleaning

    • People are taking over Barrows
      • we have to get our stuff out
    • dungeonous room
      • lots of old records down there we need to clean out
      • postpone discussion until further time
      • discuss this over mailing list
    • equipment
      • old equipment - whose property, us or ASUC?

  • Calendar

    • Sept 26
      • Barrows
    • Sept 27
      • Barrows/OCF Lab
    • Sept 28
      • OCF Lab (and Server Room)

  • Old books in bookcase

    • Old and useless?
    • Devin and Akop will handle

  • Publicity

    • Tabling
    • E-Mail Spam

  • Whom do we want for staff?

    • anyone?

    • only OCF members?

    • Recruit out of computer science classes? -Tabling

      • Bem says tabling has worked really well in the past
      • Is anyone willing to table?
        • Will and Adrian free (9/19/03)
        • Patrick and Eleen free for part of time (9/19/03)
      • Do we have tabling materials?
        • Devin will make
      • You have to register to table
        • Eleen will register to table
    • Some people don't know the OCF exists
      • why is why the general public might not be such a bad idea, because there are just as many informed users out there as are already signed up

  • Google Groups Message Board

    • ucb.org.ocf

  • New Account Creation Process

    • Should we modify the way accounts are made?
      • Current system:
        • any staff can approve
        • once approved, root staff can create the account
      • Why current 2-step process?
        • checks and balance
        • limits people making weird accounts/ more accounts (eg get around quota)
      • Why change process?
        • Is it for the benefit of the users or the benefit of the staff?
          • web based account signup makes it easier for users
            • can do it @ any time
            • esp. times without staff
            • avoid losing lab users who are disappointed because of account creation delay
      • Can we streamline it for a fast process?
        • online approval?
        • have account created as soon as approved and then double checked later?
        • via CalNet?
          • Akop
            • some people oppose CalNet because it is strict about account conventions
          • Patrick
            • what data does CalNet allow you to collect or not collect?
      • CalNet
        • Should anyone with a CalNet ID be able to get an account?
          • It's possible to get a CalNet ID even if you're not student, faculty, staff
        • Calnet IDs don't expire immediately
        • Easier to fake a CalNet ID since someone's not sitting there looking at your picture
        • Can we get real info from AWS (CalNet)?
          • No
            • only SID and UID
            • no way to check their info, AWS keeps all the info except releasing a public SID and UID
        • Gabe will look into technical CalNet issues and e-mail staff@OCF

  • Staff Training

    • Website change

      • project lists
        • what you need to do
        • linked to list of who's qualified
        • how to do it
        • use project list as exciting recruitment tool?
        • automate the project list somehow?
      • HOWTOs
      • Devin
        • likes the idea, willing to help
        • doesn't want the project page to be on the OCF front page

      • Akop

        • should it be password protected?
        • maybe make TODO list public
        • walkthroughs private

      • Public TODO vs private TODO

      • collect all of the random FAQs scattered around the disks
        • Eleen has basic FAQ
        • info in /home/sm/smcc
        • files in /home/s/st/staff
          • anyone can add to it
          • write down your questions

      • Chartering someone to organize lists and content

        • Devin
        • make sure everyone knows where everything is

      • use revision version control or automated content management to manage all this info?

        • compare different procedures
          • many different versions of the same stuff

  • Canned Responses to E-mails

    • pre-written
    • users don't read FAQs or message boards
    • separate list of FAQ
    • we need to find old info
      • treasure hunting through the network
        • spam what you find to staff@OCF
    • compare different procedures
    • compiling the different materials together
      • Eleen will compile

  • Constitution

    • Patrick
      • Updating the constitution
        • especially regarding multiple GMs?
      • we need to follow constitutional process in order to change the constitution
      • we need prinouts and someone fluent in the constitution
        • Nick (njstahl) volunteers
          • told to mail psb@OCF with questions

  • Who Wants to be on BoD?

    • (name - login)
    • Will - wharris
    • Yonathan - yonasfaw
    • Nick - njstahl
    • Karl - karlchen (soon to be 'quarl')
    • David - remlluf
    • Gabriel Gonzalez - gmg

  • Existing BoD elects the above new members (takes effect next meeting)

  • Bring BoD list to every meeting.

Eleen motions to close Devin seconds the motion

End of Meeting