Oversight Board/Meeting Minutes-2021-02-17

SLOB Meeting -- February 17, 2021

Attending: Walter, Claudia, Lionel, Perrie, MrBios

From the community: Sum2it, srevinsaju

Topics

Finances

No transactions as of yet in 2021

Ombudsman

Nothing to report, although Walter will write some text to make it more obvious in our Code of Conduct that we have an ombudsman.

SFC

Claudia reported no new correspondence

GSoC

Perrie submitted the application to great acclaim

GSoD

We discussed using Summer of Documentation to prepare materials in support of teachers.

Perrie and Samson will lay the groundwork for our application

Workshops

Walter will be giving a workshop to teachers in Brazil on the 19th which could serve as a model for future Sugar Labs workshops.

Web Site

We discussed the need for some updates, including more focus on Flatpack, Sugarizer, etc. And a section on more academic papers in support of our activities. Perrie has a design proposal.

Matrix

There was consensus that Matrix worked well and we will try it again at the next meeting.

Next Meeting

3 March 2021

We have invited the new president of OLPC, Mariana Ludmila Cortés to join us in a discussion.

Log

walterbender: hello every...
any SLOB members here?
hmm. holding a meeting in Matrix seems to be a fail :P

llaske_ (@freenode_llaske_:matrix.org) joined the room. llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): Is there a channel for the SLOB meeting?

walterbender: here
but no one seems to have come to the meeting
(except you)
I even remembered to send a reminder

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): I've got a message telling that I've not right to do audio in the channel
Yes I've seen your reminder

callaurrea: Hi everyone

walterbender: Hi callaurrea
glad you made it

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): Hi

callaurrea: Thanks for the reminder

walterbender: I suppose we could try using the video call mechanism, but lets see if anyone else shows up.
Meanwhile, I can report on a few things that don't need much discussion/debate.

Finances: no transactions yet in 2021.

mrbios: hi folks.

walterbender: We have a quorum. Great.

mrbios: I have conflicting meetings but am in both :)

walterbender: Sorry. Maybe at the end we can discuss finding a better time for everyone?

callaurrea: good idea, walterbender

walterbender: Anyway, re Finances, a concern was raised about our spending $$ on lawyers. This is all related to the hopefully one-time process of setting up the non-profit org in the US.
It is the only time in our project's history that we have had legal expenses.
I don't know if it could have been done otherwise.
But it is not something we should see repeated.

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): Make sense and this work is documented from month.

walterbender: all in all, we have spent about US $500 per year on average for legal over the lifetime of the org... pretty reasonable

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): I don't think there is a real concern

walterbender: certainly nothing "corrupt" about it
any other finance questions/concerns?

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): Nope. I was very surprised by the Martin message.

walterbender: (The sum total of expenses for which I cannot find receipts is $20.)

callaurrea: I don't think we could have done the work well without the expenses

walterbender: Again, not seemingly a major concern.
Re the ombudsman, nothing to report, although I wish, if Martin had concerns, he would have approached Pattie before sending his very public admonishment.
Maybe we need to better publicize the fact that we have an ombudsperson?

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): May be we could answer Martin publicly about this

walterbender: I will try to come up with some language to include in our code of conduct document.

perrieee joined the room.

walterbender: Alex has been speaking with him (and both Alex and I wrote to him off list).

perrieee: Hi everyone

walterbender: hi perrieee

perrieee: sorry I am late

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): Hi Perrie

walterbender: perrieee: can you see the backlog?

perrieee: yes I can

walterbender: callaurrea: anything to report from SFC?

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): BTW another subject for our agenda: GSoC. Our application has been completed by Perrie (thanks). It's on the way. Result is expected March 9th

walterbender: Yes... I was going to say a public thank you to Perrie, Lionel and Jui

callaurrea: Nothing. Other than my communication with them about the W-9 form, which happened in January
No communication
Thanks you, Perrie Lionel and Jui
can you share the info? it would be good to include important highlights from the application into the minutes

walterbender: Perrie, maybe you could include the text of the application somewhere is the GSoC repo? So we don't have to hunt down all those numbers again next year.
maybe as a wiki page?

perrieee: sure .. I can put that together and share tomorrow

walterbender: thx
https://github.com/sugarlabs/GSoC/wiki

perrieee: but this is what our profile correctly looks like

walterbender: Meanwhile, we can continue to add project ideas...
Does anyone know much about the Google Summer of Doc program?
Deadlines, etc?

sum2it joined the room.

walterbender: We've been discussing it in a thread somewhere

perrieee: for ideas, I want to bring up the project for a redesign of our website again: https://github.com/sugarlabs/GSoC/pull/91#issuecomment-776364048
now the time frame has been shortened

walterbender: I think we should apply and focus on materials to support teachers to take advantage of our tools.
callaurrea: you'd be a great mentor for that theme

callaurrea: Love to

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): Clearly teachers material will be great. It's often asked for Sugarizer on the field

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): But I don't know if it could be a proposal for GSoD. Which people could really write this sort of doc ?

walterbender: perrieee: (I will share the log and minutes)
llaske_: if we find someone who can write well, we can help shape the content

callaurrea: Speaking about OLCP. Mariana may have ideas for other topics? should we reach out to her to establish connections?

walterbender: callaurrea: yes... I have been chatting with her on FB
A friend of ours just became the new president of OLPC

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): Oh really ? who is it?

walterbender: Mariana
She is interested in deepening the ties to Sugar Labs

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): Cool

callaurrea: we can invite her to present at one of our meetings... vision, where they are, etc.?

walterbender: Mariana Ludmila Cortés -- I am not sure of her OLPC email
callaurrea: great idea
I will see if she can join us in two weeks.

sum2it: Hi all, just joined and read the backlog.

walterbender: I just asked her if she can join us for a discussion in 2 weeks :P
hi sum2it
any other discussion topics?
I gave a talk to a bunch of teachers in Brazil last week and am following up with a workshop this Friday.

callaurrea: missed that

walterbender: Arranged through USP
any other discussion topics?

perrieee: yes ... what is the plan for the website refresh?

callaurrea: can we add the link to your sat workshop to the minutes?

walterbender: callaurrea: yes... I will add it

perrieee: I was personally thinking this GSoc will be a good time

callaurrea: we said we will begin with some of those activities... for our packages

walterbender: perrieee: I think it is a reasonable scope for a scaled back GSoC but we do need to have a concrete proposal as to how the new website is tangibly better -- both in terms of the visitor experience and maintenance overhead

perrieee: There is already a design drafted set ... I can share that again

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): I think we should do a light update of our website just to mention that SugarLabs is now Sugar, MusicBlocks and Sugarizer. But it could be done outside of GSoC in my opinion

walterbender: callaurrea: hopefully my Friday workshop can be a rehearsal for the (bi-?) monthly Sugar Labs workshops

srevinsaju (@srevinsaju:matrix.org): (I am not a part of SLOBS), but our website update mechanism has been broken since 2020 January

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): srevinsaju: sounds like a priority to fix it first

perrieee: https://www.figma.com/proto/iVvHw3nrOCjBi3FfCOM4PC/Sugar-refresh?node-id=924%3A1&scaling=min-zoom

srevinsaju (@srevinsaju:matrix.org): some changes like the Flathub by tchx84 and others are missing,

callaurrea: Is it Fridays?

perrieee: this is a draft, texts will change ... but yeah

walterbender: my USP workshop happens to be Friday... that is all
the Sugar Labs ones can be whenever you think best
perrieee: I will take a look... it sounds like no matter what we need to make some updates so it is good that you have put thought into it
* walterbender would like a section on background reading too
* walterbender is writing a book chapter right now on Music Blocks he could share

perrieee: do you mean something like a story behind SL

walterbender: callaurrea: https://zoom.us/j/98734210784?pwd=b0xHenJuQVpKY3VBd3Y2NFJHRnlDQT09
Password: 422968 (at 2:30 US East Coast -- 19:30 UTC)

sum2it: Will it be a part of a larger book?

walterbender: perrieee: I mean simply a list of papers about Sugar, Sugarizer, Music Blocks, etc. for someone interested in some of the pedagogy

callaurrea: Sat at 2:30 pm?

perrieee: oh oh coool yeah sure

walterbender: sum2it: a friend is putting together a collection of essays in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Seymour and Cynthia's 20 things to do with a computer paper.
I am writing about thing #11 -- music
callaurrea: Friday :smile:
* walterbender does not know how to use meojis
or type emoji

sum2it: walterbender Happy to help with drafts and/or editing, anytime.

walterbender: https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/5836

walterbender

callaurrea: we have one paper

walterbender: callaurrea: we have the Turtle Blocks one you, Cynthia and I wrote :P

callaurrea: yes!!

walterbender: sum2it: if you wanna read/comment on my draft, you are more than welcome.

sum2it: Will do.

walterbender: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qTGRsQfOmLvR5V2Y_iD9y58MRqK9MHXTS7HFh6a-wGw/edit?usp=sharing

sum2it: Thanks.

walterbender: Any other business?
I want to be respectful of the time

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): That's all on my side

walterbender: Did someone volunteer to follow up on Google Summer of Documentation?

perrieee: I can do a follow up

walterbender: thx

perrieee: Samson and I :)

walterbender: What did everyone think of using Matrix?

callaurrea: I am ok with it

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): It's like an IRC++

perrieee: I like the experience ...

sum2it: This is good

walterbender: I feel like it is a bit more inclusive than our video calls (and easier for the person writing up the minutes -- he says selfishly)
So, lets use it again next time? I will let you know if Mariana can join us.

callaurrea: agree

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): okay

perrieee: agree

sum2it: +1

walterbender: OK. Until next time, feel free to ping me here
thanks everyone

sum2it: Bye

llaske_ (@llaske_:matrix.org): Thanks all. Bye

sum2it: Thanks all

perrieee: bye, thanks all