[Fsfe-uk] Re: Minutes of FSFE-UK List, 18th November 2001

[Loic Dachary]

        Thanks a lot for publishing these minutes. 

> [Action 1 (ALL): look at the aims on the FSFEurope web site]
> [Action 2 (ALL): look at APRIL statute concerning these aims, and other 
> similar organisations]

        I'd suggest also looking at the statute of ANSOL (ansol.org)
since they are available in english (which is not the case of APRIL
statute, AFAIK).

> A charitable organisation was considered, but rejected due to the
> strict limitations on the political activity placed on such an
> organisation. It was pointed out that this would be better suited to
> the FSFE UK Chapter, when that is formed, as it would complement the
> Associate organisation and have the benefits of tax relief on
> donations, etc.

        Are 'industrial provident society', or 'private limited company'
a kind of non profit organization ? Is the final decision to build 
a company that is for profit (in theory if not in this specific case) ? 
Sorry if I'm being too confused here because I know nothing of the british
legal system. 

> A donation of around £10 would be requested, to provide some form of
> revenue from which the group can operate. Paper copies of newsletters,
> etc., would only be provided on a 'full' membership, although the full
> terms of membership still need to be set out.

        It is interesting that you plan to release a newsletter. This
is a lot of work but very useful. 

> Discussion on the idea of 'Corporate Membership' was started, but no
> particular conclusion reached.

        The general idea is that it brings more problems than it
solves unless there is an established base of individual members. If
companies are invited to join from the beginning it may be
discouraging for individuals. Limiting membership to individuals for the
first year or the first two years and then reconsider the question is
a good solution, IMHO.

>       AGMs/EGMs: one AGM a year would be preferable, possibly more,
>       perhaps initially being arranged to coincide with some other
>       event (an Expo, UKUUG, or big Lug meeting?)

        It turns out that AGM for April require some amount of
organization the would be hard to do while organizing a booth at an
exhibition. Unless there are too many volunteers, of course, but that's
rarely the case ;-)

>       GNU Day: AGK raised the idea of 'GNU Day', which would be an
>       event promoting Free Software to those who would want to learn
>       about it, similar to an Expo but not quite on that scale and
>       aimed at those who are less aware of Free Software. It was
>       agreed that this would be the sort of event that the group
>       should support.  LUG presence, etc: given many attending are
>       members of LUGs far and wide, being present at LUGs on some
>       level (maybe even just handing out leaflets or talking to
>       people) would be advantageous, to spread awareness of the
>       organisation. This could also work in other group meetings.

        You mean GLUGs ? I like the GNU day idea because it would nicely
complement the purely technical activities of most GLUG with some
philosophy and ethics.

> Press;
> 
>       providing local contact points for the press in the UK, both
>       trade and non-trade. Raising awareness of Free Software issues
>       (perhaps in a similar way to UKCDR raising the 'Free Dmitry'
>       campaign on BBC Newsnight) would be a core aim of what we are
>       doing.

        Could you provide pointers on ukcdr & Free Dmitry please ?

>       pro-actively create copy for magazines, etc., so that we have
>       materials ready to go when the opportunity to publish an
>       article/advert/whatever comes around.

        I do not understand this. Could someone explain please ?

>       Other key activities would include acting as a support and
>       information source for Free Software authors in the UK,
>       campaigning on political issues (lobbying, etc., as well as
>       writing articles and informing), as well as the internal
>       activities of the organisation (writing newsletters, for
>       example)

        This is definitely something that is much needed. In France it
did not require to actualy write a web site or a reference document:
there are plenty available everywhere and Free Software developers
have their sources already. It was just a matter of meeting each
others and chat (irc or live) about details related to Free Software
(development technics, licensing, GNU project, Debian evolution
etc. etc.).

> UK Development (Localisation)?
> 
> What are key opportunities for the organisation to promote, educate
> and support Free Software developers in the UK? AGK gave an example of
> people designing a Free PKI infrastructure that is currently being
> pitched at Government, which would be the sort of project that the
> organisation might want to support on a number of levels.

        Is there a pointer to this PKI ? I found that the most useful
way to approach Free Software developers (individuals or organizations) is
to offer them help. That's often not very time consuming. By talking during
a few minutes about the project one can usually make a useful remark
that helps the Free Software developer. That starts the dialog in good
conditions. 

> External Points of Contact
> 
> It was agreed that the organisation should have as many external
> points of contact as possible. Initially, this includes the mailing
> lists, website and key e-mail addresses. However, other contact
> methods we need to look at are:

        I'd like to add that it would be useful to identify people in
AFFS (chosen name of the organization, right ?) who have actual links
with other existing Free Software organizations in Europe. Who is
already talking to ANSOL, APRIL, FFS, OFSET, GNU Spain, ASSOLI etc
... ? And who is in contact with other Free Software organizations
world wide ?

        Activities focus on UK and will be a lot more efficient by
implementing cooperation with similar organizations in other
countries. AFFS is also in a unique position in Europe since your
native language is english and everybody is able to understand what
you say.  That's an advantage but that's also a burden since all other
organizations will more or less rely on you to provide english
linguistic expertise ;-)

        Cheers,

-- 
Loic   Dachary         http://www.dachary.org/  address@hidden
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