2014-04-02 Minutes

(20:06:59) Katemonkey: Meeting Minutes!
(20:07:03) Katemonkey: Roll Call!
(20:07:09) Katemonkey: Jake (chairing)
(20:07:10) Katemonkey: Dominic
(20:07:13) Katemonkey: Kate (minuting)
(20:07:15) Katemonkey: Gareth
(20:07:17) Katemonkey: Matt Lloyd
(20:07:18) Katemonkey: Russell
(20:07:19) Katemonkey: Daniel
(20:07:23) Katemonkey: David Clarke
(20:07:26) Katemonkey: Michel
(20:07:29) Katemonkey: Lionel
(20:07:32) Katemonkey: James Hayward
(20:07:34) Katemonkey: Pat
(20:08:05) Katemonkey: Jake opens up the calendar to look through. Any events or announcements?
(20:08:19) Katemonkey: Dominic: It's Maker Faire this month
(20:08:30) Katemonkey: Jake: Who's doing that?
(20:08:36) Katemonkey: Dominic & James: James Fowkes
(20:09:27) Katemonkey: Kate: We've got all the people going, we've got loads of projects sorted, and we always need more.
(20:09:35) Katemonkey: Jake: Do we need more flyers?
(20:09:40) Katemonkey: Kate: We're low on bookmarks.
(20:09:57) Katemonkey: Jake: We're doing a group order with other hackspaces, so we're getting more.
(20:10:04) Katemonkey: Jake: We're also looking at maybe a redesign.
(20:10:19) Katemonkey: Probably in the same format.
(20:10:46) Katemonkey: Jake: We've got an Arduino workshop on the 12th.
(20:10:58) Katemonkey: Regular Arduino evenings are happening?
(20:11:04) Katemonkey: Kate: Yeah, sorry, not in the calendar yet.
(20:11:36) Katemonkey: It goes free-paid-free-paid, so this Thursday is free
(20:11:54) Katemonkey: Jake: We also have the gaming Sundays, and the photography group.
(20:12:20) Katemonkey: Kate: We do have the big Hackspace Open Day coming up.
(20:12:32) Katemonkey: Jake: It was a bit last minute last year.
(20:12:50) Katemonkey: Jake: it'd be nice to get leaflets and stuff for that.
(20:13:05) Katemonkey: Dominic: It's the quarterly and the annually, right?
(20:13:07) Katemonkey: Kate: Yeah.
(20:13:18) Katemonkey: David: What's the date on that?
(20:13:40) Katemonkey: We wait for the Internet to load.
(20:14:51) Katemonkey: Kate: It's not on the calendar. I will add it in.
(20:14:57) Katemonkey: Jake: Bank account?
(20:15:02) Katemonkey: James: The bank account is in hand.
(20:15:25) Katemonkey: Matt Lloyd now has a passport. That deserves a round of applause.
(20:15:56) Katemonkey: Kate: Referring to the Open Day, it's the annual open day, and it's the annual members' party
(20:16:00) Katemonkey: Teams
(20:16:05) Katemonkey: Jake: Tools team?
(20:16:35) Katemonkey: David: Tools team dug £100 out of the funds and bought more substantial clamps, and braddels, and saws
(20:16:46) Katemonkey: David: I've also acquired more cabinets for organisation
(20:17:04) Katemonkey: Joe brought in a load of pieces that have been outstanding for awhile, which helps completion of the Bridgport mill
(20:17:18) Katemonkey: Dominic: Joe spent £74 on his charge card on tools, and I'm not sure what the protocol for topping that up is.
(20:17:51) Katemonkey: James: Everyone who spends on the charge card brings the spending list to the members meeting, and then we review the spending and agree that they were worthy spends, and then the card gets topped up.
(20:18:01) Katemonkey: James: We just need to have the spend log.
(20:18:33) Katemonkey: Dominic: If we're going to have these teams, they need to communicate with each other, and we need to make sure each team brings the right information to the members' meeting, including spending.
(20:18:52) Katemonkey: Jake: Because this is all new, we need to just work on formalise how we go about this stuff.
(20:19:07) Katemonkey: Jake: Now the teams now to bring the receipts and other stuff in.
(20:19:11) Katemonkey: Resources team?
(20:19:42) Katemonkey: Lionel: We've been busy spending money. We've ordered safety spectacles and other eye protection
(20:19:48) Katemonkey: Should be here in a day or two
(20:20:07) Katemonkey: We also are aware that there are shortages of screws, nuts, and bolts, which we will have a look at and replenish as needed.
(20:20:15) Katemonkey: If anyone knows of particular sizes that are needed, please let us know.
(20:20:22) Katemonkey: James: Does the card need topping up?
(20:20:29) Katemonkey: Dominic: Michelle has the card.
(20:20:36) Katemonkey: James: So how did these get purchased?
(20:20:48) Katemonkey: Lionel: It's currently on my card, and I will need topping up when the invoice comes in.
(20:21:03) Katemonkey: Dominic: And we bought tea, coffee, sugar, and the like - receipts in the drawer.
(20:21:40) Katemonkey: Dominic: Just by the by, when I go to Macro to do the SnackSpace run, I separate out the Snackspace stuff from the consumable stuff, so it's easier to account for at the end of the year.  Just people who are buying stuff needs to think about separating out invoices and the like.
(20:21:48) Katemonkey: Communications team?
(20:22:09) Katemonkey: Gareth: Newsletter went out yesterday, with a push for people to make sure to submit things if they want things to go on there.
(20:22:14) Katemonkey: We've got 510 subscribers on it now.
(20:22:39) Katemonkey: We're regularly picking up new people.  And it's including people from LeftLion and other groups, so it's getting out more.
(20:23:39) Katemonkey: Thinking about the website - we're thinking about a new responsive theme.  And I've been talking to James to get an account with Novato for picking up plugins, 
(20:24:07) Katemonkey: Things like task management and development time - it'll save us a lot of money.
(20:24:36) Katemonkey: If we dropped in a small amount of money into the account, then we could slowly use it as we needed.
(20:25:08) Katemonkey: Dominic: the only thing that might cause problems is that you'd need to check with the software team to make sure you're not doing anything they're doing.
(20:25:33) Katemonkey: Gareth: Yeah, we would. But if the little things are there and we can road test them, then we could do it.
(20:25:49) Katemonkey: Daniel: And it's not like we're developing things we can get off the shelf - we're developing things we can't find.
(20:26:19) Katemonkey: Dominic: I'm just saying it's under the Comms team purview and we shouldn't have to approve everything that comes through it.
(20:27:09) Katemonkey: Jake: sticking with the communications team, if we're going to look at flyers and new bookmarks printed, does that fall under the communications team?
(20:27:34) Katemonkey: Gareth: I've been doing some graphic work towards a new theme, which I will bring to you, but it should probably be under the communications team.
(20:27:38) Katemonkey: Jake: So I'll have to join another team.
(20:27:53) Katemonkey: Gareth: Not necessarily - but we could really use your input.
(20:27:57) Katemonkey: Jake: Software team?
(20:28:06) Katemonkey: James: We haven't done anything this month.
(20:28:12) Katemonkey: Jake: SHould you have done anything this month?
(20:28:25) Katemonkey: James: Not really.  Coming up, we'll have a booking system for the laser cutter.
(20:28:32) Katemonkey: Daniel: as well as RFID control for the laser cutter.
(20:28:44) Katemonkey: James: we're hoping to have that sorted before the laser arrives.
(20:29:33) Katemonkey: James: Next feature to come out in HMS will be RFID card system that you'll be able to manage, and a finance update.
(20:29:57) Katemonkey: Jake: Another question - the software team isn't quite as involved with the daily running of the hackspace as other teams. Do they have to report every month?
(20:30:07) Katemonkey: Daniel: Or report as and when we have something new.
(20:30:23) Katemonkey: James: We do have to report something, but we don't have to report every month. Just when we have new things.
(20:30:41) Katemonkey: Jake: Quarterly would be good. And other members of the team could arrive.
(20:31:02) Katemonkey: Dominic: These things should have been in the scope. That's what the scopes should be. It needs to be a written thing, and they need to include that.
(20:31:21) Katemonkey: Jake: So the action required is that the software team should change their scope.
(20:31:33) Katemonkey: Dominic: and it needs to be ratified in a meeting each time it's changed.  That's why it's a scope.
(20:32:00) Katemonkey: Jake: But if we're making changes to the scope, then the members' meeting is the best place for that. I would like to see that scope next time.
(20:32:06) Katemonkey: Jake: Membership team?
(20:32:13) Katemonkey: Kate: 
(20:32:52) Katemonkey: Dominic: I'm not actually part of the membership team. I'm on the membership mailing list because I have the bank account details.  I don't mind being a part of the membership team, but we desperately need more people involved, especially at around 6 o'clock on a Wednesday night.
(20:33:32) Katemonkey: Jake: Rather than people just turning up on a Wednesday night and ad-hoc doing the tours, we should look into a more directed group, especially as who is here, and who can give tours, and who can do membership stuff.
(20:33:51) Katemonkey: Jake: When someone comes to an open evening, they know they're here to spend X amount of time doing stuff.
(20:34:09) Katemonkey: Dominic: What we could definitely use is more members. How we go about executing those duties is up to those team.
(20:34:40) Katemonkey: Jake: There's an issue that has been identified - the membership team is not working as well as it could be - and the problem is that there aren't enough members.
(20:34:55) Katemonkey: Pat: Is it a case of you need more people willing to help?
(20:36:07) Katemonkey: Kate: Yes. We need people. Because if I know there's someone here to give tours, then I can do memberships, answer questions, sort out RFID cards, and organise everything.
(20:36:31) Katemonkey: Jake: What can the space do to help out the team?
(20:37:32) Katemonkey: Kate: Definitely more comms, and I was thinking of doing a recruitment run for the google group.
(20:37:56) Katemonkey: Dominic: They need to be very reliable. So I would think that recruiting people individually would be better.
(20:38:09) Katemonkey: David: What might be better is to pull people on the next few open nights and ask them directly.
(20:38:14) Katemonkey: Pat: Can I make a suggestion?
(20:38:44) Katemonkey: Some people volunteer and are really good at it, and some are really not good at it.  And the two people with the most knowledge of what's needed has the option of vetoing volunteers.
(20:39:18) Katemonkey: There's a lot of scope for people volunteering, and please take responsibility for convincing people they're not right for it.
(20:39:30) Katemonkey: Jake: Actually going to ask people to do it avoids that problem.
(20:40:25) Katemonkey: Kate: Also, I'm going to do an induction on tours. I just need to advertise it.
(20:41:06) Katemonkey: Dominic: The thing we need the most is someone who's willing to show up on Wednesdays regularly and do membership stuff.
(20:41:42) Katemonkey: James: If I was told that I had to come in three times a month to do membership stuff, then I wouldn't do it.
(20:41:51) Katemonkey: Dominic: But we need that.
(20:42:17) Katemonkey: If we had someone here who could answer the questions and get things sorted, then that's sorted.
(20:43:51) Katemonkey: Jake: Before we take over the rest of the meeting, I'm going to say that the membership team needs to talk amongst  themselves and figure things out and then come back to the next meeting and present information.
(20:43:56) Katemonkey: Jake: So. Safety team>
(20:44:05) Katemonkey: Dominic: we haven't had a meeting since the last meeting.
(20:44:20) Katemonkey: Jake: Do you need to be like the software team and report quarterly or so?
(20:44:45) Katemonkey: Michel: Well, the RFID thing...
(20:44:51) Katemonkey: Daniel: That's not part of what we're doing.
(20:45:11) Katemonkey: James: That is different. There is a discussion about access to certain tools with training, but it's not related to the RFID laser cutter aspect.
(20:45:29) Katemonkey: Dominic: there is a discussion about access to tools, but I don't know if that's a remit for the safety team.  We need to define our scope.
(20:45:49) Katemonkey: James: The teams that haven't defined their scope should give monthly meetings.
(20:46:17) Katemonkey: Jake: The teams that don't have a scope should provide a scope next meeting.  And then I'll nag them about it.  And in the next meeting, we'll also decide the frequency of reporting.
(20:46:26) Katemonkey: Jake: How are we doing?
(20:46:33) Katemonkey: Matt: We have numbers, but they're not on the wiki yet.
(20:46:44) Katemonkey: And we're rich!
(20:46:54) Katemonkey: James: What about the laser cutter.
(20:46:58) Katemonkey: Matt: not yet.
(20:47:10) Katemonkey: Dominic: You've paid £3500 so far.
(20:47:18) Katemonkey: Matt: So we've paid it. Then we're rich.
(20:47:41) Katemonkey: The bank balance at the end of the month was £6600, but there's still around £1000 outstanding towards the laser.
(20:48:02) Katemonkey: Jake: do you have incomings and outgoing for the past month?
(20:48:07) Katemonkey: Matt: Yes.
(20:48:12) Katemonkey: [numbers to be added later]
(20:49:17) Katemonkey: Matt: there was one thing - electricity usage is still going up.
(20:49:29) Katemonkey: Dominic: Oh, is it not okay to run a power cable to my house?
(20:49:41) Katemonkey: Matt: No. Our electricity bill was over £300 last month.
(20:49:53) Katemonkey: Pat: is it consumption or price changes?
(20:49:59) Katemonkey: Matt: Oh, it's totally consumption.
(20:50:07) Katemonkey: James: It's not that bad.
(20:50:19) Katemonkey: Dominic: It just means that people are using the space. It's a good thing. It's what we should expect.
(20:51:32) Katemonkey:  Jake: Any other business?
(20:52:00) Katemonkey: Daniel: The purchase of two new wireless access points. They're old and probably part of the reason the wifi access is so low. £56.93 each.
(20:52:03) Katemonkey: Everyone agrees.
(20:52:12) Katemonkey: Jake: Any other?
(20:52:16) Katemonkey: Pat: 3D Printers!
(20:52:54) Katemonkey: Sorry that the mess on the shelf in the blue room has been left, but the studio shelf is now almost sorted and we will have a space 3D printer available soon. 
(20:53:09) Katemonkey: I'd like to organise the shelf to make sure we organise spares.
(20:53:21) Katemonkey: Dominic: I'd rather that we spent the effort making spares to making a working machine.
(20:53:32) Katemonkey: Jake: is it a big task to break that one down and make it into a working machine?
(20:53:36) Katemonkey: Pat: not really.
(20:54:01) Katemonkey: It'd be nice to clear out that shelf and provide a new storage space.
(20:54:43) Katemonkey: We're hoping to have an induction schedule in place, with organisation, between me and Chris Cain, and there's a lot of hype with the thing, and it should be a tool we can use.
(20:54:46) Katemonkey: Dominic: 251 members!
(20:54:51) Katemonkey: James: That's what Matt Lloyd said.
(20:55:09) Katemonkey: Pat: Would you be okay to cover £10-15 to cover expenses?
(20:55:13) Katemonkey: Everyone agrees.
(20:55:24) Katemonkey: Jake: Any other business
(20:55:58) Katemonkey: Russell: Library exclusions? Can we keep the catalogues there?
(20:56:07) Katemonkey: Kate: Yeah - there's a place for them. Just not with the other books.
(20:56:10) Katemonkey: MEETING OVER.