February Cai-Vic Minutes 2003
MINUTES of CAI Victorian Branch Meeting
Held at 92 Rosslyn Street on 5 February 2003
Note taker: Steve Paynter
Present: Kylie Davies, Rob Brittain, Owen Courtis, Grant Diffey, Steve Paynter, Dean Validas.
Apologies: Penni Diffey, Reuben Matene, Vic Koci.
Meeting commenced at around 6:50pm.
Introductions and welcomes.
Actions Arising
Rosters:
* Rosters for Wednesdays through Fridays are ok. It was agreed that we
remain closed on Tuesdays. Rosters for next few Saturdays were worked out.
* Grant suggested some new basic courses might be offered this year, eg,
systems admin, shell programming.
* There was discussion of formal qualifications for training recipients.
Database Development:
* Grant stated that sql.cbv.prv is moving to a new server, and that the
software will be upgraded.
* People working on the database project include Grant (project manager),
Owen, Steve, and maybe Cloud.
* Grant to develop a Requirements List, implemented as a web page, so
people can specify their database needs/expectations. This to be
done by Wed Feb 12.
* Siela's database brief still lost. Grant to keep searching.
* There was discussion on the merits of monolithic database design vs.
incremental development.
Moving/Lease Re-negotiation:
* Kylie has prepared a draft letter, to be sent to the estate agents,
proposing extension of our lease, no rent increases for the forthcoming
year, and changes to bond arrangements. The draft letter was approved.
Kylie to send.
* Drainage in rear lane needs attention from the property owners. This is
a health and occupational safety issue. To be negotiated with the agents,
independently of lease negotiations.
Network Builds:
* There was discussion of various problems, eg, intermittent faults. Grant
to look at this situation this week, unless other committments take
precedence.
* Grant to notify clients this week of progress.
* CAI-Vic are not currently taking on new network builds until backlog is
dealt with. Some network builds have been outstanding for eight months.
* There was discussion of network architectures, simplification of network
builds, and problems with previous builds.
* Grant stated that it would be helpful to have volunteers with various
networking skills. Such volunteers will be sought and asked to contact
Grant next Saturday. Kylie to organise.
Policy Stick:
* Some CAI-Vic policies aren't being followed. It was suggested some
policies be presented as rules, to encourage adherence. There was
discussion of "penalties" for transgressors. Rob to look into policies
and rules.
* Kylie to add the "38 degree C" policy to the volunteer guides.
Work-For-The-Dole Report:
* Rob gave a summary of achievements. The WFD project is progressing well.
Documentatin Report:
* Dean held a class last week, and will hold several this week.
* It was agreed that a documentation meeting was needed to bring people up to
speed on various projects, eg, Zope, Style Guide. Nothing was arranged.
CAI-Vic Internet Site:
* It was agreed that there was much work to be done. Problems include
currency of information, poor design, difficult to update, not flexible
enough. Grant offered some suggestions for content management.
* There was discussion of what material was to be made public on the site.
* There was discussion of community-driven web sites.
Other Business:
a) Social Work Students.
One or two students may be available for 3 days per week, March through
July. It was suggested these students could work on, say, newsletters,
research on client needs, etc. Accommodation for these students within
CAI-Vic was considered. Kylie to organise.
b) Security Alarm.
It was agreed to cancel the service. Kylie to arrange.
c) LUV Computer.
A letter from LUV requesting a machine has been received. The machine
has already been dispatched.
d) Other Types of Volunteer Arrangements.
Some outside agencies are sending us clients with special needs, eg,
brain injury. This leads to support problems and increased workloads.
We get no funding for providing such support. Although support for
high-needs clients is implicitly covered by our charter, it was agreed
that assistance can only be offered where resources are available, and
that this will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
e) Wireless Node.
Grant proposed the purchase of equipment to provide a wireless access
point within CAI-Vic, at an estimated cost of $200. He will submit
a more detailed proposal for discussion at the next meeting. Rob to
check pricing.
f) Memory Spec Meeting.
* Kylie to arrange meeting, possibly on IRC next Wednesday evening.
* Stocks of EDO and SD RAM are critically low. Various solutions were
discussed, including shipping fewer systems but each with more memory,
and shipping less memory-hungry operating systems and applications.
Meeting closed at 8:50pm.
