Member Meeting Minutes for January 6, 2010

Agenda

• State of the Union
• Door update
• Heat update
• Electrical update
• January events
• January classes
• Make: Pittsburgh
• PCKIZ
• Elections
• Miscellaneous

Minutes by Agenda Topic

Attendees: Val, Andy, Matt M., Jon, Matt S., Marty, Doug, Jim, Bonnie, Forest, Bill, Lori, Amy, Isaac

State of the Union

• Welcome new members
  • Val!
• The hackerspace is strong!
  • Financials are good
  • Membership is stable around 20-25 members
  • Tax prep is underway
  • No update on Duquesne Law Clinic status

Door update

• Door is almost ready
• Code is done
• Matt M. will send a message when it's ready
• The plan is to put the door mechanism up but not controlling the door at first
  • Members should badge in to stress test the build
  • Next month we'll have an RFID hacking workshop :)

Heat update

• It's cold
• Leave the heater on full bore all the time
• The landlord is actively pursuing the heating situation
  • Money from PCKIZ
  • Contingent on 501(c)(3) status

Electrical update

• Matt M. is heading the electrical team
• He'll put up a blog post tonight
• We'll probably fund this ourselves
  • We do currently pay our own electric bill
• Volunteers are desired!
  • We need more power!

January events

• This Friday: Bill from the PCKIZ
• Mondays are back on
  • Ham radio study sessions Monday at 7
  • Ruby study sessions Monday at 8
  • More study sessions are always better; feel free to pick a night and lead one
• Next Friday: Derrick is hosting a railroad communications presentation
  • Topics will include how you can listen in on trackside communications
• Sunday the 17th is our next members meeting
• Tuesday the 19th is DevHouse @ HackPittsburgh
• Friday the 22nd is Powerpoint Karaoke, hosted by Derrick
• Friday the 29th will be a synth night (decided tonight!)
  • We'll have kits for sale here
  • Andy to start a forum post to determine interest

January classes

• Synth night
• There is talk of a sensors class
• A LilyPad class is being put together
• Discussion about class revenues and stocking backup parts, etcetera

Make: Pittsburgh

• We are going to start a Make: Pittsburgh group
• It's an enthusiast group
• It meets once a month
• It's shorter, and more noncommittal
  • Not membership-based
  • Presentations
  • Talks about cool stuff
• Presenters and an activity are planned already
  • Web domains are aqcuired
• Tell everybody you know!!!
• The hope is that it'll bring members in to HackPittsburgh
  • Events get publicized on Make blogs
  • These are big draws in other cities
  • This may allow a small Pittsburgh-based Maker Faire

PCKIZ

• PCKIZ director will be at the space on Friday
• He'll discuss what the PCKIZ does
  • Their goal is to bring business to Uptown and the Hill
  • They have money for events and advertisting
• We're working with them to see if we can find a mutually-beneficial relationship
  • Yes, including funding
• So far they seem to be favoriable to what we're doing

Elections

• The council's term is expiring
  • Nominations are open from now until Saturday the 16th
  • Nominations will be announced on Sunday the 17th
  • Elections will be Wednesday, February 3
  • If you are interested in running, email your intent to info@hackpittsburgh.org
• Proposal to reduce the council from 5 to 3
  • Discussion
  • We'll put this to a vote on Sunday the 17th

Miscellaneous

• Alternate locations were discussed
• Timesharing the space was discussed
• Co-working was discussed
• Group orders with Asylum were discussed
• Tie-ins with Asylum were discussed
  • Amy volunteers to be the Coffee Czar
  • Motion passes council vote 5-0
• Whiteboards!

Volunteer Hours

• Moving from a finanical incentive system to a social/culture system was discussed
• Jim spoke on the potential for the financial incentive to be a barrier to new entry
• Jim discussed some of his frustrations as a "casual member"
• Jim believes that removing the "pay penalty" may actually encourage people to help
  • You might not be motivated since you can buy out with a minimal cost
  • You might be motivated to help if it's a "moral obligation"
• Bonnie observed that the first thing potential new members see is the $60 cost
• Bonnie postulated that prospective new members see this as a "penalty"
• A few online discussions were held online today
• Matt S. feels that this is potentially worth trying
  • We still all need to pitch in
  • We want that to be part of the culture
• The proposal is that dues become $30, period
• Members will be encouraged to and expected to help out with the day-to-days (trash, etc)

Action Items

Andy:

• Get a forum post started for synth night