April 4th, 2013 IRC Meeting

Agenda

1. Committee Reports
2. Endorsement of reform CFAA rally, April 13th
3. Conference
   1. Space

Quick Notes / Summaries Re Proposed Bills to be Discussed:

• Demand Progress reform CFAA rally
• Conference site info

Participants

• jokeefe - James O'Keefe, Somerville
• Shidash - M. C. McGrath, Boston, MA
• SplendidSpoon - Lauren Pespisa, Cambridge/Boxboro

Observers:

• steverudy - Steve Rudolfi, Watertown, MA
• davidd
• ageis
• bsod
• illunatic
• Mozart

Summary

Endorsement of reform CFAA rally, April 13th

Agreed to endorse.

Shidash Transparency Project

Shidash is working on software that would make transparency initiatives (from leaking orgs, gov, activists, etc) more effective by encouraging more investigation, releasing more meaningful info than just documents and data, and providing clear paths to action and reform.

He is looking for beta testers. Should be available in a week.

He agreed to do an interview about it that we can put up on the blog.

Committee Reports

Democracy/IT

We are ready to move over to mayfirst. Scheduling a time to do that.

Conference

Space

Conference site info is available.

Looking like Democracy Center or Community Church.

Earliest dates Democracy Center is available are Sun., June 16th and Sun., July 14th.

Will put to a vote.

Meeting Minutes

<nowiki>

[12:02] <jokeefe> hi folks [12:03] <Shidash> hello [12:05] <Shidash> I've been working on some software people here might be interested in using and I need people to test it. Any chance I could get on the agenda? [12:05] <jokeefe> sure [12:05] <jokeefe> what is it [12:06] <Shidash> It is a transparency toolkit for collaborative investigation and disclosure of documents with meaningful and actionable information [12:06] == SplendidSpoon [~SplendidS@38.111.ly.vgu] has joined #masspirates [12:07] <jokeefe> cool [12:07] <jokeefe> hi SplendidSpoon [12:08] <SplendidSpoon> Hey [12:08] <SplendidSpoon> Lauren Pespisa, Cambridge/Boxboro [12:08] <Shidash> also I need to walk from one class to another from 12:20-12:35 or so, for the purposes of that agenda item [12:08] <jokeefe> James O'Keefe, somerville [12:08] <Shidash> M. C. McGrath, Boston [12:08] <jokeefe> ok will move things aroun [12:08] <jokeefe> d [12:09] <jokeefe> Folks ok with endorsing the reform CFAA rally on April 13th? [12:09] <Shidash> yeah [12:09] <SplendidSpoon> Yup [12:09] <jokeefe> me too [12:10] <jokeefe> passes [12:10] <jokeefe> Shidash, why don't you talk about your project [12:11] <Shidash> Ah, okay. So I'm making a transparency toolkit that provides a platform for collaborative investigation and disclosure of documents along with some plugins to automate parts of the disclosure process, visualize things in graphs, etc. [12:11] <Shidash> The basic platform is almost at a point where I can run tests and I am looking for people who may be interested in using it for investigating some issue [12:12] <jokeefe> and you want testers? [12:12] <Shidash> yeah [12:12] <Shidash> So- is anyone interested in testing it? And does anyone have issues they want to investigate? [12:12] <jokeefe> I am willing to test it. Not sure what docs to use, but will find some. [12:13] <jokeefe> Ok to get the word out about it when you have a link up? [12:13] <Shidash> The goal is to make transparency initiatives (from leaking orgs, gov, activists, etc) more effective by encouraging more investigation, releasing more meaningful info than just documents and data, and providing clear paths to action and reform [12:13] <Shidash> yeah [12:14] <Shidash> What I'll have up at first is mostly a platform for collaborative investigation and reform, so finding docs is a part of that process anyways [12:14] <jokeefe> How about we do an interview with you when it comes out and put it up on the blog? [12:14] <Shidash> sure [12:14] <jokeefe> when might it be ready? [12:15] <Shidash> I will probably have it on github fairly soon, but a version fully ready for initial tests should be ready by Wednesday [12:15] <Shidash> Some people at BU are interested in using it to investigate where tuition money is going and why it keeps increasing and that test should start next Wednesday [12:16] <jokeefe> I like that idea [12:17] <Shidash> yeah, hoping to work with some leaking orgs I have in the past too to get some tests running on their docs [12:18] <jokeefe> have you run wikileaks docs through it? [12:18] <Shidash> That is one of the first tests I'm thinking of [12:18] <Shidash> have to go to class now [12:19] == Shidash [~shidash@941-52-48-057-rfxxjmu2i.bu.edu] has quit [Quit: Leaving.] [12:20] <jokeefe> Committee Reports - Democracy Cmte is ready to make the switch, just picking the date to do it. [12:24] <jokeefe> So conference site [12:27] <jokeefe> Democracy Center or Community Church. not ideal dates for DC, but has the layout we need. CC is only one room. [12:31] == Shidash [~shidash@941-52-48-057-rfxxjmu2i.bu.edu] has joined #masspirates [12:33] <jokeefe> hi Shidash [12:33] <Shidash> hi [12:33] <jokeefe> What days work for you for Democracy committee meetings? [12:35] <feedbot> [Twitter] masspirates: RT @postacta: How the #TPP endangers access to knowledge, technology and information. Useful fact sheet ... http://t.co/pivLOCowwF - http://twitter.com/masspirates/statuses/319849461889253376 [12:35] <Shidash> online? [12:37] <Shidash> Pretty much every day if online. Just not 4-7 Tuesdays, 2-4:30 Wednesdays, or 2:30-4:30 Thursdays. Or I guess not the 30 min before those times too [12:37] <jokeefe> what about in-person? [12:38] <Shidash> Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and most of Friday most weeks [12:41] <jokeefe> ok, good [12:41] <Shidash> If you are looking at specific times to set one up in the near future, I can't do anything April 11th-15th. Aside from that I sometimes do other things on those days. My weekends don't have regularly scheduled things on them, but they do have irregularly scheduled things. So it varies every weekend if I don't know far enough in advance [12:41] <jokeefe> good to know [12:42] <jokeefe> On the conference site - We are down to Democracy Center or Community Church. not ideal dates for DC (sundays), but has the layout we need. CC is only one room unfortunately. [12:44] <jokeefe> opinions? [12:44] == steverudy [webchat@uklw025-1053-javn080.bu.edu] has joined #masspirates [12:45] == steverudy [webchat@uklw025-1053-javn080.bu.edu] has quit [Client Quit] [12:45] <Shidash> how bad would Sundays be for the conference? [12:46] <jokeefe> hi steverudy [12:46] <jokeefe> not sure. [12:46] <jokeefe> Steverudy, discussing the location of our conference - We are down to Democracy Center or Community Church. not ideal dates for DC (sundays), but has the layout we need. CC is only one room unfortunately. [12:47] <jokeefe> the plan was to have a few tracks, but CC doesn't offer that option. DC does, but no wheel chair access. [12:47] <Shidash> for me Sundays would actually work well and I would think they would work better than weekdays for most people at least? [12:48] <jokeefe> agreed. [12:52] <jokeefe> well, I'll just put it to a vote and see what people want. [12:53] <jokeefe> non-IRC vote that is [12:53] <Shidash> sounds good [12:54] <jokeefe> that is all I have [12:54] <jokeefe> other items? [12:58] <jokeefe> well have a good day folks