Grex has always prided itself on being as open as feasible. Anyone who could physically get to a meeting was welcome to attend. Teleconferencing was possible but limited to remote board members out of necessity. I'm proposing we use technology to open our meetings by simulcating and video/audio recording them so that folks could watch and listen to them, live, with the ability to participate, again, real time, via chat. Or catch them later as their schedule allows. If people were camera shy they could sit where the camera wouldn't catch them. Or video could simply stare at a sign stating "Grex Board Meeting" and the date. I'm not all that enamored with the video thing - it's cosmetic and sounds like work. But the audio feed and ability to be live with chat? Lovin' it. It seems to be a nice fit for our open meetings philosophy and the fact we want our governance to be transparent. There will be a learning curve where we will all have to remember it is, indeed, an open meeting, and not let the conversation meander where it shouldn't. But that's true, recorded or not. I'd be happy to help with the broadcast & recording process at meetings I could attend. I won't be in town for the Feb 7th. meeting. So, how do you feel about opening up our board meetings in this fashion?24 responses total.
totally like the idea. nothing wrong with a little meandering (good entertainment value).
I totally like the idea too!
audio id JustFine (tm) ... rocognize that the .mp3 is 1/10th the size of the vidleo file. if we can get staff/board approval i can chmod back to 644 for the intersted.
I think AV would be good, but just audio is acceptable. I like the live stream idea, and don't really understand why posting the audio is controversial.
The board could be dealing with confidential information. Say, a staff report on a persistent vandal. Or information offered in confidence about one of Grex's suppliers. It would also mean that everything said in a board meeting would have to be spoken with slander/libel suits in mind. For example, if a staff person said, "Crap, Ratface took us down again, and here's how he did it this time," do we want the staff person worried about a lawsuit from Ratface?
In that case, the Board should go into executive session and turn off the microphones. Assuming, that is, that you can predict in advance that you'll be talking about Ratface (or other users or members). From what I've seen, that isn't all that likely as it's fairly natural to slip into a conversation about something like that without much thought for the audio. Having the meeting recorded every time will take some getting used to, I expect.
I don't know, from the board meetings I attended when I was on the board of Arbornet, we always had closed sessions with board/staff to discuss issues like that. I'd think Grex would do something similar, though perhaps it's more difficult at Zingerman's.
Re #5: What about editing it out? You'd need to maintain a text file along with the video, noting the point where the edit was made and what was said :) Like so: Time 00:32:00 Note: X called Y Ratface was edited out ---------- perfectly legal.
ffmpeg -i input.avi -vcodec copy -ss 00:20:00 -t 00:00:50 test1.avi -ss 00:30:00 -t 00:00:50 test2.avi -ss start copy at 20 minutes -t for 50 seconds You get the added benefit of conversion so you can rip it to a lower bit-rate or dump only the audio out and stuff like that. With a fast processor, it shouldn't take very long.
To avoid questions about the editing, it's better to not make such statements in the first place.
What a novel idea....
I'm in favour of both audio and video. The Board has gone into executive session before, and probably will need to again. Make a motion and if it passes kick everyone out and turn off the microphones. I'm also in favour of publishing the record of the most recent Board meeting. I know that some who weren't there have heard it, so everyone else should get the same opportunity.
re #5 krj you are stating concerns that are not viable. Board meetings take place irregularly and when they do, the members should be responsible for what they say anyway. A board meeting is not a private bull session, it is public meeting. Open to the public. Therefore nothing said at a board meeting should be of a nature that it can't be said in public anyway. If you wanted to have 'closed' board meetings at a different time, where only board members are allowed to attend, you could do that. But as these board meetings are in fact open to the public, there should be no issue with regard to simulcasting/recording.
I agree with resp:12. We would have been doing it along if the technology had existed in 1991 when Grex started up.
The fact that Cyberspace's board meetings are public does not mean they should be broadcast freely and openly on the web. The reasons should be obvious (if only because Grex doesn't want to further alienate the few volunteers it has), but public at some sandwich shop does not mean the same thing as broadcast for everyone to see, and for good reason.
Why shouldn't the board meetings be public on the web? The board might get more serious about the business of the organization.
resp:15: Please elaborate on the obvious reasons, because I'm not seeing them. What are the good reasons? I might agree with limiting the viewing to people who have accounts on grex and authenticate to get the file, but beyond that I can't find the logic to suggest there are good reasons to disallow this.
I don't even see why access should be limited to folks with Grex accounts. How could that even be enforced? You never know who's looking over someone's shoulder. Grex Board meetings have always been open to the public, not requiring a Grex account for admission. In early times, for practical reasons, this meant attendance was limited to folks who could physically haul their bodies to the meeting site, but with current technology, that restriction seems a bit artificial.
resp:18: I meant only people with a grex account could download or view the meeting (they'd have to authenticate to the webserver to access the file). Obviously there is nothing preventing someone from sitting in an office and letting everyone watch. For the record, I'm not suggesting that be done, just saying that if someone objects to it being totally free for anyone to just hit the website and download, it could be protected in that way and at least require authentication first.
All these discussions of what the board *could* be doing are irrelevant. The fact is that Grex isn't doing those things and hasn't been for years. Just broadcast the meetings.
The next BOD meeting is scheduled for March 7th. I believe I can attend and would be happy to bring along what is needed to simulcast the meeting as well as make an audio file of it for those who'd like to listen to it later on their own schedule. These are open meetings. Is there support for going this route and including everyone who is interested in being part of the process?
audio, yes.
post the feed ,bitches
kma
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