Board Meeting - December 05, 2013

From Hive13 Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Board Meetings
Previous: August 18, 2013 Meeting Procedure Next: September 8, 2014

Coordinates

Date: December 5, 2013

Time: 1:00 pm to ~3:00 PM

Location: Anchor Building, 2929 Spring Grove Ave.

Attendees

  • Jon Neal (COO, Board member)
  • Ian Wilson (President, Board member)
  • Craig Smith (Board member)
  • Dave Menninger (Board member)
  • Tiffany Bell-Horwath (Board member)
  • Jim Dallam (Treasurer)
  • Mike Horwath (Secretary)
  • Ryan (member) arrived halfway through
  • Dave Blundel (CTO) Joined by google hangout later in meeting

Minutes

The meeting roughly followed an outline suggested by Jim Dallam.

Officer Reports:

  • Ian: 2013 was an OK year for the hive
    • Maker Faire was great
    • We are getting some more visibility
    • Hopes we can expand more on our outreach
    • Ian has done a lot of communication with companies to get disccounts and/or free stuff
      • We now have 20% discount at addafruit and sparkfun
      • Jon--we should make a list of this stuff
    • For 2014 we should focus on:
      • decluttering
      • make sure we have an educational plan for our equipment
      • implement a system for identifying who is certified for each equipment. This can be integrated with RFID/badge controller.
  • Jim--Financial report
    • Good year financially--we have been saving money
    • we have a paypal account (~$1300) and a PNC account(~$19,000)
    • We have some $ for new equipment, though we want to be wise in how we spend it.
    • Transition from Craig treasurer to Bill treasurer has been smooth.
    • Jim recommends Payal account should be transferred to current treasurer (so far it has just stayed in Craig's name)
      • General agreement on this point.
  • Jon--COO
    • Open house was good
    • There has been slow but steady progress in Hive improvement
      • Dirty room now completely open which is nice
      • Good year for equipment: got welder, building the big CNC mill
      • Clutter is still an issue. Getting people to respect the space and help clean is an issue.
    • Jon has plans to get more pallet racks/shelves
      • Give more storage for individual projects
    • Local company is probably giving us an "extended free loan" on a 3D printer.
      • It's a Gigabot
      • This is from a connection made from Maker Faire
  • CTO--Dave was not here, Jon stood in
    • Our network/server situation has been "more stable in some ways, less in other ways"
    • We now have more servers for people to play with
    • RFID is great and still getting better.
    • Cameras are up--we are currently only recording OUTSIDE the building.
  • Some discussion followed of plans for our security camera setup.
    • Small monitor will be setup so you can see what's outside when you are leaving.
    • the deal with garden street will let them access exterior cameras.
    • Jon would like all the interior to be internal-viewing only.
    • Discussed moving cameras
      • Potentially move the interior cameras so they are just watching the entrances, rather than center of Hive
      • We would possibly start recording to track who goes in and out.
    • Jim--we should document the location of the cameras, how to view them, etc.

Reports on Hive committees and projects:

  • Ian opened a discussion on RFID stuff
    • RFID for the outside doors in cooperation with Garden Street is a slow process, but it's coming
    • Iand has made software for RFID-powered electronics vending machine
    • Ian will stock vending machine with arduinos etc for microscontroller mondays
      • This should be helpful for small projects, new members
      • Craig mentioned sensor starter packs on sparkfun
    • We would like to RFID-ize the lazer cutter and welder access
      • Need to design a good implementation, don't want to lock people out accidentally etc
      • Jim mentioned the issue of paying for lazer minutes.
        • A handful of users are not logging/paying for their minutes consistently
        • Jon--We have not taken major action so far, but we don't want this issue to get bigger
      • Noted that we are still within healthy operating lifetime for main lazer, but the red guide needs replacing.
  • Jim opened a discussion on 2nd Tuesday Speaker program.
    • Goal was to have a speaker every 2nd tuesday (except summer months)
    • We had cintrifuse, raspberry pi, printed circuit board, etc.
    • The speakers kind of took over those Tuesday meetings--some members may not long talks.
      • We should probably give speakers a time limit--20min?
    • Our last speaker was in May. We didn't resume in fall
      • The 1-man 2nd Tuesday committee (Jim) was busy with Maker Faire etc.
    • Jim asked if this is something we want to continue, there was general support.
    • Mike will join the "2nd Tuesday Committee"
    • Ideas for upcoming 2nd Tuesdays...
      • Craig will give an open garage car hacking talk, date TBD
      • Mike is preparing a Synthetic and DIY-Bio talk (for 1/14/13)
      • Craig suggests asking local tech startups to come in.
    • Jim (and Mike) will be collecting potential speakers and contacting them.
  • 3rd Saturday cleanup
    • Jon--we did not have them the last few months due to holidays
    • Ryan has been coordinating cleanups recently (Thanks!)
    • Pallet racks should make it easier
  • Jim will writeup how to take pop cans to garden street for recycling.
    • Jim--at i3 hackerspace in Detroit, they are much more serious about labeling/organizing.
      • One example: we should put up signs by trashcans directing people to the dumpster.
      • Jon will start labeling more equipment etc.
  • Equipment and Shop Tool Committee
    • Goal was to have 2-3 people interested in doing the footwork and buying equipment, starting with table saw.
    • Some discussion of the messiness of democracy and group decision making.
    • Shop tool committee will go ahead with their original directive to procure a table saw for sub-$1000.
    • Discussed doing an online survey of the membership for a tools wish-list.
    • Jon would like to get more people wokring here who are experts on equipment--general agreement on this.
      • Better/more equipment may be the best way to get them to come
      • Jon would like to ask the experts what tools they think are most needed.
    • Jim and Jon favor the model of continuous turnover and trade-up of equipment.
    • Other random: Ian plans to bring in a full-color printer and scanner for the hive.
  • Theme nights!
    • Ryan updated on Microcontroller Mondays
      • We keep holding it, people keep showing up
      • Not huge numbers--everyone so often someone new
      • Jim recommends publicizing it better.
      • If we really start publicizing, it would be good to have a standard "canned" project for newbies
  • Jim--A new possibility: Open-Shop Wednesday (or similar)
    • Wood-shop focus. When Jim is back in town (after february) he will develop an introductory project for people to do.
      • This project would allow people to get certified on table saw etc.
    • Fab lab training could also be included.
  • Jon--another possibility--"finish it friday" (or similar)
    • Focus on coming in to finish a project and collaborate.
  • Ryan--Short canned courses available on Tuesdays would be nice.
    • This would allow people to get certified on equipment after Tuesday meetings.
  • Jason (Frictor) has been running game days--This is a nice social event for the Hive.

Goals for 2014

  • Cleanup the space a lot more
  • More tools
  • Get more people down here working on stuff. There have been more this year, but even more would be better!!
  • Ian
    • "Be more consistent about being consistent." Document-first policy for new things at the hive
      • New tools, new features need to be DOCUMENTED with pictures.
      • Welder with Ryan 2.0 was a good example of how this should work. Keep that going.
    • Community outreach! especially at smaller events.
      • Outreach to CPS elementary and middle schools?
    • Maker the place more inviting and professional.
  • Mike
    • Main goal: Documentation for equipment
      • Basic idea is to have a list of certified users and a list of experts/instructors for each tool
      • As others talked about, have a standardized "course" including a sample project.
    • Also would like to do a DIY-bio workshop.
  • Ryan
  • Get the CNC finished!
    • A bit more organization and friendly appearance for the Hive.
  • Dave
    • We now have a lot of what we want. Seems like we are focusing on upgrading. This is good.
    • Opportunity for outreach: Dave was invited to be on a panel at the Clifton cultural arts center.
      • 29th of Jan, topic is "creation"
      • There will be Cintrifuse, OpenDataCinci, etc there.
      • Also, GirlDevelopIt. They have a tiny space downtown. We have some overlap with them, could be some opportunites to collaborate.
    • Some Cinci public libraries will start having mini makerspaces! Dave will probably be on that committee.
    • It's not too early to start thinking about whether there will be another maker faire.
      • Jim--There is a ball rolling about having it at the cinci museumcenter.
  • Jim
    • As treasurer, Jim has access to who is paying dues in Paypal..
      • Would like to make some of this info more available--automatically updating count of paying members?
    • Jim volunteered to be part of "Equipment Documentation Committee" with Mike
    • Another goal: Better social media and outreach.
      • A bigger "friends of the Hive" page would be nice.
      • Dave: outreach is great, keep in mind it's a lot of work to go to all the meetups, clubs etc.
      • Big goal: make Maker Faire happen again!
  • Craig
    • Finish paypal transition
    • Possibly upgrade our ISP, and upgrade our server that hosts the web page and wiki.
      • Discussion followed about upgrade possibilities that was a bit over this humble secretary's head...
  • Make a Resolution to Achieve survey for Hive members [this has gone out on the mailing list already!]
  • Jon: One more thing: let's have the space not burn down.
  • Ian: We do not have smoke detector/fire alarms. Do we want them?
    • Discussion followed with general agreement that we should get them.
    • Since this is a commercial space, we need a "real" system not just a house smoke detector.
  • Dave B signed on Google hangout.
    • Goal--take a couple of fieldtrips to other hackerspaces
      • Would like to see ideas for improving organization and respect for the space
    • Get people to take better care of tools. Combination of ignorance and not caring?
    • Hive is hovering at the hobbyist/social hangout level, Dave would like to see it become a better space for serious projects.
    • Dave proposes retiring our VM-ware server...similar to previous discussion
      • More discussion about possibilities for upgrade.

Meeting End.

Retrieved from "http://wiki.hive13.org/index.php?title=Board_Meeting_-_December_05,_2013&oldid=8776"