Minutes for April 18, 2017
Broadband Communities Summit; Webteam Support: Wordpress versus Plone; BigDOG2017 preparation
Attendance
Present: Mike Adams, Anne Hance Jan Meizel, William Wagman, Robert Nickerson
Absent: Jim Frame, Steve McMahon, Matthews Williams, Sheila Evans, Tsui Chang (On Leave)
Agenda Approval
JM moved AH seconded agenda, motion carried unanimously.Public Comment
No members of the public were in attendance.Approve Minutes
Someone mentioned in the March Minutes that Sheila Evans was mis-characterized as SA not SE. Some amendments were offered by JM and incorporated into the published minutes. Moved by WW, seconded by JM, approved unanimously.Financial Report
No financial report, because SE is on vacation. it has been missed 2 months. Is there something that can be done for backup, if there are any circumstances requiring a backup, going forward it might be more important. WW will be in communication with SE about being able to present the Financial report.Broadband Communities Summit
MA sent email about expenses and intentions to the DavisGIG list, nobody had any objection. MA indicated he would match a contribution to the DavisGIG effort through BigDOG 2017, as "from the board." MA and the board had some discussion about RN's offer to go to the Light Brigade FTTH Certification course, but the optics of sending a CEO of an ISP from non profit funds was not desirable. AH asked about the fiber certification, and we made sure RN could take it at another location this yearWebteam Support: Wordpress versus Plone
There was discussion about the Davis Bike Club desire to work with the Wordpress CMS instead of Plone, reflecting the general desire of other non profits to also use this platform. We decided to discuss this issue even though SM, with the DCN Webteam was absent.- MA spoke about security, and Wordpress needing to be hosted at wordpress.com, and be on a dedicated Wordpress server.
- AH expressed that the Plone platform DCN currently supports should be able to meet the needs for flashier more "modern" looking sites, and spoke to the insecurities and complexities around supporting a Wordpress Site. Since most designers non profits work with wordpress these days that seems to be what is recommended, even though Plone is a viable alternative.
- RN indicated that Wordpress was just a PHP based web design framework and content management system, and that it didn't need to be hosted at wordpress.com or on a dedicated system. As a simple brochure style site it was generally ok. Went over the various issues that can come from conflicting plugins affecting system resources, as they are all 3rd party developed and no cross tested together.
- MA suggested that perhaps students could be contacted who would do the Wordpress support. Discussion seemed that that was not practicable because of the transient nature of student management, and the urgent needs that could be present when a site has issues.
- RN reiterated that Plone has been SOLID, and relatively management light and very stable for DCN. RN also indicated that the davisbikeclub.org site had already migrated to Wordpress on Omsoft's production web server, but is still a "sponsored DCN account".
- AH indicated DCN not support offering Wordpress and asked that any site's that leave the Plone platform, be retained should the non profit wish to return to the Plone platform
- MA indicated he would reach out to Explorit to see if we could help accommodate their new site design ideas in Plone.
Committee Reports
- RAC reported request for a mailman list, from Explorit. RN let people know about Davis Bike Club will host more mailing lists with DCN.
BigDOG 2017 Thanks to TC for handling Facebook posts. AH asks about boosting Facebook posting, and how well it worked. MA opined that it is not a typically successful strategy compared to the money expended, and didnt think it would be worth it. Ad boosting might happen around the BigDOG2017, maybe not. AH asked, could people get to the DCN page from Facebook, MA answered affirmative.
WW asked about a board 100% donation. Prize is going to be in effect. WW wanted to know if there was a way to donate to DCN, for BigDOG, w/o Internet Access, and if donations could be done "ahead of time." RN indicated he would email DavisGIG-announce and dcn-announce lists before the event to attempt to raise funds. AH asks about Enterprise newspaper article as it pertained to getting DCN out there in the community eye for fundraising. It was submitted by MA on 4.18, MA had rec'd no response about getting it published.
