Structure Group Report 2012-04-30

STRUCTURE GROUP REPORT April 2012

http://freegle.it/Structure

This is a summary of discussions since our last report of 31st March 2012, covering messages 10043 to 10099.

Our membership stands at 69 (the same as last month).

The topics we have discussed this month are below:

Task 14: Groups leaving Freegle

We had this task on our list a while ago and marked it as complete as it was shifted over to Start. Start had long and thorough discussions on this, ending with a poll on the group and an entry being put here in the wiki detailing what was decided on [Disaffiliation]]

This is the only task from the Start group that was shifted to us now we have changed our remits. We have been deciding whether this task is complete or whether this disaffiliation procedure should be subject to wider poll for adoption, given that affiliation of a group is subject to national agreement. A poll was taken.

Poll Question:

Task 14: Start has devised a procedure for disaffiliating groups - Disaffiliation. Should adoption of this procedure be by national Volunteer poll at the earliest opportunity? Or should we ask the Reps to recommend it for a trial period of up to 8 months (until the AGM), subject to ratification by national poll. Or should it be by notification to Central by the Reps for a 7 day period of discussion/opportunity to object then adoption if acceptable.

RESULTS

- Reps to recommend for trial period, 3 votes, 20.00%

- Reps to propose to Central for 7 days objection/adoptoin, 10 votes, 66.67%

- None of the above (please explain on group), 0 votes, 0.00%

- National Volunteer poll, 2 votes, 13.33%

- Abstain (please explain on group), 0 votes, 0.00%

This gives us a clear majority vote so the Reps have been handed the task to put to central. Task Complete.

Task 52 - Asset Security

a. It is important that Freegle has secure assets

b. Our assets were identified as:

• Server access (which geeks have and is therefore not tied to an individual).
• IPR for code (which currently rests with the people who wrote it).
• Bank account (which the Reps collectively manage).
• Domain names :
  • freegle.in, freegle.it, frgl.it (Paul owns)
  • ilovefreegle.org (Neil Morris owns)
  • copyright in the logo (Ollie owns some)
  • freespout.org.uk (Edward owns)
  • ilovefreegle.org.uk (Edward owns)

c. We contacted Neil who has given access to ilovefreegle.org to Edward.

d. Paul confirmed he is happy to pass over ownership of the names he holds; geeks have access to them at the moment.

e. Jane is looking into a legal entity that could hold the various assets on behalf of Freegle, rather than individuals.

f. Until a separate entity is sorted out, the geeks collectively have the access needed to run Freegle and the Reps collectively manage the bank account.

Task 34 - Access Security

Two years ago Paul flagged up that it is normal practice for IT people to sign a confidentiality agreement (message 3667). This was agreed to be taken over to People group by Ray, the Returning Officer at the time. An agreement hasn't been drawn up, and Ray is no longer the RO, so Jacky asked:

• 1. Do we need an agreement for Freegle?
• 2. If we do, does anyone wish to lead this task?

There was a brief discussion on this and we agreed that there was no point because in a commercial environment, you sign this to allow legal action if you breach it. We would never take such action, so we rely on trust. Signing such an agreement might put some volunteers off, and would have no power anyway. Task complete.

Task 48 - Panel Pool Members

Kathy has posted the message asking for panelists on Central, so we have marked this task as complete.

Task 58 - Cross Links and Partnerships

This task was discussed here and then passed to Media, where it has had sporadic discussion.

The latest consensus on Media was that it was too difficult to come up with succinct criteria for what constituted an acceptable link for our website, so the decision should lie with the Reps on a case by case basis. Partnerships were not discussed. We are discussing here what could be the best route to get decisions on links and partnerships made.

Poll Question

Task 58: We should recommend that the Reps propose the following procedure to Central for adoption: LINKS AND PARTNERSHIPS:

1. The Reps consider any partnerships and links and make a recommendation to Central.

2. Central has 7 days for discussion and objection/endorsement.

3. If there are a number of objections the Reps will reconsider and come back to Central with an alternative recommendation, a recommendation to deny a link or partnership or explanations on why the original recommendation stands.

4. The recommendation will be adopted after 7 days unless the 10% poll procedure (http://wiki.ilovefreegle.org/10%25_Poll_Procedure) is invoked and then that will decide one way or the other.

RESULTS:

Yes, we should propose adoption via the Reps 11 votes, 100%

No, we should discuss further 0 votes, 0%

Abstain (please explain on group) 0 votes, 0%

Task complete.

Translations

We have talked about getting some basic information about Freegle translated into other languages. Maybe in the form of a ‘factsheet’. We raised the questions who is going to write this, what will it cover and, given that we are not commissioning official translators, how will we verify the content. Also we wondered if we should have a disclaimer covering the translations. Discussion continues...

Task 17 - Document Management

This task was raised in August 2010 by Paul - message no. 5017. This was the early days of discovering how useful google documents were to use. He set up http://freegle.it/docs , which he proposed as a central repository for Freegle files and also the appointment of a document manager and/or document team.

Edward said “In theory if we had someone with suitable skills to manage our whole library of documentation, then that would be a good thing - someone who does technical writing for work and has free time, for example. But we haven't managed to find anyone so far. So I think we should stick with the current position that documents are owned and managed by the people/teams who use them.”

The group agreed that current practises are working fine in the absence of a suitable volunteer.

Task List

Our Task List can be viewed at http://freegle.it/StructureTasks

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If any of the above topics interest you, or if you have proposals about the structure of Freegle to suggest, please do join our group. http://freegle.it/Structure

The Coordinator for this group is Jacky (Great Yarmouth) Deputy Coordinator is Peter Johnson (Hunts) and Secretary is Wendy (Woodley) Owners are Jacky, Peter and Wendy.

Back to Freegle Structure or Structure Group Report 2012-03-31, or forward to Structure Group Report 2012-05-31