2018-June-7 Policy Subcommittee: Intellectual Property, HTML5, Security

Present: Mylène, Chris, Robert

Glen’s contract, and IP considerations (update)

– Robert met with Personnel Committee
– they advise that we are free to tailor the contract as we see fit
– can we just make everything public domain? How does this affect learning materials, TCF, pamphlets, etc?
– can anyone just lift videos of SPG and relabel them?
– does this restrict people’s ability to sell a piece to a magazine, or prevents Glen from reusing or re-selling utilities he writes?
– smashwords only allows distribution of things you have claim to… not public domain
– SPG contract includes permission to publish on quaker.ca… do we have the legal right to put it in the public domain?
– do we need legal guidance from CYM’s lawyer? Does CYM even have a lawyer?
– how do we allow Glen to retain rights to plugins, utilities that he might develop?
– ROBERT will look into public domain vs. CC, and advise Trustees that we are looking into this, inviting them to let us know if there are people who hold responsibilities in this matter that we should consult with

HTML5 compliant theme

– ROBERT will confirm with Catherine that the scope document, as split into two parts, is ready to be circulated. If so, ROBERT will send to Glen for a quote.

Status of backups

– ROBERT is still looking into it

Committee subsite templates

– no update — MYLENE will keep working on this!)

Survey feedback on security and accessibility

– We reviewed the feedback from the survey
– We will continue to hold this in the light

DIA

– we worked on the Report for Documents in Advance.  MYLENE will add links and send to CHRIS for circulation to the full P&C committee.

2018-Mar-1 Policy Subcommittee: Contracts, Website Notifications, Business Site vs Public, GDrive Alternatives, Procedure Manual, Ex Officio Members

Present: Mylène DiPenta (recording), Chris Hitchcock, Robert Kirchner

Regrets: none

Web Maintenance Liaison Report

ACTION: ROBERT will create a draft contract for Glen

ACTION: ROBERT has been working with Glen on the transition to HTTPS, and will follow up in mid-March.

Robert and Glen are also discussing the possibility of assessing the site for compliance with the Ontarians with Disabilities Act, and will continue this conversation when Glen completes a course in April.

Email Announcements About Website Updates

We discussed the proposal by Communications Reevaluation and Editorial subcommittees to create an email notification about website updates.

We discussed the importance of being intentional about what gets included in Announcements and what would better be suited to a Business distribution.

No specific policy-related issues came up in response to this.

Password-Protected Resources

We considered the question of how to decide who has access to password-protected resources.  Some ideas included:

– anyone associated with a Meeting that is affiliated with CYM (members, attenders, seekers, etc.)

– people attending CYM in session, even if they are not connected to CYM meetings (Friends from other countries, guest speakers etc), who might need access to Documents in Advance, the Daily Quacker, agendas, etc.

We considered the possibility that some accounts perhaps should be intended to be temporary.  We also discussed possible changes to what is password-protected.  For example, should someone be required to register for an account simply to contact a committee clerk?

We will continue to discern this.

Alternatives to Google Technology

Robert has been experimenting with Wolkli, which provides services similar to Google Drive.  He has been able to use it for personal storage and multi-platform calendar syncing, but ability to share files with other users has been inconsistent, and we haven’t figured out the technical problems.

Procedure Manual

Many people’s comments have been incorporated into our draft Procedure Manual.

ACTION: MYLENE will finish incorporating comments and cleaning up the document, so we can propose a draft for approval at the coming P&C meeting.

Role of Ex Officio Members

We carefully considered the situations of the varied roles that hold membership in P&C by virtue of position: the CYM office manager, the CQLS clerk, the web/TCF editor, and the Internet Resource Manager.  We discussed what specifically were the needs of each position, and what were the needs of the Committee, especially relating to decisions that might be most respectful if they are kept as confidential as is reasonably possible, such as hiring, firing, and contracting.

We are considering using other mechanisms to meet these needs in some cases:

  • for contractors and the Clerk of CQLS, they could be welcomed to join most meetings if desired, and requested to attend meetings when their expertise is especially needed, without being obligated or contractually expected.  We might also ask them not to sit in for or participate in discernment about confidential discussions.
  • we have also created a distribution list for who should receive agendas and minutes; this could include anyone within CYM who finds them useful, and need not be restricted to members or associates.
  • we are not considering a change to the full membership and ex officio status of the CYM Office Manager. As a staff position, their participation in committee meetings is guided by the Personnel Policy.

ACTION: MYLENE will talk with Tim to get feedback on this proposal

ACTION: MYLENE will talk to Maggie about consulting with Bruce.

Update on Contract Documentation

ACTION: MYLENE will delete online documentation relating to the contracting process of March 2017, and contact the search committee to do the same.

 

2018-Mar-1 Policy Subcommittee: Contract Documents, Business Accounts, Ex Officio Roles

Present: Mylène DiPenta (recording), Chris Hitchcock, Robert Kirchner

Web Maintenance Update

ROBERT will follow up on HTTPS issues with Glen by mid-March, Ontarians with Disabilities Act in April.

ROBERT will create a draft contract for Glen.

Email Notifications of Website Content

MYLENE will contact Matt Legge at CFSC for suggestions

Quaker.ca Business Accounts

Who should be approved to receive one?  We discussed the needs of

  • people attending CYM in session, including guest speakers, to download documents
  • people attending Rep Meeting
  • people serving on a committee
  • anyone who needs to contact a committee clerk (or should that information be publicly available?)
  • anyone with a connection to a CYM-affiliated worshipping group

Role of Ex Officio Members

We discussed the differences between ex-officio roles held by contractors, CYM staff, and representatives from other bodies.  Currently, ex officio members

It would be possible to disaggregate these.

We considered the possibility of clarifying that contractors are not expected to attend all meetings, and might be asked not to attend or participate in agenda items that relate specifically to the contract.  Also, w are currently paying for their time to attend meetings, regardless of whether the discussion is relevant to them and whether their time might be better respected by releasing them to attend to contracting duties.

We also considered the possibility that contractors could request to add agenda items and/or attend for parts of meetings that are significant to the fulfilment of the contract, and this could often be left at the contractor’s discretion.

Staff who sit ex officio on committees have specific guidance in the Personnel Policy, for example to contribute their knowledge and experience but to refrain from participating in formal approval of minutes.

How does this relate to the clerk of CQLS?

MYLENE will consult with Tim about this.

Contract Document Control

MYLENE will delete the shared documents that relate tot he March 2017 editor contract search, and email the search committee to do the same.

2018-Feb-1 Policy & Procedure Subcommittee Meeting: Contractor liaison issues, Feedback on security and accessibility issues, Retention of data, Role of ex officio members and contractors

Present: Mylène DiPenta, Chris Hitchcock, Robert Kirchner

via Google Hangouts

 

  1. Mylène will remind other P&C members to give feedback on the P&C Policy Manual and CQLS Guidelines prior to the next full committee meeting, March 4.
  2. Update on contractor liaison process.
    1. Robert will check in with Glen Newbury regarding compliance with Ontario web accessibility legislation (links forwarded by Chris). Robert will also ask him about the status of the switch to https.
    2. Mylène will ask Tim Kitz to provide more day-by-day detail in support of his invoices.
  3. Webform for feedback on online security and accessibility issues accompanying Robert’s Canadian Friend article. Mylène will tweak this.
  4. Mark Stanley’s old email from P&C. Chris will tell Mark he may delete these materials. Mylène will check O&P about what materials from our committee need to be submitted to CYM Archives Committee.
  5. Role of ex officio members. Laid over till next meeting.

2018-Jan-4 Policy Subcommittee: CQLS On-Boarding, Procedure Manual, Role of Ex-Officio Members, Supervising Contractors, Request for Feedback on Security

Policy and Procedure Subcommittee of Publications and Communications Committee
January 4, 2018

Robert Kirchner, Mylene DiPenta (presiding), Chris Hitchcock (recording)

We opened with silent worship.

1. CQLS

Mylene reports that John Samson-Fellows now is set up as incoming ex-officio member of
Publications and Communications Committee.

2. Procedure Manual

Mylene shared a proposed new structure for the document.
The procedure manual tasks are up to date. We will share the rough draft on Sunday and collect
feedback from other committee members, with the goal of a revised draft for our March
meeting.

3.  Ex-Officio Members

Chris will check with the CYM Clerks about the procedure for modifying the Publications and
Communications Committee composition, particularly adding or dropping ex officio members.

4. Procedure for Supervising Contractors and Approving Invoices

We recommend that the approval of invoices from contractors be moved to subcommittee that
supervises the work. At present that is the Editorial Subcommittee for the CYM Editor and Policy
and Procedures Subcommittee for the Internet Resource Manager (Bruce) and WordPress
Maintenance (Glen). The invoice can be sent to the CYM accountant (bookkeeper) with a copy
to the Clerk of Publications and Communications Committee and the Budget Officer.
Sending the invoice from the publications and communications gmail (pubcomm-
) account will facilitate succession planning and record keeping.

5. Chris will connect Robert and Glen and explain the new supervisory and reporting structure.
Robert will copy Chris on correspondence for a while to facilitate transition.

6. Mylene has built a web form that will add an item to PivotalTracker, and notifies the supervisor
for the contractor. It is not yet public. We discussed how to use the system. We are not yet clear
how this might be best used. One thought is to have contractors use it when they have a
question about a larger task than they feel comfortable doing without approval.

7. Security and Surveillance Article and Request for Public Comment

Robert and Tim are revising Robert’s article for The Canadian Friend.

Robert will circulate for approval a draft of the inset text (which will be published alongside the article, requesting feedback on the issues).

8. Subcommittee Meeting Schedule

Due to Mylene’s teaching schedule, we will move our regular meeting to the first Thursday of
the month at 11:30 am ET.

We closed with silent worship.

2017-Nov-2 Policy & Procedure Subcommittee Meeting Notes: CQLS, Procedure Manual, Security, Google Non-Profits

P&P Subcommittee Organization

– Emailing the agenda in advance is desirable when possible — especially, it can function as a reminder of our action items.
– We will meet on the first Wednesday of the month, 12pm – 1:30pm Eastern

ACTION: ROBERT will post today’s notes on the P&C Subsite and email us when ready.

CQLS Update

Should Mark Burch be added to P&C as an ex officio member, now that he is the incoming clerk of CQLS?

ACTION: CHRIS will follow up with Mark to find out his “active” date, and notify Mylène
ACTION: MYLÈNE will manage any onboarding that is needed (including adding Mark to the email forward, granting access to folders on the Google drive, etc.)
ACTION: CHRIS will add these onboarding items to the procedure manual

Procedure manual

ACTION: CHRIS will review Mylène’s comments, look for ways to put most helpful stuff at the beginning
ACTION: Mylène and Robert will review

Security and Surveillance

ACTION: CHRIS will search for relevant literature
ACTION: CHRIS agreed to draft a letter for The Canadian Friend inviting people to contribute their thoughts on the topic — however, see below.
ACTION: ROBERT will draft an article for The Canadian Friend on the subject, sharing information from a personal perspective rather than representing the Subcommittee. He will also draft an “inset” section that could be used to solicit feedback from people who want to contribute, so that a separate letter from Chris might not be necessary. Robert will circulate to the Subcommittee for comments.
ACTION: MYLÈNE will create an online form, hosted on quaker.ca, where people could contribute their thoughts, and send the URL to Robert for inclusion

Transition to Google for Non-Profits

ACTION: CHRIS will follow up with Bruce about expected timeline
ACTION: CHRIS, when you follow up with Bruce, could you confirm whether is still bouncing?

2017-Sep-20 Policy: Security, Google for Non-Profits, Procedure Manual

Present: Mylène (recorder), Chris, Robert

Security and Surveillance

We continued to discuss the implications of electronic security and surveillance.

ACTION: Robert will create a draft document about the issues for circulation at our P&C meeting

ACTION: Chris will do some lit searches

ACTION: Mylène will follow up with Maggie and Reykia about their electronic security experiences with BC Civil Liberties Association, Greenpeace, and other civil society organizations

ACTION: Chris will craft a letter from the Clerk, inviting those who are interested to contribute their ideas

Google for Non-Profits Transition

ACTION: Chris will follow up with Bruce about when he expects the transition to be complete.

Procedure Manual

Chris has fleshed out the introductory section that is likely most relevant to new members: What We Do, and History.

ACTION: we will all choose a section of the manual to contribute to.  Please leave a note if you will be editing offline.

 

2017-Sep-13 Policy: New Member, Procedure Manual, Security and Surveillance

Present: Robert, Chris, Mylène

New Member

We welcomed Robert to his first meeting with this Subcommittee, and reviewed some of the history of P&C in general, and its policies in particular.

Procedure Manual

We agreed to each take a section of the procedure manual and either add to it or propose questions that would help others flesh it out.

Security and Surveillance

As requested by P&C, we began to discuss CYM’s relationship to electronic security and surveillance.  Some roles we may take on:

– help inform Quakers about why these issues are important

– provide information about software and technologies that people could use

ACTION: Robert will follow up with CFSC about their security practices.

ACTION: Robert will share his knowledge about alternatives to common unsecured technology.

2017-May-8 Policy Manual Drafting: Archives, Outline

Present: Mylène, Chris

Archiving Policy Manuals

ACTION: MYLÈNE will contact Kerry about finding a copy of the HMAC manual from before P&C was split off as its own committee

Policy Manual Draft Outline

ACTION: MYLÈNE will export our mind-map to an HTML-format outline and post to the P&C work area.

Next Meeting

2:30PM, Monday May 15

2017 Apr 10 Policy Review: Web Usage, Manual Planning, Agenda Submission Form

Present: Chris, Mylène

Privacy of applicants who were not selected for a contract

What do we do with resumes, etc. of applicants who were not selected for a contract position?  Should any information be retained?  Are there things that need to be permanently deleted?

  • Mylène will follow up with Monica Walters Field, clerk of Personnel Policy

Web Usage Policy (2006)

This document is not currently available on the website; it was taken down because it still refers to HMAC.

  • Mylène will merge it with the other web usage policy, changing committee names but retaining substantive content.
  • Mylène will create a policy archive where old versions of documents can be easily found, including this one.
  • Chris will add a review of this document to the agenda for the next P&C meeting.

P&C Committee Manual

We began to structure a table of contents for the P&C committee manual.

  • Mylène will contact Marilyn to find out if a copy of the old HMAC manual is available for reference.

Automating Agenda Item Submission

  • Mylène will make a form so P&C members can submit agenda items through our website

Next Meeting: Monday, April 24, 9:30 Eastern Time