2017-Nov-5 Editorial Subcommittee: TCF Style Guide, Invoice Authorization, 2018 TCF Dates, Ad Rates

Present: Mylène DiPenta (recorder), Mary Conchelos, Catherine Novak, Timothy Kitz

We opened by introducing the work and experience that led us to our roles on P&C.

TCF Style Guide

We accept Megan Davis’s quote to prepare a style guide based on the most recent issue of The Canadian Friend, for which she did the layout.

ACTION: MYLENE will ask Megan to document the style used for the October TCF at the rate of $140, and also request the InDesign files for both the accepted version of the latest issue and the previous draft she proposed that did not end up being accepted.

Logistics of Editor Invoices

We will propose in our next report that the Editorial Subcommittee be granted the authority to approve invoices from the editor.

ACTION: CATHERINE will send ideas to Tim about ways to categorize the work as it is reported on invoices.  Catherine is available as a resource person for questions about this.

ACTION: TIM will include these categories into future invoices, as well as using them as tags in PivotalTracker.

Upcoming Issues of The Canadian Friend

Our expected timeline for TCF is as follows:

November

  • Replying to contributors and requesting any obvious changes/additions (photos etc)
  • Announce themes and dates for 3 upcoming issues

December

Editing

January

Layout

February

2018 Issue #1 Printing and Mailout, including CYM-In-Session registration information as well as SPG pamphlet

June

2018 Issue #2 published

October

2018 Issue #3 published

ACTION: TIM will co-ordinate with Kerry MacAdam (CYM Office), Mark Burch (incoming CQLS clerk), and Mary Conchelos (outgoing CQLS clerk) about mailout date and print house

ACTION: TIM will do a straw poll on facebook about possible themes for upcoming issues

TCF Ad Rates

It appears that we carry ads, and that CYM committees are charged for ads.  If TCF is the offical communications vehicle of CYM, we couldn’t think of a reason why we would charge ourselves for ads, especially since any CYM committee or body could simply submit their information as content.

ACTION: TIM will follow up with Chris Hitchcock, Kerry MacAdam, and Anne Marie Zilliacus about whether there is a policy for this, and reasoning behind why TCF might have charged CYM committees ad rates in the past.

ACTION: Catherine will similarly ask Sheryl Harris about history an any applicable policies about ad rates internally within CYM

Next Meeting

Sunday Dec 10, 7:30PM Eastern

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-Oct-13 P&C: TechSoup, Oct TCF, Incoming Clerk, CYM 2018, Vimeo

Print, Download, or Read PDF

CYM Publications and Communications Committee

Minutes of October 13-14, 2017

Friends House, Toronto

Attending: Chris Hitchcock (clerk), Robert Kirchner (recording clerk), Tim Kitz, Catherine Novak, Anne Trudell, Mary Conchelos, Kerry MacAdam, Maggie Knight, Mylène DiPenta

2017.10.13.1.      Introductions

We opened with a period of silent worship, and introduced ourselves. Robert agreed to be recording clerk.

2017.10.13.2.      Overview

Chris presented an overview of the work of the committee: it was carved out of HMAC, which gives us access to certain funds. We are responsible for The Canadian Friend (henceforth TCF), the CYM website, pamphlets and the Canadian Quaker Learning Series (henceforth CQLS), and other odds and ends including a Vimeo channel (we pay money for ad-free display), and unofficial facebook pages which need moderating. We also hold contracts with CYM Editor Tim, with Glen Newbury (WordPress assistant), and Bruce Dienes [web host and internet resource manager].

2017.10.13.3.      Approval of Minutes

Minutes of the August 24, 2017 (electronic) meeting were received and approved.

2017.10.13.4.      Business Arising

Tech Soup registration is complete. Chris reported that Bruce is working on switching emails for other small clients to Gmail before switching us (@quaker.ca emails) over.

2017.10.13.5.      Editorial Subcommittee

(Mylène): We receive the Editorial Subcommittee report (Appendix A) with thanks. We hereby minute the creation (and existence since March 2017) of the Editorial Subcommittee, which supervises the work of the CYM Editor (Tim) and provides support as needed. Any CYM member can request help of the Editor for CYM related work. There was discussion of whether ‘CYM editor’ is a perspicuous title for this position. We ask the Editorial Subcommittee to work out Tim’s title and bring a suggestion to the next electronic meeting. The most recent issue of TCF was sent out last Tuesday, 10 Oct.

2017.10.13.6.      Canadian Quaker Learning Series

(Mary). We receive the report of CQLS (Appendix B) with thanks.  We ask the Editorial Subcommittee to coordinate with CYM Program Committee, the CYM office, and CQLS Editorial Board to choose dates for TCF for 2018 that work well for pamphlet distribution and CYM registration. We further discussed the desirability of consistency in communication across CYM, and coordination among groups producing materials. This might be aided by a revised communications strategy document, and we therefore ask the Communications Reevaluation Subcommittee to work on this. Our desired goal is to facilitate the flow of information and improve coherence and consistency, keeping Quaker values in mind, while avoiding the creation of a bottleneck.

2017.10.13.7. CQLS Guidelines

We lay over discussion of the CQLS Guidelines. We will read them and decide on them at the next electronic meeting.  We ask the CQLS Editorial Board to work with Quaker Book Service regarding storage of pamphlets, and to report back to us and update the Guidelines accordingly.

2017.10.13.8. Incoming Clerk

The committee approves Maggie as incoming clerk, with thanks. She will begin this role at rise of CYM 2018. There was further discussion of reducing the burden on the clerk by improving communications and delegating tasks.

2017.10.13.9. Budget Report

(Maggie). We receive the budget report (Appendix C) with thanks. We ask the Editor to keep the budget officer and bookkeeper informed of advertising revenue. We increase the budget for CQLS by $1000 ($500 per pamphlet) for honoraria for artwork and related costs. We ask CQLS to consider art costs, copyright fees, and other costs of upcoming issues, and report back to us (by August 2018) with a proposal for the 2019 budget. We approve the budget proposal. We ask the budget officer to research the best way to present our plan to CYM Finance Committee to use this year’s budgeted $10000 for website upgrades, as these costs may be split between 2017 and 2018 financial years. We ask the Editorial Subcommittee to bring a financial report on the TCF to our next P&C meeting.

2017.10.13.10. Communications Re-evaluation Subcommittee

(Anne). We receive the report (Appendix D) with thanks. Catherine Novak has joined this subcommittee.

2017.10.13.11. Vimeo Channel

The URL for the Quaker Vimeo channel is https://vimeo.com/user20788368. We ask Policy & Procedures Subcommittee to prepare a short description of the submission process for the next P&C meeting.  We ask the Editorial Subcommittee to moderate/administer the Quaker Vimeo channel content.

2017.10.13.12.  CYM 2018 Plans

(Chris). We discussed possible SIGs/events:

  • how monthly meetings engage in electronic outreach
  • use of unconventional outreach methods
  • privacy, security and surveillance tools
  • values around electronic privacy/security/surveillance
  • tech-empowerment workshop

We are discerning whether any of these should presented by P&C vs. individual Friends. Maggie will consult with CYM Education & Outreach Committee about a possible joint presentation.

2017.10.13.13. Policy and Procedures Subcommittee

(Mylène). We hereby minute the creation (and existence since March 2017) of the Policy & Procedures Subcommittee. We receive the subcommittee’s report (Appendix E) with thanks. We ask this subcommittee to bring a proposal to next P&C meeting regarding identifying point people for contractors.

2017.10.13.14. Education and Outreach

We would like to improve coordination with E&O. Maggie will contact the CYM Secretary (currently also acting as E&O clerk) to open discussions.

2017.10.13.15.  Closing

We closed with worship.

Next in person meeting:

  • 12-13 Oct. 2018 (at Friends House).

Next electronic meetings:

  • 7 Jan. 2018 Sunday, 7:30 pm Eastern time.

Subsequent meetings:

  • 4 March
  • 6 May
  • 8 July

All at 7:30 Eastern.

2017-Oct-3 Editorial: Editor handover, TCF Update, Liaison with E&O, Outstanding Editing Requests

Present: Mylène (clerk/recorder), Reykia, Tim, Catherine, Mary

Regrets: Chris

Editor Handover

Tim and Reykia have met twice.  Reykia will be available for questions but is handing over the active role of the work

Reykia has made recommendations about priorities for website changes in her handover notes; these have been saved in the Communications Reevaluation Subcommittee’s shared folder.

ACTION: Mylene will work with Tim to bring him up to speed on P&C policy documents

ACTION: Mylène will contact Tim about logistics of P&C meeting, access to editor account, other onboarding issues

Tim expects to be available on a turnaround time of no longer than 3 business days and will invoice us the first week of each month.

Tim will report by email to the Editorial Subcommittee at relevant milestones, and will not be expected to attend every Editorial Subcommittee meeting unless he or the Subcommittee requests it.

 Current Issue of The Canadian Friend

– Current issue ready to distribute today or tomorrow
– Jan issue submissions closed, confirmation emails have been sent to contributors
– It took about 40 hours of work to collect and edit the material

Next Issue of The Canadian Friend

Tim is very busy this month, but expects to do a quick review of the submitted material and send contributors any requests that they would need to consider and get back to him about. Tim expects to start with editing/layout in early November.

We expect the next issue to be distributed early in the New Year.

Future Issues of The Canadian Friend

The turnaround time for TCF is long enough that it makes sense to issue calls for submissions 2-3 issues in advance.

We expect Steve Fick’s SPG lecture to be mailed out with the Jan TCF. That means they should be printed and mailed by the same house.

E&O’s Communication Needs

Education and Outreach Committee has particular website-related needs, as they distribute information that must be publicly available, including course materials.  We plan to discuss our liaison with E&O at the next P&C meeting; after that, we should be in a position to follow up on whether there is someone withing E&O would would like to do their public-side editing.  If so, the Editor and/or Editorial Subcommittee can provide guidance (using the Best Practices developed by Reykia) on keeping the style and usability features consistent.

Next Meeting

Mylène will set an editorial committee meeting for early November.

2017-Sept-28 Communications Reevaluation: Theme changes, Usability Contractor, Google for Non-Profits, Report Planning

[download or print PDF]

Communications Review and Redesign Sub-Committee

3 pm – 4 pm September 28, 2017

Attending: Chris Hitchcock, Mylene DiPenta, Maggie Knight, Anne Trudell (clerk/recorder)

Opening worship

Welcome Maggie Knight to the sub-committee

Possible contract for usability expert

  •  we will use a contractor for this type of work
  • probably a two-phase approach: broader assessment of usability, we review and decide what
    can be done “in-house” and what should be done with another contract
  • Maggie willing to do a scoping document/list – put it in a Google doc which she will share
  • Chris started a mind map of what we want. Will put it on our Google drive.
  • also material in Pivotal Tracker that Maggie can use; Chris will also be a resource

Quaker.ca Theme

Discuss results of Chris’s consulation with Glen Newbury regarding changes to the theme used
for the quaker.ca site

Glen was told early in implementation that dates weren’t needed on posts, so he turned them off. He thinks it’d be easy to turn back on. He will probably do it next week. Hopefully the clearer marking of links can also be easily done.

Google for Non-Profits

Bruce Dienes has registered us with Tech Soup and is cautious about switching us over. He is
prototyping Google apps for non-profits (especially the email forwarding) with some of the smaller groups he works with.

Report for October P&C Meeting

  • Decide what we will bring forward to the Pub and Comm meeting in October
  • Possibly distribute Maggie’s draft doc before the meeting
  • How to approach style guides/templates for documents; possibly highlight these in the
    communications plan for CYM

Closing worship

Revised on Sept 30, 2017 with corrections.

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-Sept-13 Communications Reevaluation: Inviting New Member, ODA, Website Theme, Style Guides and Templates, Facebook Presence

[download or print PDF]

Minutes for Communications Reevaluation and Redesign sub-committee meeting

Wednesday Sept 13, 2017 9:55am – 11:05 am (Google Hangouts)

Attendees: Chris Hitchcock, Mylene DiPenta, Anne Trudell (clerk/recorder)

Opening worship

Subcommittee Membership

We discussed inviting Maggie Knight to join this sub-committee. We agreed that her experience and expertise would be a welcome addition, particularly in regard to Internet matters (usability being a major one) and contracts. Anne Trudell will contact and invite her.

With Maggie’s help, we may be ready to let a contract for work on usability research on the quaker.ca site and update proposals as are result of that research.

Website Compliance with Ontarians with Disabilities Act

We are concerned that the site be compliant with the Ontario Disabilities Act. Chris Hitchcock will ask Glen Newberry to evaluate the site’s compliance and make recommendations.

Website Theme

We discussed the current theme in use with the website. It needs to clearly designated links and
automatically provide the date on posts.

Can we alter the theme? Did we pay for the ability to do so? Should we move to another theme that better fits our needs? Chris will ask Glen Newberry these questions and have him provides us with two or three choices on how to proceed.

Style Guides and Templates

We see the need for some style guides: for documents in advance for CYM, possibly for websites
(especially after we get work back from the usability contract and survey what monthly meetings are doing for their websites), and guidelines for what is a post and what is more properly a page.

CYM Facebook Presence

We have an unofficial Facebook page for CYM that Chris Hitchcock moderates. We suggest that the
Publications and Communications Committee look at making the page official and set up
guidelines/procedures for its moderation.

Next Meeting

We hope to have another meeting before the face-to-face committee meeting in October. Once we know if Maggie will join the sub-committee, Anne Trudell will set up a Doodle poll to determine the date/time.

Closing worship

2017-Aug-24 P&C: Electronic Record-Keeping, New Editor, Email Transition, Privacy

CYM Publications and Communications Committee

(Download as PDF, DOC)

Google Hangout Meeting, August 24, 2017

In attendance: Bruce Dienes, Mary Conchelos, Mylène DiPenta, Reykia Fick, Cameron Fraser (attending in place of Kerry McAdam), Chris Hitchcock, Robert Kirchner, Timothy Kitz, Maggie Knight, Catherine Novak, and Anne Trudell

Clerk: Chris Hitchcock

Recording: Cameron Fraser

Regrets: Kerry McAdam

2017.08.01 – Canadian Quaker Learning Series

Mary introduced herself and her report. Chris apologized to her and the group, but Google Hangout is unable to hold the meeting with eleven attendees. Mary was asked, and agreed to step away from the meeting and did so after her introduction, report out, and fielding of any questions. We acknowledge with deep gratitude Mary’s willingness to step aside to allow for guest and new members to attend the meeting.

Opening Worship

2017.08.02      Approval of Agenda

The group reviewed the agenda and no amendments were made.

2017.08.03      Introductions and Welcome to New Committee Members

Each attendee introduced themselves, their Meeting, and their role(s) associated with Canadian Yearly Meeting (CYM) Publications and Communications Committee (P&C).

2017.08.04 Description of Systems Used to Support Committee Work

Mylène presented an introduction of internet-based systems being utilized to support committee work through the sharing of images on their screen. These include

  • the Quaker.ca website,
  • the business side of website,
  • the P&C Homepage with resources for general CYM members, and
  • Other pages on the P&C site.

Mylène introduced resources available to committee members, including

  • Google Drive (for members to share documents, associated with a shared P&C Google account),
  • the P&C Committee calendar, and
  • Pivotal Tracker.

The use of the shared Google account, , is an experiment in P&C work, and is currently managed by Chris and Mylène. Other committee members are invited to request access to the account to assist with managing the account, if led.

Mylène presented the P&C homepage (https://quaker.ca/publications), which includes

  • information on how and what P&C does,
  • how to contact P&C,
  • a list of current members and their roles, and
  • a description of its subcommittees.

The news and updates section includes meeting minutes and notes in html format. This format allows for easy interaction with minutes without having to download, and provides filtering and search options based on topics, keywords, minutes, subcommittees, people’s names, etc.

Mylène reviewed Pivotal Tracker, a free service for non-profits, to track issues and work that the committee deals with and tackles. All committee members have access to this service. Non-Committee members are welcome to request access. Ex-officio members have not been invited because P&C does not want to bog down people and their inbox, etc., but are happy to share!

2017.08.05 Policy Subcommittee

Chris Hitchcock is in her 7th year as P&C committee member, and is outgoing Clerk of P&C. She is committed to documenting and passing on the organizational details and work. She and Mylène are working on creating documentation for the eventual assignment of a new Clerk. Committee members interested in participating in the Policy Subcommittee are welcome to come forward to communicate their interest in serving.

2017.08.06 Publishing The Canadian Friend

P&C is on track to improving the publishing of The Canadian Friend. Mylène is the liaison between the Editor and the Editorial subcommittee. This subcommittee was struck in March 2017 to work with and support The Canadian Friend editor in the publishing of the periodical, as well as quaker.ca. The committee was meeting on an as-need basis, but has realized the importance of meeting at a regularly-scheduled time, likely before the publishing of each issue. Reykia Fick, current Editor of The Canadian Friend, created editorial guidelines to keep a standard in both The Canadian Friend and on the Quaker.ca website.

Reykia updated the group on the status of The Canadian Friend. A designer is working on the final version before it goes to the printer. The issues is on-track to be distributed in early September.

The next issue is slated for release at the beginning of December. Reykia will send out a call for submissions based on the theme of reflecting on the fallow year. An invitation will be sent out shortly, inviting members of CYM to provide reflections on community, the concepts of fallow and sabbatical, learnings from the past year, etc. This third issue of The Canadian Friend in 2017 is set to be published in early December. The tentative dates for The Canadian Friend are listed on the shared calendar on the P&C website, the dates for subsequent calls for submissions have not been placed in the calendar, providing leeway for the next Canadian Yearly Meeting Editor, Tim Kitz, to set themes and deadlines.

2017.08.07 Maintaining and Updating Quaker.ca Website

The Editorial Subcommittee also assists the editor in this work. Reykia has been working on cleaning up the site, and will hand over the maintenance of the site to Tim Kitz, with associated notes. The handover of roles of Editor will take place in late September/early October. Reykia’s final work date is October 13, 2017.

2017.08.08 Canadian Quaker Learning Series Editorial Board

The Canadian Quaker Learning Series Editorial board is co-clerked by Ruth Pincoe and Mary Conchelos. The CQLS supports the publishing of pamphlets like the Sunderland P Gardner Lecture. Mary spoke to this in her report. The 2016 Sunderland P Gardner Lecture is going through the editing process and should be ready for publishing in late September. The 2017 Sunderland P Gardner Lecture is also going through the final editing process and should be ready for publishing shortly after the 2016 lecture has been distributed.

2017.08.09 Communications Reevaluation

Anne Trudell spoke as representative of the Communications Reevaluation subcommitee. Please read the report (attached). The subcommittee could use some additional members and assistance if anyone is led.

2017.08.10 Bookkeeping and Budgeting

P&C has an immediate need for someone to construct a budget for the October meeting. Mark Stanley, previous bookkeeper of six year, recently ended his term with P&C, and has yet to be replaced by anyone. CYM requires budgets from each committee by the end of October. Maggie Knight has offered to take this on; she has a background and work experience with such a role. We ask Maggie Knight to prepare the fall budget, recognizing that this responsibility might shift at a later point.

2017.08.11 Establishing Contracts

Much of P&C’s work is done through volunteers, and some is done through contractors. The most recent search process, for the contract of Canadian Yearly Meeting Editor (The Canadian Friend and quaker.ca), are outlined in the report. The Editorial Committee has approved paying incoming Editor Timothy Kitz for 10 hours before the official beginning of his contract for initial meetings, like meeting with Elaine Bishop (CYM Clerk) and Cameron Fraser (CYM Secretary).

2017.08.12 Report from Internet Resources Manager

Bruce spoke to his reportand the challenges P&C, CAPFLEX Networking and CYM are having with @quaker.ca emails. He provided a one-page history of CYM working with internet resources over the last twenty years for the new committee members.

The current issue is that some people are receiving emails and others are not. Many people prefer to forward Quaker email to their private accounts to people’s private emails.  When spam messages are forwarded in this way, the receiving accounts attribute the Capflex server as the source of the spam (even though the spam originated elsewhere are was simply passing through Capflex). When many emails are rated this way, the IP address associated with @quaker.ca is blacklisted, and Bruce’s company’s server is blocked by services such as Google and Outlook. This means that Gmail and Hotmail accounts, in particular, are sometimes unable to communicate with @quaker.ca accounts.

Bruce’s recommendation, as documented in his report, is to go with Google for Non-Profits through being recognized as charitable, non-profit organization. This would immediately unblock quaker.ca addresses (since they would originate from a different IP address), and allow Friends to send and receive @quaker.ca email to and from all services, which they have not been able to do for almost a year.

It would also provide CYM with a free corporate account to all Google Apps. If using Google Apps, the group would have 25 max. attendees for Google Hangouts, instead of the current maximum of 10 attendees. Google for Non-Profits would provide a central interface, which would be used to share all documents, videos, etc. The advantage is that Bruce, or any other contractor, does not have to manage this interface. The IP address will change to one maintained by Google, but the @quaker.ca addresses will remain the same. This will fix the email problem, and will provide additional resources. This would take a fair bit of work to move all 450 emails over to Google, but is worth it.

A number of committee members communicated concern regarding corporate surveillance. Members cited the current state of society and the historical shift regarding the expectation of privacy. Google offers free services, but what is the trade-off, and what are the purposes of their corporate data collection? Open source products exist, but the costs might be prohibitive for our organization. Some members communicated a principled position in solidarity with those who need to be private. A query was presented: Will a choice to use Google compel those who have principled positions to violate those positions? One member communicated great discomfort about Google’s practice of taking sensitive material and exploiting this for corporate gain.

A large majority of members agreed that there is an immediate need to resolve the email issue. The group acknowledged the need for discernment and the need for an expedient response to this issue that has lasted a year. Members pointed out that a large proportion of @quaker.ca emails are already forwarded to gmail accounts, so Google already has access to these. In addition, many committees and individuals already use Google applications for collaboration and communication.

Some members challenged the notion and concern regarding privacy. The importance of confidentiality, particularly concerning personnel matters, was acknowledged and the organization also values transparency and being open with Quaker business. We should not get caught up in the need for privacy for the sake of privacy. Organizations like schools and not-for-profits use Google. Greenpeace uses Google for most business except for actions associated with activities that could result in arrests.. One member communicated their experience with Google and mass-migrating. It is quite easy and straight-forward. What is the real concern regarding privacy? There was a great sense that the benefits outweigh the concerns for now.

P&C could register with Techsoup as a charitable organization/not-for-profit to assess elegibilty as a non-profit. The committee can go through the registration process and wait.

P&C is the body to create a communications strategy; the decision to go with Bruce’s email sevice was not taken to the CYM level – it is P&C’s mandate and business. There is a need to fix the issue with Bruce’s server and the email challenge for CYM members.

Each attender’s perspective was sought out, and most attendees and members believed in the importance of taking action and moving @quaker.ca emails over to Google, at least for the time being. People suggested that the Policy Review Committee should continue to review the decision and look at where privacy is crucial, where and when it is appropriate or not appropriate to use Google, and make recommendations for the future

2017.08.13 Email Transition

Publications and Communications Committee asks Internet Resource Manager, Bruce Dienes, to register CYM with Techsoup, and to move @quaker.ca emails onto the Google for Non-Profits platform,, as soon as possible.

P&C acknowledges the significant concerns voiced by its members about using Google platforms, with particular uneasiness about privacy and surveillance.

2017.08.14 Privacy Recommendations

P&C requests that the Policy Review Subcommitee take up the issue of assessing the level of privacy required and make recommendation concerning practices which balance the need for communication with the need to protect privacy and protect against surveillance.

2017.08.15 Role of Ex Officio Members – laid over

2017.08.16 Liaison with Education and Outreach – laid over

2017.08.17 Process to Ask Kerry and Others for Any Problems They Are Having – laid over

2017.08.18 Next Meeting

P&C will meet in Toronto at Toronto Friends House on October 13-14,2017. Further details will be provided and organizing will take place online. Please contact the Clerk if you require advanced assistance with purchasing plane tickets for the meeting. Please make travel plans as soon as possible and choose the most inexpensive travel options.

Closing Worship

Appendices

Editorial Subcommittee Report

Editor Search Committee Report

Report Communication Re-eval and Redesign

Report CQLS Report

Report from Internet Resources Manager

2017-Aug-21 Editorial: TCF almost ready, Next issue dates, Handover to new editor, Approving pre-contract billing, and CYM Comms Strategy

Present: Mylène DiPenta, Mary Conchelos, Catherine Novak, Chris Hitchcock, Reykia Fick

Absent: Wesley Glebe

Update on The Canadian Friend

Reykia is working with Megan Davis, a subcontractor who is doing graphic design and layout for this issue of TCF.  Manuela Popovici has offered to help with a final copyedit.  It looks like the issue will be ready for distribution in early September.

Reykia shared some of the cases where she made judgement calls — such as when people’s submissions made categorical statements about “Quakers Do” or “Quakers Think”, or when the submission was not clearly related to Quakers.  For this issue, we will use the printer in Victoria who has done previous issues of TCF.

ACTION: MARY will share editorial guidelines used by the Pamphlet series, as well as names of printers in Ottawa that the Pamphlet Series has worked with.

ACTION: MYLENE will work with the incoming editor to review and possibly update the editorial guidelines in light of Reykia’s feedback and the Pamphlet Series documents

ACTION: REYKIA will document the dates of the major milestones of this issue of TCF, so we can use historical data to make projections, and include in handover note to Timothy.

Next Issue of The Canadian Friend

Theme: the fallow year

Submissions due: Sept 25

Distribution expected: December

ACTION: REYKIA will post the call for submissions next week

Editor Handover

Reykia expects to work until Oct 13, 2017.  Timothy starts on September 18, 2017.

ACTION: REYKIA will prepare a handover note for Timothy, and share with the Editorial Subcommittee, including templates for invoices, time tracking, account information for Gmail and Facebook, etc.

ACTION: REYKIA will prepare a report debriefing the role, for submission to P&C’s October meeting

ACTION: REYKIA will report on the results of her consultation with Young Friends at the June gathering, and submit to the Communications Reevaluation Subcommittee

ACTION: MYLENE will schedule a meeting in the overlap between Reykia and Timothy’s contracts.

ACTION: REYKIA will post Timothy’s intro to the website

Our Report to P&C

ACTION: MYLENE will write something summarizing our scope and function.  We agreed that we would try to schedule Editorial Subcommittee meetings in advance, preferably shortly before TCF goes into layout, rather than scheduling them as needed.

Pre-Contract Billing for Incoming Editor

We approve paying Timothy for up to 10 hours of work before his official contract start date, to familiarize himself with the work of the Publications and Communications committee.  This would include his conversation with Elaine and Cameron (see below), reading past issues of The Canadian Friend, exploring the website, attending the upcoming P&C meeting, and other tasks as he discerns.

Organizational Communications Strategy

Timothy, Elaine (as CYM Presiding Clerk), and Cameron (as incoming CYM Secretary) met to discuss the flow of information throughout the organization.  Elaine reported on that conversation in an email to Chris (as Clerk of P&C).

ACTION: CHRIS will, subject to Elaine’s consent, share that email as a report to P&C.