• There is new nation-wide collaboration on #OccupyMap (http://map NULL.occupy NULL.net/), a SMS system is still needed for map reports on the Ushahidi platform.
• OWSbrunch reportback: many discussions about “access”- information, etc.  talk of a global events calendar website.
• OccupyWallStreet.net (http://OccupyWallStreet NULL.net) dev site can be found under the ows.net project at projects.occupy.net (http://projects NULL.occupy NULL.net)
• The first occupy news letter tentative launch date is March 5th
• maydaynyc.net coming soon.
• Occupy.org for sale?  no.  just a mailing list rumor.  tech ops controls dns.  registrar still owned by affinity group.  content unchanged.

Agenda

1. Mark on the nycga.net calendar which events were GA-consensed, and which are autonomous.
2. Problems with nycga.net user activity.
3. Discuss digital properties policy
4. Strategy meeting next week
5. Permission to export nycga.net emails to civi
6. Hosting of translations of GA statements
7. Server allocation  Continue reading →

Sunday February 5th Tech Ops open meeting – Full minutes here (http://www NULL.nycga NULL.net/groups/tech/docs/meeting-minutes-tech-ops-2012-02-05).

Report backs covered upcoming training, Newsletters, NYCGA.net analytics, server naming, the Bloomberg Bucks project, Office space, and more.

It turns out that the 855 NYCGA 411 number is NOT free from NYC pay phones due to Verizon being a lazy jerk. (edit: this statement has not been verified)

Consensus was reached to propose an update to the Principles of Solidarity (http://www NULL.nycga NULL.net/resources/principles-of-solidarity/) and enact Project Requirements (http://wiki NULL.occupy NULL.net/wiki/TechOps_Project_Requirements) for all current and future projects.

Important dates:

FGA sounding board meeting:
Thursday, February 9 from 6:30 – 9PM at the Rayogram offices.
79 Leonard Street, New York, NY 10013

Occupywallstreet.net open content meeting
Monday’s 6pm at 60 wall street

Agenda items:

We had a good discussion with the Media working group about their website. They are considering creating their own web site at occupytvny.org (http://occupytvny NULL.org) which currently forwards to their YouTube Channel (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/user/OccupyTVNY). We suggested that they use media.nycga.net (http://media NULL.nycga NULL.net) for the time being. Their domain could be pointed to this sub domain in the future.

The group also discussed the up coming 10TB media server that we will be installing soon. The servers are built and configured and need to be plugged in. The way we intake media and how we protect/respect that media as it relates to arrests and the author’s ownership is still yet to be seen.

Tech has collected a bunch of hardware including four laptops. We are looking for a way to share them with the community.

The newsletter points to interchange.occupy.net (http://interchange NULL.occupy NULL.net), a new service from occupy.net which allows for project posting and people to sign up for said projects.

We discussed our progress on bringing equality to Tech Ops as a follow up to a past meeting on the subject.

There was also discussion around a need for more members to get involved in blogging (as I have been doing the lion’s share thus far). Analytics work session was also discussed, though no time was set. We also spoke of reaching out to Occupywallst.org and discussed the fact that the NYCGA is now handling ten thousand + e-mails sent to general and press@occupywallst.org

Consensus

The group reached consensus on the re-wording of a line from the Principles of Solidarity (http://www NULL.nycga NULL.net/resources/principles-of-solidarity/) - the first “official” document from the Occupation of Liberty Plaza.

We will bring this as a proposal to the General Assembly.

The original line:

Endeavoring to practice and support wide application of open source.

Tech ops agreed upon edit:

Making technologies, knowledge, and culture open to everyone to freely access, create, modify, and distribute.

We hope that this will highlight the fact that our documents can be amended. We also agreed to ask for GA approval to host our official documents on GitHub (https://github NULL.com/occupywallstreet) so their versions can be tracked.

The group also came to consensus on using project requirements to on board new projects. More information can be found here: http://wiki.occupy.net/wiki/TechOps_Project_Requirements (http://wiki NULL.occupy NULL.net/wiki/TechOps_Project_Requirements)

Basically this means that all projects that are “officially” sponsored by Tech Ops will have to meet some basic requirements of documentation and responsibility. In return these projects will have access to our reputation, hardware, and network (among other things).

One thing that we spent a lot of time talking about at tonight’s meeting (though this is FAR from the first time we’ve had this discussion) is the fact that our efforts to connect with interested folks who want to help have been absolutely dismal thus far. One of the things I brought up at the meeting (sometimes with less of my signature tact and cheer than usual – sorry) was the fact that we have tried many ideas for outreach and on-boarding, but they have repeatedly fallen short of our aspirations, usually because no one steps up to really make them work. I tend to think it is not because we have been lacking the perfect piece of software, and not because we have been lacking the right imaging or branding or marketing, but rather because we have been lacking the individual human beings with enough time/motivation/interest to take it upon themselves to really push these efforts forward. I think that many of the things we have tried, and the things we have repeatedly discussed trying, could have worked great if only they had been actively followed-through on. To help contribute to this conversation, I figured it might be helpful to compile a list of some of the tactics we have tried thus far and a brief analysis of their success: Continue reading →