[Consortium] Re: [Management] Latest updates and new agenda

[Ivica Ico Bukvic]

> (why crossposting? should we keep this discussion in the most inclusive
>  mailinglist of our network? do consortium@ and management@ overlap?)

Due to apparent lack of response(s) from some of the board members I've
opted to address both in hope to increase chances of reaching them.
Subscription is under current circumstances not mandatory, hence it is
difficult to say (without performing a tedious task of comparing the
subscription lists) how large is the overlap...

> 
> On Tue, Apr 11, 2006 at 01:22:14PM -0400, Ivica Ico Bukvic wrote:
> > I. Expanding consortium's membership into following categories:
> >
> > 1) Developers/software projects
> > 2) Organizations, societies, and/or corporations supporting LA endeavors
> > (these could be subdivided further)
> > 3) Academic institutions
> > 4) Hardware vendors
> > 5) Artists/end-users
> 
> what about non-profit foundations?

They are bundled under 2) "Organizations." (although I admit my wording is
poor).

> 
> > II. Discussing country of incorporation.
> >
> > As you may be already aware, my proposal is to incorporate
> Linuxaudio.org as
> > a non-profit organization. Personally, I feel that incorporating in US
> will
> > allow us to have a significant access to the sponsorship from various
> tech
> > companies (especially considering that a vast majority is incorporated
> in
> > US) while in return offering them ability to make their contributions
> > tax-deductible. Granted, US may not be the most Linux-friendly but at
> the
> > same time IMHO such considerations may not have any bearing on the
> > consortium as our mission does not encompass patents and/or other
> authorship
> > concerns (beyond the obvious prerequisite that a member project/whatever
> > needs to be legal).
> 
> sorry but i am firmly against incorporation in USA for the main reason
> of software patenting being aloud there.
> 
> > FWIW, I also have some experience with incorporating the so-called
> > 501c3 (non-profit) organization in US, so this would also provide us
> > with some head-start. Ultimately, whatever country we choose, we must
> > be able to find at least 3-4 devoted and responsible board members in
> > that country who will be able to conduct the every-day business and
> > easily communicate with each other as well as the general membership.
> 
> there are members of the board who are as well experienced in
> registering non-profit organizations in EU. i can also offer the
> assistance and ask for the patrocinate of the Netherlands Institute of
> Media Art.


I sympathize with your comments in respect to patents. However, I would like
to urge you as well as others to think about an option which will best serve
the consortium (in this case I am mostly referring to the financial aspect).
Hence, factors are:

1) how many companies (who may be potential sponsors of the consortium) are
incorporated in a particular country, so that they can claim their donations
to the consortium tax-exempt.

2) how many people/active representatives we have in a particular country
who are committed to:

a) incorporating the organization
b) keeping the books straight
c) filing annual taxes
d) maintaining banking accounts, making payments, and seeking donations

> 
> > III. Seeking dedicated webmaster as one of the first (currently
> > volunteer-based) positions of the executive core.
> >
> > I am proposing to make a call for a webmaster with solid HTML skills to
> help
> > out with updating the website. As of right now, I would not want to make
> any
> > significant alterations simply because the website is just fine in its
> > current form, but also because this volunteer position should be
> structured
> > so that it does not require too much time. I would propose to make this
> > position available to anyone who wishes to nominate themselves and then
> have
> > the board choose from the nomination pool by vote.
> 
> There should be possibility to update the website thru a CMS, HTML is
> just a layout issue while content should be freely contributed by the
> various members of the consortium, IMHO.

I personally disagree with multi-client access for the official site. I
could see this user-oriented component being perhaps some kind of a forum
and/or wiki portal, but not the official site. Be that as it may, even if we
go the CMS route, someone needs to set up the CMS, though. So the issue
remains: who will do it and how do we determine the best candidate. Again,
my proposed factors are:

1) proficiency
2) dedication (and subsequently longevity)

Best wishes,

Ico