[Imc] Meeting notes 4-29-01

[peterm at shout.net]

IMC Spokesgroup meeting notes
Sunday, April 29, 2001
At the IMC

Attending:  Mike Lehman, Paul Riismandel, Ellen Knudsen, Sarah Kanouse,
Mark Enslin, Brian Hagy, Peter Miller (notetaker).

Librarians:  Some free subscriptions have started coming in!

Space:  Sarah is taking over the space booking.  Pauline and Sarah will
co-facilitate a training for staffers.  Soon, Mike will have more time to
do some construction work.  

News:  Quebec reporting and Mark/Crystal/Cope/Gina's racial climate survey
were the big topics.  Evaluated shows broadcast on WEFT in terms of audio
quality, announcement of who's speaking, etc.  It was a good
discussion.  Most thought they sounded pretty good.  Improvement areas
include: handoffs (telling who's coming next, e.g.), and introducing
speakers.  Critics disagreed over using multiple voices in a single story.

Print Media:  A new pm group will be forming and meeting on Thursday at 6
at the IMC.  Contact Sascha Meinrath or Lindsay Robinson for more info.

Outreach:  A Co-op presentation is being planned by Dave Powers, and he's
looking for help from the IMC.  Cope is designing a new brochure and flyer
for the IMC.

Tech:  The group has grown.  Many interested geeks have come to the IMC
and decided to help out.  Brian asked how can we make our website
translatable (to other languages, and speech)?  Mike Lehman raised the
issue of web logs.  The FBI requested them from the Seattle IMC, and some
have pointed out that we don't need to keep them.

Computer users Doug and Debbie have been seen visiting pornography sites
while at the IMC.  Should we prohibit visiting pornography sites?  We'll
have a broader discussion about this issue, some time in the future.

Finance:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:
Personnel:  Doug the computer user.  Brian saw Doug turning the computer
on and off.  Brian told him to stop because it's bad for the equipment,
and Doug responded by becoming very aggressive toward Brian, claiming that
he knew what he was doing, that the computer was his, etc.  Brian told
Doug that if he continued to do it, Brian would ask him to leave.  Doug
didn't do it again.  Paul Riismandel had a similar experience, wherein
Doug was screaming at Paul as he walked away from the IMC.

We've learned that Doug has been banned from the Champaign, Urbana, and
University libraries, and that his name isn't Doug, it's John.

How do we handle this?  The key is to focus on the behavior.  When people
do inappropriate things.  "What would make me comfortable would be if we
banned him from here, we offer him another place to go.  When I asked if
he knew about the TIMES center, he became really belligerent," said
Brian.  "I think we should set a high threshold that's almost
un-meetable," said Paul.  "I disagree.  If we just prevent him from coming
here, how is that any different from the xxx saying he can't go over
there," responded Brian.  Ellen suggested that he only be allowed into the
IMC when the staffperson working was comfortable with him.  Brian suggests
that we only let him return when we have written confirmation that he's
participating in a program at TIMES.  Paul said that he shouldn't be
confronted with an eviction notice, but that we should sit down with him
and explain our expectations, listen to his expectations, and then give
him opportunities to conform to IMC needs.  Sarah questioned whether this
policy adequately addresses the atmosphere that Doug's presence
creates.  How do we balance our justice aims:  inclusivity vs. openness to
women, e.g.  What do we expect from anyone who comes to the IMC?  Someone
comes to the IMC and uses it extensively but doesn't contribute
anything.  What's the exchange?  Another issue:  how should we really deal
with excessive computer use?  Having one person camped out on the computer
prevents others from using them.  Should we have time limits?  If so,
should they be limiting total time in a day?  Limit the time during an
hour?  Have a meeting with Doug, including Brian Hagy, Paul Riismandel,
Sehvilla, and possibly Corey Hardin or Carol Pilgrim.  The longer we wait,
the worse it becomes.  Our goal is to deal with Doug in a way that's fair
and that we can use consistently.

Vision: Postponed.

NEW BUSINESS:
The Sign:  Urbana is considering changing its sign policy.  We've been
invited to submit a proposal for a sign hanging over the sidewalk.  Should
we do it?  Yes!  

Global Open Publishing Proposal:  It's posted in the "Desires and
Designs" section.  Please look at it and comment on it.

Changing meeting frequency:  Paul proposed changing the steering group
meetings to bi-weekly.  

Announcements:
Sascha's birthday is tomorrow, April 30.