[Imc] Minutes for the Informal Steering Group Mtg: 3/18/01

[nancy dietrich]

Please send additions/corrections to me:  nancydietrich at juno.com

Steering Group Meeting
Sunday, March 18, 2001at IMC, approx. noon

The Steering group met informally today as there were not enough
empowered spokes for voting.

Attending:  Sarah K., Nancy & Russ D-R, Mark E., Brian H., Zach M., Mitra
(sorry, not sure of last name:),  Mike L.

Focus Group Updates:

Space:
Mike Lehman updated us on a number of things he has been working on.  He
would like to propose movable shelves w/ brackets for the east wall of
the IMC underneath the bulletin boards.  He approximated $50-80 for the
total cost.  Sarah said that at the next steering group it is planned
that they will allocate budgets for each group. 

Sarah brought up a concern that there have several double-bookings of
meetings at the IMC.  People seem to be writing their meetings on the
calendar without consulting Molly.  Some suggestions for helping
alleviate this problem were discussed:  have a different schedule for the
front and back rooms and book them separately (back room is rented out,
front is free, but there have been some problems with meetings going on
in front room while someone else is trying to use the computer);  Have
programs scheduled for IMC on a different calendar than community events
which are not at the IMC and use a notebook instead of a wall calendar to
book IMC rooms.  These suggestions will be brought up to Molly at the
next steering group mtg.

Brian asked when the ramp will be built for wheelchair access;  Mike
suggested waiting on this until after the local elections are over
because we will have to talk to the city for the outside ramp;  ramp to
production room will be easier.  Brian also brought up tele-type (TTY)
for the deaf to access IMC by phone;  he will look into possible funding
for this.

Tech:  
Zach will be updating the website for now.  He mentioned Prairienet will
be donating some computers to the IMC for public use.  There will be some
work days scheduled soon, one for non-computer related things, and
another to organize the wire closet (space may want to be in on these
work days).  Zach will check on stories not reaching the side column on
the IMC website.  Also discussed training others on how to use software
at the IMC.  Brian said that Sergei now has 2 monitors.  

No reports on librarians or outreach.  Outreach-related topics below.

News:  
Paul mentioned wanting to discuss Girlfest at the news meeting.  
Discussed some news-related subjects in next section.

Discussion ensued on ways to increase energy level & involvement in the
IMC, since attendance has been down at Sunday meetings & newsgroup
meetings.  Group was in agreement that people have been busy/ out of
town, etc.  Some ideas for increasing energy:  Do more outreach;  Ad in
DI/Octopus?  Octopus has been friendly & wants to see us succeed.  Sarah
said that the performance workshops & concerts have been working to get
more people into the IMC.  She has been getting a lot of email about the
IMC.  Mitra has been discussing a news exchange/critique for Parkland
Students with David Jones, a Parkland instructor.  Need to focus on
getting contact information from new people who come into the IMC.  

Mark & Brian brought up the point that there seemed to be more energy
when there was a specific deadline for material (for scheduled WEFT
shows, etc.).  Now that the production room is up & running we can hold
training workshops which may help get more people involved in different
media.  A formal proposal has been submitted to WEFT for us to have a
regular forum for our material, in the form of 3-5 minute drop-ins on
environmental issues.  Other proposals for different topics can be
submitted.  Zach said that IMC reporters are welcome to use his show on
WEFT as a forum for our material.  

Also, the School for Designing a Society sponsors an open stage at the
IMC every other Friday.  More advertising for this may help.  

Meeting Adjourned;  approx. 1:00 pm.







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