Minutes of the board meeting of September 23, 2019
"philip.chimento--- via foundation-announce" <[email protected]> Mon, 14 Oct 2019 12:05:41 -0700
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Wiki location: https://wiki.gnome.org/FoundationBoard/Minutes/20190923
= Foundation Board Minutes for Monday 23 September 2019, 15:30 UTC =
== Attending ==
* FedericoMena
* AllanDay
* BrittYazel
* TristanVonBerkom
* CarlosSoriano
* NeilMcGovern
* RosannaYuen
* PhilipChimento
* RobertMcQueen
== Agenda ==
* Approve draft meeting minutes of 21 August, 2nd September, 9th September
* Travel spending authorization for board hackfest 2019
* Allocate travel budget for GNOME.Asia 2019
* Code of conduct
* Adjust spending authorisation limits
* Announcements
== Minutes ==
* Approve draft meeting minutes of 21 August, 2nd September, 9th September
* Allan and Tristan have submitted some minor textual clarifications.
* Minutes are approved, with the proposed amendments.
* Travel spending authorization for board hackfest 2019
* We propose approving travel spending for Neil, Rosanna, and all
directors, under the Foundation travel policy, to attend the board hackfest
which is co-located with LAS. We are proposing to use the Foundation travel
policy in order not to have the costs come out of LAS's travel sponsorship
budget by requesting sponsorship. See
https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Board/issues/117.
* Carlos and Britt aren't able to attend.
* Rosanna wants to know if she should attend.
* Philip: If two directors can't make it, should we look for a different
date and location?
* We decide to revisit the decision to organize the hackfest at LAS,
and hold an informal poll to see if attaching it to another event would be
better.
* '''VOTE:''' Approve travel spending for all directors and Neil and
Rosanna, under the Foundation travel policy, to attend the next board
hackfest.
* +1 unanimous
* Allocate travel budget for GNOME.Asia 2019
* The GNOME.Asia budget originally didn't include a travel sponsorship
budget. We propose allocating USD 9,000 for GNOME.Asia travel sponsorship.
See https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Board/issues/127.
* Philip: Sometimes GNOME Asia has allocated travel budget within its
own budget, and sometimes from the travel committee's budget. I'm all in
favour of allocating more money for travel sponsorship, but we should
consider this a change of plans rather than an oversight.
* Allan: If there was an oversight here it was the board's oversight;
we should add this to the bid checklist so it's always included in future.
* '''ACTION''': Allan will move that forward.
* Tristan: as an anecdote, when GNOME Asia was in Seoul they didn't know
I lived there, and thought that it would be very expensive to bring me to
the conference. Allocating more money to GNOME Asia may make it easier to
bring people from Europe/Americas to the conference.
* Carlos: Where does the amount come from?
* Allan: From Rosanna.
* Philip: treasurer, does this amount make sense?
* Neil: The amount makes sense; this has been inconsistently applied
in the past and we'd like to see it consistent. The funds are also coming
out of next fiscal year's budget.
* VOTE: allocate USD 9,000 for GNOME.Asia 2019 travel. This is to be
managed as a separate budget by the Travel Committee.
* +1 unanimous
* Code of conduct
* See https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Board/issues/112 for discussion and
background.
* Federico: I've been reading the comments that everyone gave on the
!GitLab issue and have sent some of them on to our consultant Sage Sharp.
* Federico: Question about scope for speech that happens outside of the
umbrella of the GNOME project. Sometimes it's clear cut, e.g. hate speech
on a personal blog; sometimes not, e.g. posting to a random mailing list of
another project.
* Carlos: When we previously discussed this, you said you would
consult with Sage, did that happen?
* Federico: Sage's contract ran out of billable hours.
* Carlos: This sounds like something to contract with them on, but
also a question that the board can weigh in on. I am leaning towards erring
on the side of not overreaching, but at the same time I don't like the
consequences of that.
* Neil: It needs to be treated on a case by case basis. If a GSoC
student publishes hate speech on their blog hosted outside of gnome.org,
it's very different from if I were to publish hate speech on my blog no
matter where it's hosted, with a different reflection on the project and a
different effect on project participants.
* Tristan: What about the power to order the refund of travel
sponsorship funds?
* Neil: Separately from this, we can add to the travel sponsorship
text that the sponsored individual must behave representatively of the
GNOME Foundation and abide by the code of conduct.
* Allan: We'd be trusting the committee to apply the rules
proportionately. This might apply, for example, in the hypothetical case
where we paid for a speaker who came under false pretenses.
* Tristan: There is a possible point of failure in trusting the
committee, could we require the board to vote on some of these sanctions?
* Someone mentioned we are delegating these powers to the committee
specifically because there may be a conflict of interest with the board of
directors.
* Philip: We do have a conflict of interest policy, so if a director
was involved we'd require that they recuse themselves.
* Rosanna: In that case, the recused director could still read the
minutes, and that would be a breach of the privacy of the person making the
report.
* Philip: As for trusting the committee, trust is always a weak point;
the code of conduct is subjective and so it's possible for someone acting
in bad faith to get on the committee and weaponize the framework of the
code of conduct, just like it's possible for someone acting in bad faith to
be elected to the board and weaponize the board's legal framework to
undermine the GNOME Foundation. I don't think it's possible to prevent that
100%, without restricting the framework to the point of uselessness.
* Allan: In previous discussions we talked about doing a community
consultation, should we do this?
* Federico: Sage suggested consulting community members from
underrepresented minorities.
* Carlos: I think if we did a consultation, we'd need to request
feedback from the whole community.
* Rob: I disagree, either we are confident that we have the support of
the community to do this, or we are not in which case we shouldn't do it in
the first place. I believe we have the support from the community.
* Federico: We appointed Sage specifically because of their
professional expertise in the area.
* Allan: For the events code of conduct, we did solicit emails, we got
about 3 or 4 and some contained comments that were useful.
* Tristan: I agree with Rob, it would be better to move ahead.
* Philip: I wouldn't be opposed to having a community consultation as
Allan described, but I don't think it's a requirement to move forward if
most are not in favour of having one.
* Tristan: Can we say something about replacing the events code of
conduct?
* Federico: We'll discuss in the next committee meeting how to move
forward with that.
* Allan: We can add a statement of intent to the vote.
* Philip: I mentioned on IRC that we may not be able to delegate the
power to remove Foundation membership without changing the bylaws.
* We add a separate point to the list of delegated powers for
recommending Foundation membership removal to the board, instead of
removing the membership.
* Allan: If the committee decides that travel funds need to be repaid,
will we actually see any of that money?
* We decide to keep this in.
* Federico: What is our policy on minor changes to the code of conduct?
* We add a separate point to the list of delegated powers for the
committee to make minor edits.
* '''VOTE''': Adopt the proposed code of conduct, as set out at
https://people.gnome.org/~federico/misc/gnome-coc/index.html for the online
spaces detailed therein. Request that the Code of Conduct Committee returns
to the board with any modifications necessary to implement as an events
code of conduct from Jan 1st 2020. Delegate the following powers to the
Code of Conduct Committee:
* Issue warnings
* Ban individuals from specific communication channels
* Ban individuals from attending, speaking at or volunteering for
GNOME events
* Remove talks, slides, videos or other content from GNOME
infrastructure
* Withholding an offered reimbursement or requesting the refund of
funds given to individuals by the GNOME Foundation
* Revoke sponsorship or promotional agreements
* Issue permanent or temporary bans on the use of some or all GNOME
infrastructure
* Remove moderator or administrator rights for GNOME infrastructure
* Remove individuals from community or Foundation positions, or
membership of Foundation groups or organisations
* Recommend to the board that an individual is removed from Foundation
membership, committee or officer role
* Issue statements, which can include accounts of Code of Conduct
incidents
* Make minor editorial changes to the Code of Conduct to address
clarity issues
* +1 unanimous
* '''ACTION''': Federico will create a !GitLab issue to draft an
announcement.
* Adjust spending authorization limits
* https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Board/issues/124
* Deferred.
* Announcements
* Allan: The next board meeting will be 30 September 2019. This is
scheduled to be a working session, but will be a regular meeting due to the
number of outstanding agenda items.
* Allan: We have two bids for GUADEC 2020 and will be looking to make a
decision soon; directors are encouraged to look over the bids; see
https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Board/issues/121.
== Actions ==
* '''Federico''' - Create a !GitLab issue where we can draft the
announcement of the code of conduct.
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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div>Wiki location: <a href=3D"https://wiki.gnome.org/Foun=
dationBoard/Minutes/20190923">https://wiki.gnome.org/FoundationBoard/Minute=
s/20190923</a></div><div><br></div><div>=3D Foundation Board Minutes for Mo=
nday 23 September 2019, 15:30 UTC =3D<br><br>=3D=3D Attending =3D=3D<br><br=
>=C2=A0* FedericoMena<br>=C2=A0* AllanDay<br>=C2=A0* BrittYazel<br>=C2=A0* =
TristanVonBerkom<br>=C2=A0* CarlosSoriano<br>=C2=A0* NeilMcGovern<br>=C2=A0=
* RosannaYuen<br>=C2=A0* PhilipChimento<br>=C2=A0* RobertMcQueen<br><br>=3D=
=3D Agenda =3D=3D<br><br>=C2=A0* Approve draft meeting minutes of 21 August=
, 2nd September, 9th September<br>=C2=A0* Travel spending authorization for=
board hackfest 2019<br>=C2=A0* Allocate travel budget for GNOME.Asia 2019<=
br>=C2=A0* Code of conduct<br>=C2=A0* Adjust spending authorisation limits<=
br>=C2=A0* Announcements<br><br>=3D=3D Minutes =3D=3D<br><br>=C2=A0* Approv=
e draft meeting minutes of 21 August, 2nd September, 9th September<br>=C2=
=A0 =C2=A0* Allan and Tristan have submitted some minor textual clarificati=
ons.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Minutes are approved, with the proposed amendments.<=
br><br>=C2=A0* Travel spending authorization for board hackfest 2019<br>=C2=
=A0 =C2=A0* We propose approving travel spending for Neil, Rosanna, and all=
directors, under the Foundation travel policy, to attend the board hackfes=
t which is co-located with LAS. We are proposing to use the Foundation trav=
el policy in order not to have the costs come out of LAS's travel spons=
orship budget by requesting sponsorship. See <a href=3D"https://gitlab.gnom=
e.org/Teams/Board/issues/117">https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Board/issues/1=
17</a>.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Carlos and Britt aren't able to attend.<br>=
=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Rosanna wants to know if she should attend.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0=
* Philip: If two directors can't make it, should we look for a differen=
t date and location?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* We decide to revisit the deci=
sion to organize the hackfest at LAS, and hold an informal poll to see if a=
ttaching it to another event would be better.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* ''&=
#39;VOTE:''' Approve travel spending for all directors and Neil=
and Rosanna, under the Foundation travel policy, to attend the next board =
hackfest.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* +1 unanimous<br><br>=C2=A0* Allocate tra=
vel budget for GNOME.Asia 2019<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* The GNOME.Asia budget orig=
inally didn't include a travel sponsorship budget. We propose allocatin=
g USD 9,000 for GNOME.Asia travel sponsorship. See <a href=3D"https://gitla=
b.gnome.org/Teams/Board/issues/127">https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Board/is=
sues/127</a>.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Philip: Sometimes GNOME Asia has allocated =
travel budget within its own budget, and sometimes from the travel committe=
e's budget. I'm all in favour of allocating more money for travel s=
ponsorship, but we should consider this a change of plans rather than an ov=
ersight.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: If there was an oversight here it =
was the board's oversight; we should add this to the bid checklist so i=
t's always included in future.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* '''=
ACTION''': Allan will move that forward.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Tris=
tan: as an anecdote, when GNOME Asia was in Seoul they didn't know I li=
ved there, and thought that it would be very expensive to bring me to the c=
onference.=C2=A0 Allocating more money to GNOME Asia may make it easier to =
bring people from Europe/Americas to the conference.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Carl=
os: Where does the amount come from?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: From R=
osanna.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Philip: treasurer, does this amount make sense?<b=
r>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Neil: The amount makes sense; this has been inconsi=
stently applied in the past and we'd like to see it consistent. The fun=
ds are also coming out of next fiscal year's budget.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* =
VOTE: allocate USD 9,000 for GNOME.Asia 2019 travel. This is to be managed =
as a separate budget by the Travel Committee.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* +1 u=
nanimous<br><br>=C2=A0* Code of conduct<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* See <a href=3D"ht=
tps://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Board/issues/112">https://gitlab.gnome.org/Tea=
ms/Board/issues/112</a> for discussion and background.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Fe=
derico: I've been reading the comments that everyone gave on the !GitLa=
b issue and have sent some of them on to our consultant Sage Sharp.<br>=C2=
=A0 =C2=A0* Federico: Question about scope for speech that happens outside =
of the umbrella of the GNOME project. Sometimes it's clear cut, e.g. ha=
te speech on a personal blog; sometimes not, e.g. posting to a random maili=
ng list of another project.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Carlos: When we previo=
usly discussed this, you said you would consult with Sage, did that happen?=
<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Federico: Sage's contract ran out of billable=
hours.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Carlos: This sounds like something to cont=
ract with them on, but also a question that the board can weigh in on. I am=
leaning towards erring on the side of not overreaching, but at the same ti=
me I don't like the consequences of that.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Neil=
: It needs to be treated on a case by case basis. If a GSoC student publish=
es hate speech on their blog hosted outside of <a href=3D"http://gnome.org"=
>gnome.org</a>, it's very different from if I were to publish hate spee=
ch on my blog no matter where it's hosted, with a different reflection =
on the project and a different effect on project participants.<br>=C2=A0 =
=C2=A0* Tristan: What about the power to order the refund of travel sponsor=
ship funds?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Neil: Separately from this, we can add=
to the travel sponsorship text that the sponsored individual must behave r=
epresentatively of the GNOME Foundation and abide by the code of conduct.<b=
r>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: We'd be trusting the committee to apply =
the rules proportionately. This might apply, for example, in the hypothetic=
al case where we paid for a speaker who came under false pretenses.<br>=C2=
=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Tristan: There is a possible point of failure in trustin=
g the committee, could we require the board to vote on some of these sancti=
ons?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Someone mentioned we are delegating these pow=
ers to the committee specifically because there may be a conflict of intere=
st with the board of directors.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Philip: We do have=
a conflict of interest policy, so if a director was involved we'd requ=
ire that they recuse themselves.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Rosanna: In that =
case, the recused director could still read the minutes, and that would be =
a breach of the privacy of the person making the report.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =
=C2=A0* Philip: As for trusting the committee, trust is always a weak point=
; the code of conduct is subjective and so it's possible for someone ac=
ting in bad faith to get on the committee and weaponize the framework of th=
e code of conduct, just like it's possible for someone acting in bad fa=
ith to be elected to the board and weaponize the board's legal framewor=
k to undermine the GNOME Foundation. I don't think it's possible to=
prevent that 100%, without restricting the framework to the point of usele=
ssness.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: In previous discussions we talked about do=
ing a community consultation, should we do this?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* F=
ederico: Sage suggested consulting community members from underrepresented =
minorities.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Carlos: I think if we did a consultati=
on, we'd need to request feedback from the whole community.<br>=C2=A0 =
=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Rob: I disagree, either we are confident that we have the su=
pport of the community to do this, or we are not in which case we shouldn&#=
39;t do it in the first place. I believe we have the support from the commu=
nity.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Federico: We appointed Sage specifically bec=
ause of their professional expertise in the area.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* =
Allan: For the events code of conduct, we did solicit emails, we got about =
3 or 4 and some contained comments that were useful.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=
=A0* Tristan: I agree with Rob, it would be better to move ahead.<br>=C2=A0=
=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Philip: I wouldn't be opposed to having a community con=
sultation as Allan described, but I don't think it's a requirement =
to move forward if most are not in favour of having one.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* =
Tristan: Can we say something about replacing the events code of conduct?<b=
r>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Federico: We'll discuss in the next committee m=
eeting how to move forward with that.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: We ca=
n add a statement of intent to the vote.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Philip: I mentio=
ned on IRC that we may not be able to delegate the power to remove Foundati=
on membership without changing the bylaws.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* We add =
a separate point to the list of delegated powers for recommending Foundatio=
n membership removal to the board, instead of removing the membership.<br>=
=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: If the committee decides that travel funds need to be=
repaid, will we actually see any of that money?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* W=
e decide to keep this in.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Federico: What is our policy on=
minor changes to the code of conduct?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* We add a se=
parate point to the list of delegated powers for the committee to make mino=
r edits.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* '''VOTE''': Adopt the pr=
oposed code of conduct, as set out at <a href=3D"https://people.gnome.org/~=
federico/misc/gnome-coc/index.html">https://people.gnome.org/~federico/misc=
/gnome-coc/index.html</a> for the online spaces detailed therein. Request t=
hat the Code of Conduct Committee returns to the board with any modificatio=
ns necessary to implement as an events code of conduct from Jan 1st 2020. D=
elegate the following powers to the Code of Conduct Committee:<br>=C2=A0 =
=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Issue warnings<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Ban individuals from=
specific communication channels<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Ban individuals f=
rom attending, speaking at or volunteering for GNOME events<br>=C2=A0 =C2=
=A0 =C2=A0* Remove talks, slides, videos or other content from GNOME infras=
tructure<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Withholding an offered reimbursement or r=
equesting the refund of funds given to individuals by the GNOME Foundation<=
br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Revoke sponsorship or promotional agreements<br>=
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Issue permanent or temporary bans on the use of some =
or all GNOME infrastructure<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Remove moderator or ad=
ministrator rights for GNOME infrastructure<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Remove=
individuals from community or Foundation positions, or membership of Found=
ation groups or organisations<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Recommend to the boa=
rd that an individual is removed from Foundation membership, committee or o=
fficer role<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Issue statements, which can include ac=
counts of Code of Conduct incidents<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Make minor edi=
torial changes to the Code of Conduct to address clarity issues<br>=C2=A0 =
=C2=A0* +1 unanimous<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* '''ACTION'''=
: Federico will create a !GitLab issue to draft an announcement.<br><br>=C2=
=A0* Adjust spending authorization limits<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* <a href=3D"http=
s://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Board/issues/124">https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams=
/Board/issues/124</a><br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Deferred.<br><br>=C2=A0* Announceme=
nts<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: The next board meeting will be 30 September 20=
19. This is scheduled to be a working session, but will be a regular meetin=
g due to the number of outstanding agenda items.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: W=
e have two bids for GUADEC 2020 and will be looking to make a decision soon=
; directors are encouraged to look over the bids; see <a href=3D"https://gi=
tlab.gnome.org/Teams/Board/issues/121">https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Board=
/issues/121</a>.<br><br>=3D=3D Actions =3D=3D<br><br>=C2=A0* '''=
;Federico''' - Create a !GitLab issue where we can draft the an=
nouncement of the code of conduct.<br></div><div><br></div></div>
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