Board of Directors Minutes
December 2008

A regular meeting of your Board of Directors was held at the Resource Center on Monday, December 8, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. Present were Howard Berger, Charles Bovaird, Richard Corzo, Sean Henderson, John Lansdale, Patrick Libert, Rob Limbaugh, Anna van Ommeren, Jeff Setaro and Joseph Tobin. President Rob Limbaugh presided and Secretary Anna van Ommeren kept the record. Minutes of the last meeting held December 8, 2008, were presented and approved.

Treasurer Charles Bovaird reported current cash assets of $6,810.70, consisting of total bank and postal accounts in the amount of $6,736.73 plus postage on hand of $73.97. Subtracting a liability of prepaid dues in the amount of $1,033.00 left a net equity of $5,777.70. He also reported that the current membership is at 225, or which 199 have valid email addresses.

The meeting started with a warm welcome to Joseph Tobin, the new board member. Rob took a moment to explain how the Board functions, and the other members present introduced themselves.

Rob went on to remind the Board of the general meeting dates, starting 2009, they will be held on the 'first Mondays', dates as follows: 1/5, 2/2, 3/2, 4/6, 5/4, 6/1, 7/6, 8/3, 9/7, 10/5, 11/2, 12/7. All dates are confirmed for the Danbury Hospital Auditorium, as well as the foyer space.

Regarding the new host for the DACS website, Rob gave his report on the migration progress. He is continuing with the setup process, and plans to complete the preparation for the move before the end of the month. In response to Richard’s questions about the server, Rob explained it is IIS based with support for .net, asp and PHP. Rob will set up the necessary permissions, and import the calendar information and current PHPBB forum into Drupal. The board discussed the logistics of the move, and how to handle older pages on the site. These will most likely remain as they are now, and going forward, new content will be inserted into Drupal. After completing the set up of MySQL and Drupal, Rob will give the webmasters the necessary information to work within the new system.

Howie explained how his son-in-law was able to benefit from the expertise of the Board, and with the help of Rob had successfully recovered lost computer data. Howie emphasized this illustrates how providing access to expert knowledge is one of the wonderful benefits of DACS membership.
Howie also reported on his progress in researching possible insurance policies for DACS members. Policies underwritten by “Travelers” could offer discounts for car and home policies, with 5-10% savings. He is also pursuing Health insurance and Health Saving Account options.

On a different subject, Howie went on to inform the board he set up a LinkedIn group for DACS. Eligibility will be confirmed by referencing the DACS membership list. The logistics of managing the group were discussed. However, Sean questioned some of the pros and cons of social networking. Howie explained some the advantages, such as promoting members with certain technical skills and how, through the LinkedIn connections members can help each other with possible job searches. Sean mentioned his preference for more personal face-to-face interaction.

Next up for discussion was the “General flyer” for long-term posting. Patrick presented 3 different concepts created in collaboration with Annette, and mentioned that NASA has a large collection of free high-res images available to enhance the poster. He explained his thoughts about creating a visually different eye-catching look, and to move away from using cartoon images. The different proofs were discussed and Annette offered to prepare a new variation based on the designs. Joseph mentioned he liked the “binary imagery” on one sample, and Annette said she might include that in a revision. Joseph said he would also try to work on a layout. It was suggested the image on the poster be updated every few months to stimulate interest.

The Board voted to buy a new bulb for the projector in the resource center, and Charlie said he would handle the ordering process.

Sean presented a brief marketing report. He mentioned he contacted David Pogue of the New York Times requesting a possible presentation; however he had not yet received a reply. Rob commented on the new DACS license plates, they are popular and well liked. As bulk orders reduce shipping costs, it was suggested the general meeting audience be asked if they are interested in placing orders. Sean suggested the board members look at the CafePress offerings and consider additional items to customize with the DACS logo.

General meeting topics in 2009 start as follows: January is “Digital Cartography”, February is “IP Telephony”, March is “Home Server”, April is “Linux”, May is yet to be determined, and June will highlight “Law Enforcement Tracking”. Richard suggested “Backing Up” as a topic, and Jeff offered to present on “Virus Protection”. Additional suggestions included technologies used by the Coast Guard, GeoCaching, and Aviation.