Board of Directors' Minutes
March 2011

By Bruce Preston

DACS Board of Directors Meeting—Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Called to order at: 7:15

Directors Attending: Richard Corzo (President, presiding), Richard DiFranco, Dave Green (Treasurer), Bruce Preston (Secretary), Jeff Setaro, Jim Scheef, Joseph Tobin, Annette van Ommeren, Andrew Woodruff; Guests: Charles Bovaird

Minutes of Last Meeting – approved.

Treasurer Report

Membership report 3/4/2011

Total paying members: 161
with email addresses: 158
regular members: 105
regular w/mailed newsletter: 56
free mailed newsletter: 21
printed newsletters: 100
NEW MEMBERS: Susan Dixon, Joseph Reilly, and Gilberto Rizzo

Old Business

1. General meetings
   March 1: Exploring Windows 7 Richard Corzo, Preview: Jim Scheef, Review: Bruce Preston
   April 5: John Patrick State of the Internet, Preview: Rich DiFranco, Review: Rob Limbaugh
   May 3: Jeff Setaro’s Secure Computing, Preview: Bruce Preston, Review: David Mawdsley
   June 7: Frank Kunst & Chris Milmerstadt of Fairfield County Bank Corp. - Safe Internet Commerce (oriented towards safe e-commerce activity etc.), Preview: Richard DiFranco, Review: _TBD
   Possible future topics:
   • David Pogue - Patrick has tried contacting him. He’ll try again.
   • Cloud Computing for Home Users. Security, applications, data access, data storage, alternatives, markets, prices
   • Future trends for communication services (TV, Internet, phone), costs, handhelds, PCs, etc. markets, prices, how we compare with other countries, effect on USA economy.
   • Smart Computing. They offer a Presentation-In-A-Box.
   • Through APCUG I’ve requested Norbert (Bob) Gostischa to speak in August on “Protecting Yourself and Your Identity Online.” I requested an answer by June 1.
   • Analog to digital recording – two variants – audiophile and musician
   • Dave Mawdsley proposed What’s New on the Internet segment for our meetings. Tabled – held in reserve.
   • Curing a ‘sick’ PC – loading a PC up with a bunch of malware, a couple of viruses, etc. and going through the process of cleaning it up
2. Open positions
   • Ahmad Asgharian is our new DACS editor.
   • The membership chairperson position is still open.
   • VP of Programs is also open.
3. DACS has signed up with Bluehost.com where we can work on a Drupal- or other CMS-based new website and dacs.org e-mail addresses have been set up for those that were interested. E-mail aliases are now set up there. The Website Committee had a Skype meeting to discuss our plans for the hosting service. The committee now has a forum in the DACS Community Forum (http://www.dacs.org/forum/). Interested members may visit the “R&D” site at http://dr.dacs.org but please remember that this is pro-forma, much of the content is out of date etc.
4. DACS communications infrastructure update: Jim Scheef has not yet gotten the telephone line checked and serviced. Jeff has provided a router/DSL modem to test whether our existing equipment is the problem inside the Resource Center. Charlie Bovaird donated a replacement used telephone with speaker capabilities. It has been installed. Andy has cleared with Google that our use of Google Voice is within the license agreement; however it must be registered with an individual’s name.
5. We’ll be putting together a display on DACS at the Danbury Library for September. Various people have contributed ideas. The Marketing & Public Relations forum in the DACS forum will be the place to collect those. Andy and Jim will gather materials. Andy will get dimensions and photograph the display case.
6. We have consolidated our Facebook presence to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Danbury-Area-Computer-Society-Inc/92713398983?v=wall. It is a page, the group is gone.
7. Insurance policy renewal.

New Business

1. Election of officers. The candidates are: President: Richard Corzo, Secretary: Bruce Preston, Treasurer: Dave Green. As Richard was a candidate, Jim presided over the election. The slate was elected.
2. 2010 income report and 2011 budget - we will see if the standard reports that come out of QuickBooks will be sufficient to satisfy the board’s needs.
3. Considering use of Comcast cable vs. existing DSL circuit. Bruce will investigate the possibility of getting cable internet service at a 501(c) 3 rate.
4. There was a distribution of feedback from website and feedback@dacs.org. Drew will be added to the distribution list.

Adjourned at 9:05PM