DACS Board of Directors Meeting
Wednesday, May 7, 2014

By Lisa Leifels

A meeting of your board of directors was held on Wednesday, May 7, 2014.  Attending were: Richard Corzo, Dick Gingras, Bert Goff, Lisa Leifels, Bruce Preston, Jim Scheef, Richard Teasdale, Andy Woodruff.  Visitors were Charlie Bovaird, Steve Harkness, Annette van Ommeren.  The meeting was called to order at 7:25 PM.

The minutes of the last meeting were accepted.

Treasurer's Report for April, 2014

                         
New Business

1. Dick would like to form a Program Committee responsible for planning and scheduling the speakers and the General Meeting agenda two or more months in advance.  The Program Chair would coordinate the communication with the speakers and suggest topics and also take suggestions from the Board and general membership.  Steve Harkness said he would be a member on the committee.  Steve has been visiting some of the local businesses in the area to find possible future presenters and to help increase our membership.  A decision was made to create a new form on our website that gives non-board members an opportunity to add potential topics for future meetings.
2. There is an opening for a Public Relations person who would be responsible for promoting DACS events and news items in social media. Events include all meetings/events open to the public. News items for the election of officers and Board members, awards (i.e. newsletter), and other news that gets the DACS name into the public domain.  Dick would like to send out press releases to the local newspapers with the bios and photos of all the officers of DACS.
3. There was a discussion about joining the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce at a cost of $250 a year.  Charlie felt that when DACS belonged to this organization in the past we did not see an increase in our membership.  After much discussion the consensus was to not incur the expense to join the GDCC at this time.
4. Since the attendance was up for the May general meeting, Dick said we should continue to make a concerted effort to distribute the posters advertising the June general meeting.
5. Dick would like us all to begin thinking about how we should celebrate the 25th anniversary of DACS next year.
6. Dick recommended that we be consistent when we refer to our organization on our website and Meetup site.  He said that we should always refer to the name of our organization as the Danbury Area Computer Society or DACS.   Richard asked Dick to identify the places where our name is not correct and said that this could very easily be fixed.
7. Dick suggested that we create a list of all the DACS assets and replacement costs.  Bert would like to hold off on this project for a few months.
8. There was a brief discussion on how we should define the DACS demographics so that we could attract advertisers/supporters as an additional source of income.
9. Benefits of membership include SIGs and our award winning newsletter.  Since the DACS website is undergoing an overhaul, Dick recommended that we create a members only section that provides added value such as a membership directory that can be edited by each member, upload photos, surveys, SIG notes/code/scripts, links to special offers (such as discounts available to DACS from APCUG), and the DACS.doc PDF file.

Old Business

1. General meetings
• May 6: John Patrick—State of the Internet.  Preview: Andy Woodruff, Review: Steve Harkness
• June 3: Anand Tirumani—Cloud Computing.  Preview: Richard Corzo, Review: Paulo Laranetto
• Possible future topics:
  • Digital cameras – Discuss higher end digital cameras and what features are most important.  Jim met a member of the Candlewood Camera Club who may be able to do a presentation in July.  Explanation of what they have that you don't get in a phone, etc.  What is RAW mode, HDR, sensor size, what causes noise, etc.  Andy could do a presentation on this, but not in the immediate future. 
  • Video production – How to plan and create a video that tells a story.  Putting something up on YouTube, or short personal videos on Vine, Instagram, etc.  Approach WestConn or Naugatuck to see if a student might do it.  Perhaps for a senior project?  Andy is currently working busy on a project, but he could potentially do a presentation mid-to-late summer.
  • We've started to do a "Meet the SIG" segment between the Ask DACS session and the featured presentation. We did the Mobile Devices/Windows 8 SIG in February and Annette did Web Design in May. Available for future months: CiviCRM.
  • "LifeStream" monitoring. Mike Kaltschnee mentioned FitBit (currently available at BestBuy) or other 'wearable electronics.' Andy spoke with Jeff Schlicht, professor of Health Promotion & Exercise at WestConn, about a possible presentation at DACS re wearable electronic devices that monitor exercise and/or body functions. At present Jeff is not committed. Bill Saturno may have access to someone who has Google Glass and someone who has an Oculus Rift (virtual reality headset).   Another possible device that can be covered is the Pebble Watch.
  • Andy suggested a session on creating a web site of various types: blog, brochure, e-commerce site, etc. – making use of such products/services as SiteBuilder (online or on PC), turnkey sites, etc.  Andy suggested that as a computer group we should do some sort of session that would answer the question: "I think I need a web site, what are my options?"  This might involve a "high level" overview of the various approaches. Andy (and to some extent Bruce) wanted to talk about the entry level 'turnkey' systems where you must live within the constraints of the design, where Annette is more concerned about  "What happens if it doesn't do what you want it to do?"  Annette and Andy will discuss creating an outline that describes at a high-level what components might be a part of a web site and the repercussions they have upon the construction of the site.
  • Lisa suggested a "decision tree" presentation – "What should I get?" – Windows or Mac, desktop, all-in-one, notebook, tablet, or even smartphone – Android or iOS, etc. Lots of decisions – how to decide what meets your needs.  We think this would be a 'tough' presentation to pull off but a lively session. Bruce will concentrate on desktops, Richard Corzo will concentrate on mobile devices, Jim and Charlie will work on defining the metrics.
  • Home theater systems. Jim is in the process of assembling one and might be able to put together a program based upon his experiences. Andy will look for an independent home theater installation company. Comparison of services such as Xfinity, CableVision, DirectTV etc. Carston Stereo might be a good prospect – Andy will talk to them.  Richard wrote a newsletter article on watching YouTube on TV.
  • 3D Printing – Bill Saturno may be able to come up with a speaker for this topic.
  • Jim would like to see things like the Raspberry Pi, Arduino etc. Jim will see if he can find a speaker, perhaps someone from Hackerspace.
  • Andy suggested an overview of the "app development" process.  Discussion last month followed as to how it might be made interesting to general populace. We did mobile app development (iOS and Android) in November 2012.
  • Bert is a Red Cross volunteer and thought it would be interesting to have a presentation on how the Red Cross uses technology for disaster recovery.  He will be attending a training session on May 10 and will inquire about a possible speaker.  Andy offered to contact someone from the American Radio Relay League (ARRL).
  • Discuss apps that create and store notes such as Evernote.
2. Workshop
• The XP to Ubuntu Linux Workshop is scheduled for June 14, 2014 at 1:30 pm —Bruce Preston, David Mawdsley, Jim Ritterbusch, Sean Henderson.  Preview: Bruce Preston, Review: ________
3. APCUG – Dick attended the APCUG Tech conference and also the business meeting.  He suggested that everyone on the board take a look at the APCUG website to get some ideas on future topics for general meetings.

Adjourned: 9:50 PM.