This is a read only archive of pad.okfn.org. See the shutdown announcement for details.

AdvisoryCouncil2015 2016 Advisory Council call 1 February 20:00 GMT in a google hangout

Agenda:
  1.     introductions
    1. who will chair meeting
    2. who will take notes
  2. review of actions from last meeting
  3. update from Open Knowledge (Pavel)
    1. New Name! Open Knowledge International (OKI)
    2. Set-up a structure for the coming work (slide: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17l3UATR2BBOWMcC0jTMGRYAQk-39nNET-Na2DQ-oDmI/edit#slide=id.gfc88d40b1_0_0)
    3. New project delivery model (Slide: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1j7nNnjCv3zJvr2Is2IO_WNuM072QZfJZC9UFw3H0H7s/edit#slide=id.p)
    4. Transforming our strategy into a Theory of Change
    5. Rufus role, going forward
    6. Viderum
  4. Role of the Advisory council
    1. Help with Theory of Change / general strategy
    2. Help with fundraising on a high level
    3. Help with hiring on a high level
      1. What do you need from me / us?
  5. Advisory council website status 
    1. update on membership of the council?
  6. Any Other Business


Meeting notes:
    Thanks to Hannes for volunteering to chair :) 
On the call:  Brian, Denis, glyn, Hannes, Nathan, Pavel, Peter, Rufus, Soren, Laura
Mayo escuses her non attendence.

Review of actions:
     Rufus has taken action but hasn't exactly done the actions (updating AC website and sharing AC emails with the AC)
     Action is WIP (work in progress) , will be complete by 29 Feb
     
Update from Pavel     
3.1 - new name.    Want to clarify that the original NGO that Pavel runs is distinct from overall network and community. Hence name is clarified to: "Open Knowledge International" or OKI
3.2  has set up a structure to deliver the work Pavel anticipates is coming in the future. Org chart. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17l3UATR2BBOWMcC0jTMGRYAQk-39nNET-Na2DQ-oDmI/edit#slide=id.gfc88d40b1_0_0 
     Most important area of work/impact is portfolio, new approach https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1j7nNnjCv3zJvr2Is2IO_WNuM072QZfJZC9UFw3H0H7s/edit#slide=id.p
     many more organisations in the open space now, especially single issue ones eg tax justice, extractives.
     Discussed the 3 stage portfolio model. 
     Would this model mean org reinventing itself every 3 years as projects come and go?  Pavel: not intention
     Why do projects need to leave if successful? Sounds like incubator model. Pavel: other orgs are best suited to the task of global scale organising eg of School of Data. We know about open data but may not be able to organise global movement or training programme. Other orgs should and will take on the task. 
     Seems sad to lose large projects.. Discussion about project handover/exit as a sustainable plan. what is business model, how will activities be funded?  Pavel: seek core unrestricted funding for non portfolio part of organisation, seek grants for the projects. 
     CKAN - has been a great project as well as a commercial business for OKI. Now "Viderum", which is a business pursuing commercial CKAN, wholly owned by OKI
     
3.4 turning strategy developed 2014-15 into a theory of change which is less 'lofty' and shows how the organisation has impact.  Work in progress. 
Pavel: want to see people using open data to improve their own life [ultimate goal of organisation]
opening data, using data, 
Pavel is writing his theory of change, wants open debate, would like to share draft with AC for feedback. 
AC looks forward to the draft!

3.5    Rufus will be spokesperson for openness, defend and extend space. No executive role in OKI now or going forward but helping fundraising. will be active in community

4.2 how can AC help with fundraising on a high level
suggest project ideas
introduce to funders or collaborators
similarly for hiring. 

5 -- action is with Rufus
There are new chapters in Japan and Sweden, hopefully will send representatives to join the AC

AOB
maybe next time have preread on update and save call for discussion?













Advisory council call, 2015 Q2, 18th May 2015 8pm BST in a google hangout


Agenda:
  1. introductions
    1. decide who will chair/facilitate today's call, decide who will take notes
  2. review of actions from last time 
    1. * Laura to arrange a similar call in around 3m [DONE]
    2. * Glyn to kickstart a discussion on this list about digital rights matters and whether/how Open Knowledge should be involved [DONE]
    3. * Rufus to consider whether others from the executive and/or board of directors should be on this list (enabling them to get more involved with AC and spreading the load from Rufus) and add them if so [DONE]
    4. * Rufus to endeavour to share more info/updates with the AC and will provide a commitment around this within a week [PARTIAL - more updates but not regular yet]
  3. discussion of recent strategy refinement from Rufus
    1. * Denis - re: strategy, it's good to know where we want to be, but how will we get there? (What's the means?)
    2. * Denis - to share a local group perspective on community empowernment 
  4. interesting things from local groups
  5. AOB
    1. Rufus AC website listing (raised by Martin K) 

the call is being recorded

Notes from the call

1.  Introductions

Apologies - Martin, Carolina, Glyn, Daniel, Soren, Peter
Present - Denis, Hannes, Mayo, Pavel, Pieter, Rufus, Laura

Chair: Rufus 

Introductions - welcome Pavel!  Hearing from Pavel:
Denis - OK Ireland. Since 2012 working on open, with OKF since 2013.  
Hannes - OK Switzerland, Zurich. opendata.ch. entrepreneur and activist.  
Laura - immediate past CEO :) Renewable energy consulting and IOT/privacy things. 
Mayo - Barcelona....
Pieter - Ghent. Studying for a PhD in linked open data publishing. cofounder OKF Belgium. Now succeeded by a new chair (success!)
Rufus 

2. review of actions

3. discussion of recent strategy doc from Rufus

Denis: ...  where's the money?  3 options: grants, revenue generation, donations?
Rufus:  question about resourcing both for local and international groups.  What's the value of being a network? What impact do we want to have? (that's important because it's why resourcing is needed)
Pieter:
Rufus:
    
Hannes:
     in Switzerland decided to keep core association v small and lean, and be enablers for others in the ecosystem, and that we ourselves are not a competitor.  
     how do we fund that core work? not trivial.  but not seeing ourselves as a player in these bids is good.     Pros and Cons to being an active competitor [for funds]
     
Rufus:
hannes:
Rufus:  
    Swiss core costs - paid for membership model for orgs and individuals. The professional association for open data people

Laura
Rufus
Rufus:
Pieter:
Rufus:

Pieter:

Rufus
Pieter:

Rufus:
    not quite
    aspect of commercial revenue, grant funders like to see this
    setting up a new entity is a real pain, save money by not doing this
Pieter:
Rufus:
    question of what happens to OK International commercial services? 
    also a question for local groups. 
    [notes not taken at Rufus's request]
    CKAN association, can follow good non profit / FOSS governance
    
    

Denis 
Pieter
Rufus
ACTION rufus:  update AC website to include all AC members with appropriate bio
ACTION rufus:   get list of AC emails so that the AC can know how to reach each other individually 

The meeting closed. 









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Advisory council call, 2015 Q1, Thursday 19th February  13:00 GMT(UK)

Attending:
    * Advisory Council members [please add your name here if you are joining the call!]
    * Rufus

Apologies: John Naughton, 

Meeting facilitator: Laura James 
    
Agenda: 
    1. Introductions
    1.5 What does the board or the management team want from the AC?
    2. Roundtable discussion - what can the AC offer?  Do we have specific things we should aim to do in 2015?
    3. Discussion - how should the AC work?  (calls, email, proactive, reactive, ??)  
    4. any next steps or actions needed
    
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post-meeting summary notes
    
Key points from discussion:
* AC has been underused but has the potential to be very valuable. To be effective it is likely that the AC needs some input, either specific questions or requests, or updates which may inspire questions in response.
* Major topics in 2015 which would benefit from AC discussion: 
 - digital rights / 'internet rights'; 
 - data sharing/walled gardens (eg for health data); 
 - international network - how to connect, support, oversee, scale; 
 - open washing, strong active defence of 'open' in the open knowledge context, quality of open activities; 
 - strategic positioning of Open Knowledge organisation and local groups, within evolving and growing open / open data landscape
 * Rufus informed us that shortlisting for the new Exec Director has just happened and interviews will take place in March.

We agreed a few actions:
* Laura to arrange a similar call in around 3m
* Glyn to kickstart a discussion on this list about digital rights matters and whether/how Open Knowledge should be involved
* Rufus to consider whether others from the executive and/or board of directors should be on this list (enabling them to get more involved with AC and spreading the load from Rufus) and add them if so
* Rufus to endeavour to share more info/updates with the AC and will provide a commitment around this within a week
    
 
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Key info
    
For reference - current Advisory Council description:  The Advisory Council is an informal group who are consulted on various matters to do with Open Knowledge activities, strategy and operations, but hold no legal responsibility for the organisation. The Advisory Council exists to advise Open Knowledge team members as appropriate, and individual members may get involved with specific projects or challenges. The advice is available both on request and also by Advisory Council members proactively contacting Open Knowledge team with ideas, leads or opportunities. The Advisory Council is a group of advisors, rather than a group which aims to form consensus or decisions.

Who is currently on the AC?   https://okfn.org/about/advisory-council/ [out of date]


Notes from February call

"What does the board or the management team want from the AC?"

 * ACs in general can find it difficult to come up with questions. Some (regular?) presentation of info can provoke questions.

Framing questions - clear soliciting of advice
Request for confirmation about current structure - board, management, AC ?  

Rufus:  The board meets every 2m (every alternate month is informal meeting - so 12 meetings a year).  They are there to sign off strategy, may be involved in fundraising, legal/fiscal probity and governance, accountable to stakeholders.  Set goals - chair of board acts as line manager of exec director. Focussed on board matters, less active in day to day than when OPen Knowledge was small. 

"Do we have specific things we should aim to do in 2015?"
    3. Discussion - how should the AC work?  (calls, email, proactive, reactive, ??)   & resulting actions
    
    * thread on list on the big topics (digital rights; data sharing; etc) - Glyn to start thread on AC list about digital rights. 
    * More updates to AC about what is happening in org - action for Rufus? Rufus doesn't want to overcommit to frequency/content of updates. Note that organisation is very 'stacked'. Rufus to go away and think about what can be done, come back with a commitment (or just updates as possible - anything (frequency/quality) better than nothing, which is roughly current situation). 
    * cosnider adding other OK exec / board to the AC list to spread the load from Rufus. Action: Rufus to discuss with relevant people
    * aciton Laura to send similar doodle in around 2-3 m for another call like this. 



From email to AC list 27 Jan:

- Understanding and keeping in touch with a fast-evolving Open Knowledge space. What issues are coming up, what opportunities (and threats) are there to open knowledge as an area and to Open Knowledge the organization

- On specific policy issues it would be especially useful to get both proactive and reactive input regarding whether we should have a position and what it should be

- Developing effective governance and processes for running a growing (and now large) international networked organization. In particular, I think this is a year to really look at how we seek support for the overall scale of the Open Knowledge community through more input from Chapters and Local Groups and other formal constituents of the network. To put this more concretely think of it like this: Open Knowledge International has approx the same number of team members to support the overall Network as it has 2-3 years ago yet the Network is several times larger. This will only work if we start having members of the Network take on more responsibility and authority for running and developing the Network).

LJ clarification:

* a request for the AC to proactively point out upcoming issues, opportunities and threats, and potential policy questions [hopefully in this thread!]

* an existing question around governance and process for a growing international networked organisation - are there specific questions here, Rufus, or might this be a larger topic where we might have a discussion document from you, or a meeting to explore issues?

* a note that at present the AC interacts only with Rufus (I think) from the Open Knowledge International team. Should we connect with others, and if so how?  If this group is to help the organisation overall, I imagine we might need to connect with more people. Who, and how might this work? Or should we raise visibility of the AC with the team and encourage funnelling via Rufus?

* help for the new ED - this sounds like a very specific opportunity, for a call or thread with the new ED, and possibly even fixing up quite a few calls such that all the AC can meet the new ED, share thoughts and ideas, and answer any questions. The AC's representation of all Open Knowledge Chapters as well as many other open and open-related domains and topics is likely to be extremely valuable to someone joining us at this scale and stage.