Inkscape Board Meeting Transcript for Friday, 2017-01-06

brycealright, shall we start the meeting?Jan 06 12:00
Tavmjong============= Inkscape Board Meeting ==================Jan 06 12:01
TavmjongWho is here?Jan 06 12:01
doctormon2ayeJan 06 12:01
prkosoyJan 06 12:01
brycetedg, ScislaC pingJan 06 12:02
bryceok, so first item is merchandisingJan 06 12:02
ScislaCYo!Jan 06 12:02
Tavmjong============= Merchandising ==============Jan 06 12:03
doctormonFor spreadshirt, the plan is to reduce the number of items to about 5-10 specific ones. One item per design.Jan 06 12:03
prkosI'm sorry I don't have anything new to report, December got away from me as usual and I'm still dealing with some of it, I'll be fully back on board next weekJan 06 12:03
prkosI plan to write up a more detailed style guidelinesJan 06 12:04
bryceno prob, and doctormo has been out of commission; been a busy couple weeks for allJan 06 12:04
bryceprkos, that'd be greatJan 06 12:04
prkosonce it gets approved, I'll draft a plan for the store, which products and designs to include in the shopJan 06 12:04
doctormonThe style guidelines are for how items should be designed for the shop right prkos?Jan 06 12:04
prkosthen once that gets approved I can work on creating them in the storeJan 06 12:05
bryceguessing next step is to decide which 5-10 items to go with?  Or has that been mostly sorted out?Jan 06 12:05
prkosdoctormon no, branding guidelinesJan 06 12:05
prkosI didn't find the existing branding guide clear enoughJan 06 12:05
prkosmaybe I'm just too fussy but fear of making branding mistakes stopped me uploading some designsJan 06 12:06
prkosif you know of any resources on branding open source projects let me knowJan 06 12:06
prkosbecause I find it a bit different from working for a company brand for exampleJan 06 12:07
bryceI recall last time we discussed merchandising we also thought we might explore some alternative sites.  I haven't had a chance to do anything there, has anyone else gathered any data of interest?Jan 06 12:07
prkosbecause community is involved we might need to allow for more freedom, but also we shouldn't lose too much control, so it's a fine lineJan 06 12:07
drmoprkos: Mostly open source works with "put it online as soon as possible, even unfinished and then consider publishing a seperate step after consensus."Jan 06 12:07
prkosI have a list of possible alternative shops, maybe we can have more than one, the most exciting new option for me is embroideryJan 06 12:08
drmoNo data here. I picked up some info on how hard it is to make embroideries and heat transfer shirts. But nothing useful.Jan 06 12:08
bryceI seem to recall mozilla had some rather detailed branding guidelines, although don't know whether those would be of any relevance for merchandiseJan 06 12:09
bryceprkos, embroidery sounds very interesting to me as wellJan 06 12:09
drmobryce: Heh, mozilla's brand "guidelines" threw them out of Debian for years ;-)Jan 06 12:09
bryceright ;-)Jan 06 12:10
prkosI understand the code first, ask qs later, and push early and get feedback, but with branding that only makes sense for the process within the core community, we shouldn't rush with half baked branding on a larger scaleJan 06 12:10
prkosand I wish to contribute in that area, spread the work more this year, grow communityJan 06 12:10
bryceprkos, how much time do you think you'll need to work out the guidelines?Jan 06 12:10
prkosthat's why I'm investing more into those detailsJan 06 12:11
drmoprkos: Of course, large scales and online aren't considered the same thing, is what I'm trying to say. Most companies don't put things online for fear of considering them "published", but we tend not to consider things online published unless stated as releasedJan 06 12:11
prkosbefore next Friday - guidelines suggestionJan 06 12:11
brycewhat I'm thinking is that while we weren't quite ready to push merchandise with the 0.92.0 announcement, we'll have another opportunity with 0.92.1, in a month or soJan 06 12:12
brycedrmo, prkos what do you two think of adopting that as a tentative timeframe?Jan 06 12:12
drmoWe can probably push out a separate announcement too, so do both.Jan 06 12:12
prkossince the first test purchases weren't without negative comments about quality, I think it's best we didn't push the store out yetJan 06 12:13
drmoI think a month is plenty of timeJan 06 12:13
prkosif it had been a good quality, I think we would have published the storeJan 06 12:13
brycetest purchases of each of the 5-10 items would probably be sensibleJan 06 12:14
prkosI can work with that, 4 weeks for the guidelines + storeJan 06 12:14
prkosit all depends on how quick the response is from the communityJan 06 12:14
prkosbranding discussion can get heated :-XJan 06 12:15
drmoI can probably dedicate $50 to test purchases, but maybe we can get some inkscape money for it bryce?Jan 06 12:15
drmoprkos: For branding we're clearer cut, the board has final say.Jan 06 12:15
prkoswe got a coupon if it hasn't been used yetJan 06 12:15
brycedrmo, yeah we probably should have Inkscape foot the bill for this testJan 06 12:15
prkosbut don't purchase anything before I sort out the new designs and products, we may delete a lot that is currently thereJan 06 12:16
bryceand maybe send all the products to one person, to get apples-to-apples comparisonsJan 06 12:16
bryceprkos, rightJan 06 12:16
drmoAnd then maybe send them back out as quirky thank yous to contributors we personally like ;-)Jan 06 12:16
prkoswe concluded already it's not good to have too many designs and products, it can actually discourage purchaseJan 06 12:17
brycewhen you get a rough list and have an approximate dollar figure, send me the details and I'll arrange a board vote on the funding of the purchaseJan 06 12:17
prkosbryce: okJan 06 12:17
brycedrmo, possibly yeah; although there might be a benefit to keeping them as samples for QA and advertising photography purposes.  You two can come up with a disposition plan for the items.Jan 06 12:18
brycealright, thanks!  next item in the agenda is sponsorship levelsJan 06 12:19
bryce============= Sponsorship Levels =============Jan 06 12:19
brycewe have our first Silver sponsor (yay) and I was glad to see jabiertxof was able to do a snapshot of our website that included them for the video we sent out :-)Jan 06 12:20
TavmjongWow!Jan 06 12:20
prkos:-* yay for the sponsor!Jan 06 12:20
bryceone thing we still need to do is get a page up on the website that lists the sponsorship levels + benefitsJan 06 12:20
brycenot having that might possibly be hurting us if there are other potential large sponsors out thereJan 06 12:21
jabiertxofa lot of years to do ;)Jan 06 12:21
brycedoctormon, last time we chatted you thought there was someone on the web team that could adopt that task?  Did you make a connection with someone?Jan 06 12:22
prkosare the levels sorted out?Jan 06 12:22
doctormon2Bryce: my memory might be failing me, I thought that was me to do the editing as soon as we had a solid plan.Jan 06 12:23
bryceprkos, yes, and they each have clever names :-)Jan 06 12:23
brycedoctormon2, ok could be, my memory is a bit of a sieve myself ;-)Jan 06 12:23
prkoswill there be the sponsor logo on the homepage?Jan 06 12:23
prkosit would be nice to have that and call to action below itJan 06 12:24
bryceprkos, yes (ref the Advance Systems logo we're already showing)Jan 06 12:24
doctormon2logos, sizes, the duration, these aren't nailed down enoughJan 06 12:24
doctormon2prkos: please proposeJan 06 12:25
bryce  Diamond Scribe: $20,000Jan 06 12:26
bryce  Platinum Pen:   $10,000Jan 06 12:26
bryce  Golden Brush:    $5,000Jan 06 12:26
bryce  Silver Quill     $2,000Jan 06 12:26
bryce  Bronze Stylus:   $1,000Jan 06 12:26
bryce  2. Acknowledgment with logo on our home page (one year) for Silver and above levels.Jan 06 12:26
brycedoctormon2, do we need further nailing wrt to duration?Jan 06 12:26
prkosbronze also on front page but for shorter durationJan 06 12:26
brycedoctormon2, will look to you + web team to define preferred logo file formats, dimensions, etc.Jan 06 12:27
bryceoh wait:Jan 06 12:27
bryce  Logos must be 160x80px and non-animated. SVG's are encouraged. LogosJan 06 12:27
bryce  must be non-political and non-offensive with the Inkscape board andJan 06 12:27
bryce  SFC being the final arbitrators of suitability.Jan 06 12:27
prkosyou have the web stats, unique visits, this should be included in the text on the pageJan 06 12:27
doctormon2yeah, no footer sponsors unless 100k or moreJan 06 12:27
doctormon2prkos: 3 to 5 requests per second. many many unique visitorsJan 06 12:28
prkosthat's why homepage is super attractiveJan 06 12:28
brycehttps://sourceforge.net/p/inkscape/mailman/message/34463940/Jan 06 12:29
doctormon2for 2k over 1 year, we're selling the space cheap and our new sponsor almost bit our hand off to take it.Jan 06 12:29
prkosit can draw in even sponsors outside of InkscapeJan 06 12:29
bryce^^ that's the referendum that established the levelsJan 06 12:29
bryceit sounds like perhaps we should do a rev 2 and clarify or tighten up some of these?Jan 06 12:30
brycehow about I open a discussion on the mailing list for folks to suggest changes?Jan 06 12:30
bryceon the board mailing list I meanJan 06 12:30
doctormon2yes. maybe to make it clear. we don't know what we'd do with 5 sponsors for example.Jan 06 12:30
bryceprkos, if you're not already on the board list feel free to join, we could probably use your ideas on thisJan 06 12:31
prkosthat would be a nice problem to have and easy to solve ;)Jan 06 12:31
prkossure CMIJan 06 12:31
doctormon2on the front page we can't just fill it to the gills with logos and yet turning down 20k would be bad too.Jan 06 12:31
prkosdoctormon2: how open are we to changing the home page layout to accommodate sponsor changes and CTA?Jan 06 12:32
doctormon2prkos: so long as it's beautiful, fits on mobile and isn't a wall of logosJan 06 12:33
prkosmaybe we can include levels of exposure user mailing list, twitter...Jan 06 12:33
prkosdoctormon2: yes I agreeJan 06 12:33
bryce...inclusion of shout-outs in our release announcements...Jan 06 12:33
Tavmjongdoctormon2: Once we have five sponsors we can reconsider levels.Jan 06 12:34
doctormon2all great ideasJan 06 12:34
bryceok, I'll start a discussion around an update to the sponsorship level policy on the board listJan 06 12:34
prkosTavmjong: it's good to have those defined up front, so early sponsors don't feel cheated laterJan 06 12:35
brycemeanwhile, doctormon2 if you or others on the web team could maybe draft an initial page with the current stuff, that would help move us forward a stepJan 06 12:35
doctormon2on my listJan 06 12:35
Tavmjongpkros We would only be increasing levels ...Jan 06 12:35
Tavmjongthey would be getting a bargain...Jan 06 12:36
TavmjongIf we are done with sponsorship levels... I have another fund-raising topic.Jan 06 12:36
prkosI expected no less from you guys, just thought I'd mention it :)Jan 06 12:36
bryceTavmjong, please go aheadJan 06 12:37
TavmjongIn the discussion earlier today, the topic of an Inkscape YouTube channel came up. I've set one up (it's tied to our G+ account).Jan 06 12:37
Tavmjonghttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKKj0FJtVE8sGn4afabKvTAJan 06 12:37
bryce*nod*\Jan 06 12:38
Tavmjong(BTW, is it ok to use the 0.92 splash screen here?)Jan 06 12:38
TavmjongI came across this: https://www.youtube.com/nonprofitsJan 06 12:38
*prkos subscribedJan 06 12:38
prkoshehe this is where more clear branding guidelines could helpJan 06 12:39
TavmjongI haven't looked into what exactly a "donation card" is but it might be another way to seek donations.Jan 06 12:39
prkosI think it looks great!Jan 06 12:39
TavmjongOur first subscriber!Jan 06 12:40
doctormon2Tavmjong: this sounds like a great outlet to setup a gatewayJan 06 12:40
Tavmjongdoctormon2: Plain English please..Jan 06 12:40
prkoshttps://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6052077?hl=en Fan FundingJan 06 12:40
doctormon2Tavmjong: I'm inJan 06 12:41
doctormon2we should do thisJan 06 12:41
TavmjongWhat kind of clearance do we need with SFC?Jan 06 12:41
doctormon2it will centralise our videosJan 06 12:42
TavmjongHow can we solicit videos?Jan 06 12:42
prkosYou're located in Australia, Japan, Mexico, or the United States.Jan 06 12:42
TavmjongHow do we screen videos?Jan 06 12:42
prkosthat is the country associated with the channel or account?Jan 06 12:42
prkos* whatJan 06 12:42
bryceTavmjong, yeah I was also pondering if we could get some donation income via youtubeJan 06 12:43
prkosthere are limits on where the channel is from, and there the donation is fromJan 06 12:43
doctormon2usaJan 06 12:43
prkosseems to be tied to AdSenseJan 06 12:44
brycemy kids are always watching damn youtube minecraft and disney collector videos, I know at the upper levels there's serious cash involvedJan 06 12:44
brycebut even apart from the $  it'd be nice to have an organized place for Inkscape fans to find videosJan 06 12:44
doctormon2I'm subscribed to about 100 YouTube channels, but I don't see advertsJan 06 12:44
prkosdoctormon2: >:oJan 06 12:45
TavmjongI don't think we want to go the advert route.Jan 06 12:45
doctormon2YouTube adverts were why patreaon exists. it's a poor mans wageJan 06 12:46
prkosads are shown over your videos, you can't control thatJan 06 12:46
prkosI guess AdSense is just the way YT sets it up, so you can collect the moneyJan 06 12:47
bryceis that the only advertising option?  and are those ads the only mechanism for funding?Jan 06 12:47
fguimontprkos: I'm pretty sure you can choose whether to monetize your videos or not.Jan 06 12:47
prkosads are not the same as Fan Funding!Jan 06 12:48
brycewell, even apart from ads, if it is built into a popular venue, it can also be used for soliciting donations ala PBSJan 06 12:48
prkosthose are 2 different thingsJan 06 12:48
prkosFan Funding is just like a Donate button, AFAIUJan 06 12:49
prkosbut to enable it on your YT account, you need AdSense and maybe Google Checkout, other requirements...Jan 06 12:49
prkosYT requires itJan 06 12:49
bryceok, yeah looks like Fan Funding would be analogous to a PayPal donationJan 06 12:50
doctormon2prkos: is this something you'd like to look into too?Jan 06 12:50
prkosfguimont: I think you're right, but there may be more details in itJan 06 12:50
prkosdoctormon2: sure, after the store is sorted out or in parallel?Jan 06 12:51
bryce$donation - $0.21 - (5% * $donation).  (and then the other 10% for SFC)Jan 06 12:51
brycefor that we'd just need to get SFC involved to set up the accountJan 06 12:51
Lazurbtw cannot kickstarter be used for features to be implemented?Jan 06 12:51
brycemight be better to focus first on just building up the channel, and get enough viewership that we know it'll be worth the effort to set up the income streamJan 06 12:51
doctormon2prkos: after, I don't think the store should take too longJan 06 12:51
prkosdoctormon2: we set a month from now as deadline for the storeJan 06 12:52
prkosto make it ready for point releaseJan 06 12:52
doctormon2okJan 06 12:52
bryceyeah I think the youtube channel is a great idea but let's table discussions on monetization until folks have had a chance to do more experimentation with it first and have more ideas conceptualized on where we'd want to go with itJan 06 12:53
jabiertxofTavmjong: You need to claim "Inkscape" into youtubeJan 06 12:53
brycee.g., would it just be "official" videos, or fan-supplied videos?  just feature demos, or just tutorials, or both?  etc. etc.Jan 06 12:53
prkosLazur: yes I think kickstarter is also a good idea, but it takes work to build the community around a projectJan 06 12:53
Tavmjongjabiertxof: How do I do that?Jan 06 12:54
prkosmaybe someone will step up and work on itJan 06 12:54
jabiertxofsend before board meeting some linksJan 06 12:54
jabiertxofwait i send the fasterJan 06 12:54
prkosbryce: I think we can make playlists of outside videos, for user videosJan 06 12:55
jabiertxofI think Tavmjong here you can https://www.youtube.com/channel_switcher?feature=settings&next=%2FaccountJan 06 12:55
doctormon2bryce: I think official videos, open to submission when using the predefined start and end graphics and musicJan 06 12:55
prkoshave several nice feature videos on the channel homeJan 06 12:56
brycealso curious if licensing should be thought throughJan 06 12:56
brycealright, let's definitely revisit this topic next month, but for now let's move onJan 06 12:56
bryceis anyone here from the forum team?  AFAIK we're still in a holding pattern waiting for people to get back to usJan 06 12:57
bryceif there's any updates please chime inJan 06 12:57
prkosbryce: no files yet from CourtneyJan 06 12:57
prkosbrynn and I will play with her host this weekendJan 06 12:57
bryceprkos, maybe with holidays over, worth re-pinging?Jan 06 12:58
bryceprkos, okJan 06 12:58
prkosand set up a dummy forum just to get the techy bit sorted outJan 06 12:58
bryceI've not heard back from OSUOSL on my Q.  We may also want to re-ping them.Jan 06 12:58
prkosmaybe that will be enough push for Courtney to send the filesJan 06 12:58
prkosbrynn is on that I thinkJan 06 12:58
prkosI'll remind her on SaturdayJan 06 12:58
brycebut if we can get it going on another host, even just temporarily, that might help unroadblock at leastJan 06 12:58
bryceprkos, great thanks.Jan 06 12:59
bryceok, next topic... HackfestJan 06 12:59
bryce============= Hackfest 2017 =============Jan 06 12:59
brycewe're low on time so don't want to discuss too thoroughlyJan 06 12:59
brycebut just quick check, should I re-propose the Portland, OR hackfest?  Scheduling-wise we'd need to do it a few months out from nowJan 06 13:00
TavmjongSureJan 06 13:01
doctormon2who is the host person?Jan 06 13:01
bryceobviously we no longer need to focus on the 0.92 release, but sounds like we have plenty of other options to considerJan 06 13:02
brycedoctormon2, for Portland it would be meJan 06 13:02
bryce(with a lot of delegation to my wife *grin*)Jan 06 13:02
doctormon2I'm confident in a Bryce run operation. +1Jan 06 13:03
brycealright, last topic, very briefly...Jan 06 13:03
bryce============= 2017 Budget =============Jan 06 13:03
bryceour Fiscal Year starts March 1st, so we have some time, but I'm in ideas-gathering modeJan 06 13:04
bryceso if you have proposals for things we should use our money for in FY2017, now's a really good time to start brainstorming themJan 06 13:04
TavmjongTwo hackfests. One in spring in the US, one in Europe (Paris?) in Fall.Jan 06 13:04
brycesend ideas to the board list, we can discuss, and I'll roll them upJan 06 13:04
doctormon2Tavmjong: Paris on yourself?Jan 06 13:05
TavmjongWell, I could do suburban Paris.Jan 06 13:05
doctormon2web server ec2 investigate costsJan 06 13:06
TavmjongMc is here, jabiertxof isn't far away.Jan 06 13:06
bryceif there's conferences we want to send reps to, that would be good to scope out too.  We don't need to pin things down just yet, mainly we just need a scope for how much to budget towards thatJan 06 13:06
TavmjongDo we send someone to LGM?Jan 06 13:06
doctormon2would be nice, but need a somebody to step forwardsJan 06 13:08
TavmjongGUADEC is in Manchester this year... might be good to make contacts with Gtk3 people.Jan 06 13:08
Tavmjong(Last week of July)Jan 06 13:09
brycewell, let's decide how much $$ we want to put towards LGM, then put out a call for repsJan 06 13:09
bryceok, unless there's any thing else, let's wrap the meeting up?Jan 06 13:10
TavmjongSounds good....Jan 06 13:10
doctormon2yep thanks Bruce!Jan 06 13:10
su_vI have a quick question to the boardJan 06 13:10
su_vif there's still timeJan 06 13:10
Tavmjongsu_v: Sure...Jan 06 13:11
su_vany thoughts, comments on the use of the name 'Inkscape' on this site? http://inkscape.co/about-us/Jan 06 13:11
su_vthe whole content is copy-protected, even about and team pagesJan 06 13:11
su_vand every page has "Copyright | Inkscape" at the bottom leftJan 06 13:11
su_vthe project refers to itself both as 'InkscapeCo' and 'Inkscape' in the about textJan 06 13:12
brycesu_v, I think trademark law permits the same trademark to be used by companies in industries that don't overlapJan 06 13:12
su_vpersonally, I don't like the copy-protection, in combination with the 'Copyright | Inkscape' - that could easily lead to wrong associationsJan 06 13:12
brycee.g. the Apple Computer vs. Apple Music stuffJan 06 13:12
su_vokJan 06 13:12
su_vnevermind thenJan 06 13:12
bryceso offhand I'm not super worriedJan 06 13:13
fguimontit's registerd in DelhiJan 06 13:13
bryceplus they seem a small outfit, who knows if they'll be around long anyway.Jan 06 13:13
doctormon2hmm, it's an Indian person, 2016 startJan 06 13:13
fguimontpranshu_shubham@yahoo.co.inJan 06 13:13
doctormon2su_v: how hard was it to find their site?Jan 06 13:14
su_vdoctormon2: I came across it in the #inkscape twitter feed I thinkJan 06 13:14
su_vsorry, without the hashJan 06 13:15
su_vhttps://twitter.com/search?q=inkscape&vertical=default&f=tweetsJan 06 13:15
TavmjongI think a note to SFC legal might be in order just to check...Jan 06 13:15
su_vand was confused whether it's a site with tutorials for inkscapeJan 06 13:15
su_v(my first assumption based on the tweet)Jan 06 13:15
doctormon2we'd probably win a domain name dispute with godaddy, but prob not anything more since indiaJan 06 13:15
TavmjongI need to take off.... Good night all.Jan 06 13:17
prkosTavmjong: night!Jan 06 13:18
doctormon2nightJan 06 13:18
brycegiven the limited progress we've seen on other more obvious trademark conflicts, I'm not sure it's worth doing anything in this case.  It is a bit confusing true, but they're not using our logo and I think users that stumble onto the site aren't going to get taken advantage of.Jan 06 13:18
bryceif anyone feels strongly, though, please contact me privately and I can help escalate with legalJan 06 13:19
bryceok, thanks allJan 06 13:19
doctormon2bryce: thanks Bruce!Jan 06 13:19
bryce============= EOM =============Jan 06 13:19
doctormon2Bryce!Jan 06 13:19
doctormon2lolJan 06 13:19
prkosthank you all and Bruce Lee of Inkscape BoardJan 06 13:20
brycehah, my wife's maiden name is LeeJan 06 13:21
prkosjust the perfect couple for the hackfest then :DJan 06 13:22
bryceBryce Lee-Harrington has a nice ringJan 06 13:22

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