February 2015 - Inkscape Board of Directors

[REFERENDUM] LGM Sponsorship Amounts
by Bryce Harrington 04 Mar '15

04 Mar '15

Proposal: [ ] a. Cover travel and hotel expenses for Inkscape developers to participate in LGM 2015, maximum of $500 per developer, up to $5000 total. [ ] b. Cover travel and hotel expenses for Inkscape developers to participate in LGM 2015, maximum of $1000 per developer, up to $5000 total. [ ] c. Either a or b would be fine. [ ] d. The budgeted funds for LGM should be used some other way: ________________________________________________________ Background: LGM is an important meeting for the Libre graphics movement. We will be having a hackfest ahead of it, and should help hackfest attendees afford staying for LGM too. Having Inkscape developers get together is always a good thing. Having Inkscape developers talking with others in the Libre Graphics movement can even be better. We've budgeted $5000 for sponsoring LGM attendees. (Note this is in addition to $5000 + donations for hackfest attendees.) The question we need to decide in this vote is exactly how to split it up. Last year the board funded up to 5 developers, $500 each. For people attending the hackfest, $500 will likely sufficiently cover the additional hotel expense for the additional 4 days, depending on where they're staying. This would enable us to fund 10 developers. However, if we have some people attending LGM only, and not attending the hackfest, then they may have additional travel expenses and it may make sense to provide a higher allocation of $1000, but this may reduce the total number of developers we could sponsor. Last Year's Announcement: Interested in meeting up with fellow Inkscapers? Thanks to generous donations to the project, we are able to provide funds to reimburse five developers up to $500 each for attendance at the Libre Graphics Meeting in Leipzig in April. Anyone in the AUTHORS file as of Feb 19th, 2014 is eligible to apply. To register, please email Tavmjong Bah, our coordinator for the event, by March 6th to get on the list. He'll let you know what position you are in the list. Then, register for the conference, enjoy your time, and save your receipts. Afterwards email copies of the receipts to Tav, who will forward them along to SFC for reimbursement. A maximum of $500 US each will be reimbursed to five attendees for travel, hotel room, and food. Note that the LGM meeting may also give partial reimbursements, so if your total costs exceed $500 they may be able to help. In addition, the board is sponsoring Tavmjong Bah to attend both LGM as a speaker and as our event coordinator, and the co-located SVG Working Group Meeting. Tav will be representing Inkscape's interests at the SVG meeting, and will be working with them on features including mesh gradients, hatched fills, and auto-flowed text. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to Inkscape in the past. Your funding has made these sponsorships possible. We've found these face-to-face meetings invaluable both for sharing ideas and as general inspiration for advancement of the project. Last Year's Website Blurb: Thanks to generous donations from users, the Inkscape Project is pleased to pay for five developers to attend the Libre Graphics Meeting, to be held in Leipzig in April. Tavmjong Bah will be presenting and is sponsored to go as Inkscape's event coordinator; please contact him if you are an Inkscape developer and would like added to the sponsorship list. Tav will also be sponsored to attend the co-located SVG Working Group Meeting. Tav will be representing Inkscape's interests at the SVG meeting, and will be working with them on features including mesh gradients, hatched fills, and auto-flowed text.

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[REFERENDUM] Election Procedure (v.3)
by Bryce Harrington 02 Mar '15

02 Mar '15

A majority vote of the current board members is required for the following matter. Proposal: --------- Adopt Election Procedure version 3, as shown in Addendum for the Inkscape Board's official procedure for holding Board Elections. Diverging from this procedure is not allowed without board approval. [ ] b. Accept Election Procedure v.3 (or later) as official election procedure [ ] c. Accept Election Procedure, if the following changes are done: __________________________________________ __________________________________________ [ ] d. Do not accept Election Procedure Votes: ------ Bryce Harrington Tavmjong Bah Josh Andler Jon Cruz Ted Gould Johan Engelen b. MentalGuy Resolution: ----------- Background: ----------- The procedure detailed in the addendum derives from directions given in past elections, and incorporates ideas from X.org's recent board elections. Notably, in the past we've elected single individuals, but this procedure covers electing several members at the same time. Change History -------------- v.1 RFC Draft v.2 Clarify voting through the website Note pseudonyms are ok, but legal names will be needed Allow nominations v.3 Increase Candidacy signup to 2 weeks Post to both inkscape-announce and inkscape-devel. Drop mention of 'Enfranchised Accounts'. Clarify bits that will be specified per-election. Addendum: election_procedure.txt --------- Inkscape is holding elections for ${NUM_SEATS} new Board Members. ${INTRODUCTION_TEXT} Typically the board votes on things such as project fund expenditures (travel, conferences, marketing materials for events, etc), trademark related issue, other legal issues that arise, etc. The board does not have responsibility currently for technical decisions for the project, and does not handle social/community issues where there are no financial or legal aspects to the problem. Board membership requires a commitment of time: At a minimum you will be expected to participate in votes on the mailing list, which typically occur with a frequency of about 0 to 3 per month. You are required to be on the board mailing list, which has a volume of about 30-50 emails per month; you're not required to participate in the discussions, but it is very strongly encouraged. We also solicit volunteers from the board to serve as as event managers, team leaders, fundraising coordinators, etc. - Again, not a requirement, but we value board members who can shoulder such duties for the project. As specified in Section 6 or our charter we maintain a committee of seven project members. Section 6 reads as follows: "6. Representation of the Project in the Conservancy. The Developers, each a signatory hereto, shall represent the Project in its official communication with the Conservancy. There shall be seven Developers (together, the "Committee"), elected by the community members of the Project listed in the Project's AUTHORS file (the "Community Members"). Each Developer shall continue to serve until he or she resigns from the position. The Developers may be removed from the position at any time by a majority vote of the Community Members. Upon the resignation or removal of a Developer, the Community Members shall elect a replacement Developer to serve on the Committee. The Committee will elect a single individual to communicate with the Conservancy (the "Representative") and shall notify the Conservancy promptly following the election of a new Representative. The Representative will have the authority to instruct the Conservancy on the Project's behalf on all matters. This section may be modified by a vote of at least 3/4 of the Community Members, with the consent of the Conservancy, such consent not to be unreasonably withheld." Election Schedule ================= * Kickoff Announcement: ${date} + Post to inkscape-announce@ + Publish news item to website * Candidacy period Start: ${date} * Candidacy period End: ${date + 2 weeks} (08:00 UTC) * Publication of Candidates & start of Candidate Q&A: ${date + 2 weeks} * Election Start: ${date + 2 weeks} * Election End: ${date + 2 weeks + 2 weeks} (08:00 UTC) * Results Posted: ${date + 2 weeks + 2 weeks + 2 days} Membership ========== Inkscape developers listed in the AUTHORS file as of ${AUTHORS_DATE} are considered Official Members for purposes of this election, as per our Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement with the Software Freedom Conservancy. Only Official Members may run for the board positions, and only Official Members may vote for them. In this election we will be using the Inkscape website for conducting the vote, so you'll need to register with the website to cast your vote. ${HOWTO_VOTE_DIRECTIONS} Election Proctor ================ The Inkscape Board elects by majority vote an Election Proctor who will run a given election and ensure it's successful completion. The Election Proctor has the responsibility for ensuring the voting is done according to procedure, assuring that the Vote is accurately tallied, and announcing the finalized result of the Vote. Once the vote has been finalized, the selected individual(s) immediately become Board Members. The Community may challenge the Election Proctor's tally within 30 days of the vote finalization, by gathering a number of signatures from Official Members exceeding 2/3rds of the total number of Votes cast declaring the vote to be inaccurate. Should this happen, the Vote is nullified, a new election must be arranged by the Board, with the Election Proctor barred from proctoring future Inkscape votes. Board Election ============== The following text can be used to draft an announcement about the election, which should be sent to inkscape's announcement and development mailing lists. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The following Board Members have resigned from their positions and need to be filled by new members: ${RETIREES} The election process starts with a Candidacy Period during which any Official Member may indicate interest in running for the positions. To register, please email ${ELECTIONS_ADDRESS}, giving your - Name [1] - Current professional affiliation - Statement of contribution to Inkscape or related technologies - A personal statement Alternatively, any Official Member may nominate another Official Member. At the end of the Candidacy Period, the applicants will be reviewed to verify eligibility. The list of candidates will then by published, and the community will have a chance to ask questions on the development mailing list. Finally, the election will be held using the Single Transferrable Vote (STV) voting system[2]. This is similar in mechanism to the Instant Runoff Vote (IRV) system we've used in the past[3], but for multi-seat results rather than the single-winner result of IRV. From a voter's perspective it's the same voting procedure: Rank candidates in order of choice with #1 being first choice, and so on. References ========== 1: Pseudonyms are acceptable for registration purposes, but please note that your legal name will need to be provided when officially joining the board as a member, and may be needed on various legal documents which will be publically disclosed for transparency purposes. 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_transferable_vote 3: Past elections: 2006 Election + http://inkscape.13.x6.nabble.com/Election-process-for-Inkscape-Board-tt2805… 2008 Election + http://t48889.graphics-inkscape-development.graphictalk.us/opening-inkscape… 2012 Election + http://inkscape.13.x6.nabble.com/Inkscape-Board-Election-voting-time-tt4965… + http://inkscape.13.x6.nabble.com/Inkscape-Board-Committee-Nominations-tc496…

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[REFERENDUM] Funding pre-approved jobs
by Bryce Harrington 01 Mar '15

01 Mar '15

A majority vote of the current board members is required for the following matter. Proposal: Allocate $750 total from Inkscape's 2015 Budget for three Pre-Approved Jobs. [ ] a. Yes, allocate money from budget to jobs [ ] b. No, do not allocate from budget Background: Inkscape has set up a funded development process[1], and following that process has pre-approved[2] three projects from a list of suggestions. In the recent budget vote[3], we've budgeted $750 to spend in 2015 on funded work. This vote is to formally allocate $250 to each project's funds. I envision we'll need to do some fundraising on top of this to make the jobs more attractive, but this will give us a starting point. 1: https://inkscape.org/en/support-us/funded-development/, http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~inkscape.board/+junk/board-docs/view/head:/res… 2: https://www.mail-archive.com/inkscape-board@lists.sourceforge.net/msg00212.… 3: http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~inkscape.board/+junk/board-docs/view/head:/res…

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[REFERENDUM] Increase LGM budget by $5000
by Bryce Harrington 26 Feb '15

26 Feb '15

A majority vote of the current board members is required for the following matter. Proposal: Increase Inkscape's 2015 budget from $10,000 to $15,000, reducing reserves by $5,000. Increase amount budgeted for LGM and Hackfest by an additional $2,500 each. [ ] a. Yes, increase budget for LGM/Hackfest [ ] b. No, keep budget as is Votes: Bryce Harrington Tavmjong Bah Josh Andler Jon Cruz Ted Gould Johan Engelen MentalGuy Resolution: Background: In a prior vote, the board allocated $5000 from reserves to be spent on sponsorship costs for LGM 2015 and the Inkscape hackfest; this would be above and beyond whatever would be collected from donations. In that vote Tav suggested a more appropriate amount would be a $10,000 total allocation, a $5000 increase over the current budget. The Software Conservancy's ledger system indicates that currently (as of midnight Feb 19th), the total donations collected and earmarked for the hackfest is: $1447.00, less $144.7 to SFC and $61.50 for banking fees, or $1240.80 total. The Hackfest planning committee estimated a total cost of $9-18k for the hackfest sponsorships. In detail: * From Paris: airfare $900 + $200 hotel + $100 food = $1200 * From Boston: airfare $300 + $200 hotel + $100 food = $600 * From Zurich: airfare $900 + $200 hotel + $100 food = $1200 * From Los Angeles: airfare $750 + $200 hotel + $100 food = $1150 [Note the above estimates don't include LGM hotel costs] The Hackfest committee suggested reimbursement limits as: * Up to $2000 each for Inkscape developers who have contributed for 3+ years and > 200 commits (About 18 developers qualify, not all currently active) * Up to $1500 each for Inkscape developers who have contributed for 2+ years and > 100 commits (About 17 additional qualify) * Up to $1000 each for Inkscape developers who have contributed for 1+ year and > 50 commits (About 24 additional qualify) * Up to $500 each for any Inkscape contributor listed in AUTHORS file with at least 10 commits by Jan 1, 2015 (About 50 additional qualify) For reference, Bryce's itenary actuals for Hackfest + LGM are: Hotel: Courtyard Downtown Marriott, 25APR-3MAY = $1275.81 US (incl. tax&surcharge) Airfare: 25APR UA1249+UA0843, 3MAY UA5165+UA1758 = $747.75 US

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[REFERENDUM] Election procedure
by Bryce Harrington 24 Feb '15

24 Feb '15

A majority vote of the current board members is required for the following matter. Proposal: --------- Adopt the Election Procedure shown in Addendum as the Inkscape Board's official procedure for holding Board Elections. Diverging from this procedure is not allowed without board approval. [ ] a. Accept Election Procedure v.2 as official election procedure [ ] b. Accept Election Procedure, if the following changes are done: __________________________________________ __________________________________________ [ ] c. Do not accept Election Procedure Votes: ------ Bryce Harrington Tavmjong Bah Josh Andler Jon Cruz Ted Gould Johan Engelen MentalGuy Resolution: ----------- Background: ----------- The procedure detailed in the addendum derives from directions given in past elections, and incorporates ideas from X.org's recent board elections. Notably, in the past we've elected single individuals, but this procedure covers electing several members at the same time. Addendum: election_procedure.txt --------- Inkscape is holding elections for ${NUM_SEATS} new Board Members. ${Introduction_Text} Typically the board votes on things such as project fund expenditures (travel, conferences, marketing materials for events, etc), trademark related issue, other legal issues that arise, etc. The board does not have responsibility currently for technical decisions for the project, and does not handle social/community issues where there are no financial or legal aspects to the problem. Board membership requires a commitment of time: At a minimum you will be expected to participate in votes on the mailing list, which typically occur with a frequency of about 0 to 3 per month. You are required to be on the board mailing list, which has a volume of about 30-50 emails per month; you're not required to participate in the discussions, but it is very strongly encouraged. We also solicit volunteers from the board to serve as as event managers, team leaders, fundraising coordinators, etc. - Again, not a requirement, but we value board members who can shoulder such duties for the project. As specified in Section 6 or our charter we maintain a committee of seven project members. Section 6 reads as follows: "6. Representation of the Project in the Conservancy. The Developers, each a signatory hereto, shall represent the Project in its official communication with the Conservancy. There shall be seven Developers (together, the "Committee"), elected by the community members of the Project listed in the Project's AUTHORS file (the "Community Members"). Each Developer shall continue to serve until he or she resigns from the position. The Developers may be removed from the position at any time by a majority vote of the Community Members. Upon the resignation or removal of a Developer, the Community Members shall elect a replacement Developer to serve on the Committee. The Committee will elect a single individual to communicate with the Conservancy (the "Representative") and shall notify the Conservancy promptly following the election of a new Representative. The Representative will have the authority to instruct the Conservancy on the Project's behalf on all matters. This section may be modified by a vote of at least 3/4 of the Community Members, with the consent of the Conservancy, such consent not to be unreasonably withheld." Election Schedule ================= * Kickoff Announcement: ${date} + Post to inkscape-announce@ + Publish news item to website * Candidacy period Start: ${date} * Candidacy period End: ${date + 1 week} (Midnight Pacific time) * Publication of Candidates & start of Candidate Q&A: ${date + 1 week} * Election Start: ${date + 1 week} * Election End: ${date + 1 week + 2 weeks} (Midnight Pacific time) * Results Posted: ${date + 1 week + 2 weeks + 2 days} Membership ========== Inkscape developers listed in the AUTHORS file as of ${AUTHORS_DATE} are considered Official Members for purposes of this election, as per our Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement with the Software Freedom Conservancy. Only Official Members may run for the board positions, and only Official Members may vote for them. In this election we will be using an online system to conduct the voting. To vote, you will need to register for an Enfranchised Account. Election Proctor ================ The Inkscape Board elects by majority vote an Election Proctor who will run a given election and ensure it's successful completion. The Election Proctor has the responsibility for ensuring the voting is done according to procedure, assuring that the Vote is accurately tallied, and announcing the finalized result of the Vote. Once the vote has been finalized, the selected individual(s) immediately become Board Members. The Community may challenge the Election Proctor's tally within 30 days of the vote finalization, by gathering a number of signatures from Official Members exceeding 2/3rds of the total number of Votes cast declaring the vote to be inaccurate. Should this happen, the Vote is nullified, a new election must be arranged by the Board, with the Election Proctor barred from proctoring future Inkscape votes. Board Election ============== The following Board Members have resigned from their positions and need to be filled by new members: TBD The election process starts with a Candidacy Period during which any Official Member may indicate interest in running for the positions. To register, please email ${ELECTIONS_ADDRESS}, giving your - Name [1] - Current professional affiliation - Statement of contribution to Inkscape or related technologies - A personal statement Alternatively, any Official Member may nominate another Official Member. At the end of the Candidacy Period, the applicants will be reviewed to verify eligibility. The list of candidates will then by published, and the community will have a chance to ask questions on the development discussion list, inkscape-devel@...103... Finally, the election will be held using the Single Transferrable Vote (STV) voting system[2]. This is similar in mechanism to the Instant Runoff Vote (IRV) system we've used in the past[3], but for multi-seat results rather than the single-winner result of IRV. From a voter's perspective it's the same voting procedure: Rank candidates in order of choice with #1 being first choice, and so on. References ========== 1: Pseudonyms are acceptable for registration purposes, but please note that your legal name will need to be provided when officially joining the board as a member, and may be needed on various legal documents which will be publically disclosed for transparency purposes. 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_transferable_vote 3: Past elections: 2006 Election + http://inkscape.13.x6.nabble.com/Election-process-for-Inkscape-Board-tt2805… 2008 Election + http://t48889.graphics-inkscape-development.graphictalk.us/opening-inkscape… 2012 Election + http://inkscape.13.x6.nabble.com/Inkscape-Board-Election-voting-time-tt4965… + http://inkscape.13.x6.nabble.com/Inkscape-Board-Committee-Nominations-tc496…

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Supporting the board - and Hello!
by Donna Benjamin 22 Feb '15

22 Feb '15

Howdy Inkscape Board List! I responded to Bryce's call for volunteers to support the board's work. So thought I'd pop in, say Hi, and introduce myself. I'm a long time fan and user of Inkscape, after being introduced to it by Andy Fitzsimon at linux.conf.au way back in 2006! I've been involved in various free and open source software groups of one kind of another for even longer. From software freedom day, to being president of my local linux user's group, to my current involvement with the Drupal project and Drupal association. I can't code, but I can help with administrivia, event organising and community communications. So, Hi, I'm Donna and I'm here to help ;) Bryce forwarded some docs, so I've just published some small changes to the english version of the Governance page. https://inkscape.org/en/about/governance/ Unfortunately, I'm not multi-lingual, so haven't attempted to update the French, German and Spanish pages. (is there a process for coordinating with people around this?) cheers Donna

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Needed: Hackfest Coordinator
by Bryce Harrington 21 Feb '15

21 Feb '15

We'll be having a hackfest for the 3 days prior to the Libre Graphics Meeting in Toronto. I'd like to put out a call for a volunteer to serve as event coordinator for this. Responsibilities will include coordinating expense reimbursements, liaising with the LGM coordinators, and handling other misc. tasks that come up. I'll be attending and will be available to help, but I'd like to focus more on technicals so would appreciate a dedicated events person. Contact me off list if interested and we'll sort out details. Bryce

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SVG Working Group - Sydney report
by Tavmjong Bah 20 Feb '15

20 Feb '15

Hi, I have posted a report from last weeks SVG face-to-face meeting in Sydney: http://tavmjong.free.fr/blog/?p=1226 It was a very successful meeting: * We worked through many of the remaining issues on auto-flowed text with the participation of the CSS working group. * My proposal for text-on-a-shape was approved. * My proposal for 'auto-closing' of curved paths was approved. * My proposal for 'auto-smoothing' of mesh gradients was approved. * A new "clipped' miter line-join was approved. (Instead of falling back to a bevel line join when the miter-limit is exceeded, the line-join is clipped at the limit.) * How the miter-limit effects the arc line-join was decided. * We resolved most of the important issues blocking moving the SVG 2 spec to the next stage of the specification process and targeted the next face-to-face meeting in June for making the transition. * None of the important features for Inkscape were removed from the core SVG 2 specification (except marker knockouts which still needs a lot of work). Tav

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[REFERENDUM] Budget for 2015
by Bryce Harrington 20 Feb '15

20 Feb '15

A majority vote of the current board members is required for approving this budget. Proposal: 1. Adoption of the Rev2 budget described below for use as guidance in financial voting for 2015. 2. Board chairman will document the budget on the Inkscape website, and follow up with subsequent votes on individual expenses as appropriate or as they come up. [ ] a. Yes, adopt budget as described in "Rev #2" (below) [ ] b. Revise budget with the following changes recommended: _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ [ ] c. Do not establish a budget for 2015 Background: We have $31,000 in savings presently. We typically get between $3,000 and $8,000 in yearly donations, with a trend averaging at $7,000 in the last few years. However, this year we are experimenting with allowing donors to earmark their donations to specific budget items (i.e. Hackfest). This is not intended to be a formal budget, but rather to serve as a planning aid and to inform decisionmaking. The board must still vote on each specific expense, and in particular they are not restricted from voting larger or smaller amounts than is budgeted here. Item Amount ------------- ------ SVG Working Group(*) $2,250 LGM 2015 2,500 [1] Hackfest 2015 2,500 (+ sponsorship) [2] SCALE(*) 250 Other events 500 [3] Funded Development 750 [4] Developer Education 500 [5] Grants (OSUOSL)($) 250 Contingency 500 ------ ------ Total $10,000 Reserve $21,000 Expected Income $ 5,000 [6] Notes ----- (*): Budget item already approved by board ($): Budget item already paid out [1]: With the hackfest co-located with LGM, we anticipate charging half of airfair costs against LGM, half against Hackfest. [2]: The plan for the hackfest is to pay for it 100% through sponsorship and earmarked fundraising. This budget item allocates $2,500 as contingency in case the hackfest fundraising does not raise its full amount. [3]: This budget item covers material costs (buttons, stickers, banners, etc.) as well as travel sponsorship, for events where Inkscape will have a presence (e.g. booth, presentation, development discussion, etc.) [4]: This is intended as seed money for three projects ($250 each), with earmarked fundraising used for further funding. [5]: This amount covers books, training courses, and other expenses that result in improvements to our community's skills, knowledge, and abilities for research, development, QA, producing, and marketing the Inkscape software. [6]: This budget item provides for donations to other non-profit organizations. [7]: This is just a guess for how much will be donated to Inkscape's General Fund. This assumes $2,000 less than 2014's ~$7,000 due to redirecting donors to the hackfest for the first few months of the year.

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[accounting: $200 sent to OSU (was Re: [Re: OSUOSL contribution])]
by Bryce Harrington 14 Feb '15

14 Feb '15

----- Forwarded message from "Bradley M. Kuhn" <accounting@...41...> ----- Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2015 19:08:19 -0500 From: "Bradley M. Kuhn" <accounting@...41...> To: inkscape@...41... Subject: $200 sent to OSU (was Re: [bryce@...2...: Re: [Inkscape-board] OSUOSL contribution]) > On Mon, Jan 05, 2015 at 06:08:17PM -0800, Bryce Harrington wrote: >> Tony/Karen/Bradley, please cut a check in the amount of $200 from >> Inkscape to "OSU Foundation", and send to: Bryce Harrington wrote on 19 January: > Could someone let me know when this check has been sent, so we can > mention it on our website? I apologize for not replying to this email sooner. The check was sent during the week of 2015-02-02. -- Bradley M. Kuhn President & Distinguished Technologist of Software Freedom Conservancy |------> & also, de-facto Bookkeeper since we can't afford to hire one. Pls donate so we can increase staff: https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ ----- End forwarded message -----

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