November 2010 Board Minutes

[flyboy53]

While I've heard much about the recent NEC meeting actions, I don't think it is wise posting this "hearsay" on CT.   However, I do look forward to the draft minutes.  When they are published, I look forward to a good CT discussion on the decisions.

Exactly why I believe NHQ should send bullet summaries to the field of the topics covered. Silence builds misinformation and rumors. I'm patient, I can wait for the minutes to be published, but it would be nice to know what was decided. Afterall, these are the corporate officers who are shaping policy and we are the stake holders.

[RiverAux]

I can understand that the NHQ staffers might have a lot on their plate and can't get the minutes out soon.  The obvious solution would be to find a volunteer attending these meetings do it as their only reason for being there.  They would be expected to have a draft back within a week.  No big deal. 

No, we don't need a transcript of the actual play by play, but personally, I would be interested in seeing a little more of the discussion recorded than is normally done.  Thats why I tend to watch the feeds when I can so that I can get a real feel for the way things go. 

[EMT-83]

A recent example from the NB was the implementation of the new safety policy. Reference was made to a new policy in the Knowledgebase and the Safety Beacon, but there was no policy to be found... anywhere.

A brief summary of the meeting would have headed off a lot of speculation and confusion.

[RADIOMAN015]

I understand your frustrations with the processes. I would like them out sooner as well, but what we have (in terms of the  transparancy of our governance) is in my view a lot better than many non-profits our size.

If you have ideas for to make things better please take them up with the chain of command.

Don't we have Public Affairs folks both paid & volunteer attending these sessions
I don't think it would be that difficult to write a news story to reflect what was discussed and the disposition and post it to the members only section.   That's why at the local government level reporters attend town & city council meetings and report the "news". 

Also I too would like to see the video recorded and placed on the website at least until the minutes come out in draft form.  Most members don't have the time during the week to watch these meetings.   I would also offer an option to actually buy a video cd of the meetings.
RM

[Ned]

As a general rule I favor more transparency and openness for BoG, NB, and NEC meetings.

But if it were up to me I would discontinue the web streamng of at least the NEC and probably the NB meetings, simply because of the costs involved.

Typically, it takes a couple of full time employees to get the stream up and running, and NHQ has to pay the outrageous hotel prices for the bandwidth to get it out.

When you add up the costs for shipping the equipment back and forth, hotel and per diem for employees, and the hotel gouge, we are talking about multiple thousands of dollars, every penny of which comes from member dues and could be better spent on airplanes, safety, or cadet programs.

And for what?  One need only look at the threads here on CT, arguably the most involved and web-savvy folks amongst the membership, and it is hard to find much value added.  Sure it is nice to know who is wearing what uniform, or listen for interesting things said when officers believe the mikes are dead when they are still live.

But I'm not convinced that CAP gets good value for the money spent on techno-wizardry like that.

Similarly, I'm not sure I would ask any NHQ employees to put aside any other duties to expedite creation of the minutes.  Which aren't going to be official in any event unitl the next meeting of the NB/NEC which is six months away.  Any new policies have to be codified into regulations or other directives before they really affect the membership in any event, and that always takes time (and has its own "public comment" and ratification cycles.)

If web-casting were free, I'd be all for it.  But it isn't.  It is pretty darn expensive.

And somehow we managed to be successful as a corporation for well over half a century without it.

Somehere I'm sure some poly sci majors have earned their Ph.Ds by documenting the effect that C-SPAN has had on the political process, but having sat in the Capitol watching lone reps and senators speaking before an otherwise empty chamber in a way that is calculated to look good on C-SPAN, I am not sure that having live cameras really advances the goal of open proceedings and transparency.

[RiverAux]

Or they could look at trying to have some of these meetings at locations where there wouldn't be such high costs.  This would not be at all difficult for the NEC (not aware of BoG doing any streaming). 

[DakRadz]

arguably the most involved and web-savvy folks amongst the membership, and it is hard to find much value added.

No, that won't work. Ned is merely trying to butter us up so we agree with his plan, and no stream is available when he gets himself elected Grand National Emperor Comptroller of the City of CAPtonia, Archipinedan Islands.

That, sir, is my title and you know it.



If they were to eliminate streaming (which maybe could get some cadets their uniforms faster? or shoes even? Or just airplanes and such, still important uses that are being passed over), would it still be financially sound to have the meetings recorded via cameras and posted to the web as video files?

I still think some sort of visual record is nice- as mentioned before, the minutes don't exactly reveal the mood and enthusiasm and such of a member. EDIT: Hard to capture the spirit of the meeting, that what I was trying to think of; it's been a long day..

[manfredvonrichthofen]

arguably the most involved and web-savvy folks amongst the membership, and it is hard to find much value added.

No, that won't work. Ned is merely trying to butter us up so we agree with his plan, and no stream is available when he gets himself elected Grand National Emperor Comptroller of the City of CAPtonia, Archipinedan Islands.

That, sir, is my title and you know it.

I seriously hope that is sarcasm. I am sure it is though. I think the NEC and BOG try their best to give us members the clarity that we want and need about the topics of discussion at their meetings. I know I have high hopes and expectations of CAP. I think that is mostly because of my experience as a cadet. I had no knowledge of what went on in the chain of command higher than wing level, and I wish that were not true. I would like to see (and I expect to see) sometime in the not so far off future that cadets would become more aware of what goes on in their organization. Cadets spend as much time and sometimes more time that some senior members to ensure that their squadron is performing the best that it possibly can. The only thing is that many cadets don't know what goes on higher up than their squadron and even less know what goes on above their group or wing. I just want to see this change and part of that is clarity and availability of regulations (which is very available) and mew items of topic such as those things at the NEC and BOG.

[RiverAux]

I too would be perfectly satisfied with video posted after the meetings (soon after) though I'm sure there would be some cost associated with the very large file sizes.  They don't necessarily need to be streamed live and it sure would be a lot more convenient for folks to watch them at their leisure (especially for the weekday sessions).

[FW]

Or they could look at trying to have some of these meetings at locations where there wouldn't be such high costs.  This would not be at all difficult for the NEC (not aware of BoG doing any streaming). 

It is interesting that the Nov NEC meeting was held at NHQ.  There were no extra costs added on for videoing this meeting.  For some reason, there was a decision made to stop the streaming for the meeting.  I was also informed there were major decisions made which, to date, have not been made public.  I know of at least 1 region commander's call where the NEC agenda was discussed however, there seemed to be a disconnect about information disseminated and actual actions decided on.  I am also for better transparency but, .....

BTW; the BoG does NOT stream their meetings to the membership.

[NIN]

Probably wouldn't hurt to have someone "live blogging" the meeting instead, much like the blow-by-blow you see here on CAPTalk from the multiple individuals watching the stream.

Way cheaper.

[manfredvonrichthofen]

Probably wouldn't hurt to have someone "live blogging" the meeting instead, much like the blow-by-blow you see here on CAPTalk from the multiple individuals watching the stream.

Way cheaper.

Again, the problem is that no one was able to see and hardly able to hear what was going on at the NEC meeting, so no one is able to do that. That is why we are discussing that we know nothing, not discussing what happend.

Now, am I right Ned, that you are on the NEC? Or am I mistaking for the BOG? If you are NEC, could you enlighten us? I don't think that would be against the rules, being that it was shown on the web we just weren't able to see it.

[bosshawk]

I can't pretend to answer for Ned, but he is on the Board of Governors(at least for the next few months) and he is also the National Cadet Programs Officer.

[manfredvonrichthofen]

Thank you for the clarification, I couldn't remember which Ned was on, NEC or BOG. Thank you. Never Mind Ned.

[NIN]

Again, the problem is that no one was able to see and hardly able to hear what was going on at the NEC meeting, so no one is able to do that. That is why we are discussing that we know nothing, not discussing what happend.

No, I meant live-blogging FROM the meeting, not watching an expensive, trouble-laden video feed.

[Eclipse]

No, I meant live-blogging FROM the meeting, not watching an expensive, trouble-laden video feed.

Live bl-whating now?  I suppose we should have our personal robots drive us to the conference in our hover cars, too?  How are you going to send that many faxes out?

Maybe in your ivory tower of R&D there exists some free service that would allow someone to send
snippets of information to the general public, but not out here in the "real" world.

I suppose next you will suggest we can all carry a hand-held computer that will communicate with anyone on the planet?  You're watching too much Star Trek, kids!!!

[SarDragon]

It's easy. Someone sits in the meeting close enough to hear what's going on, and sends text messages to an outsider, or even right to CT. Piece o' pie.

[RiverAux]

Its so easy to listen, take notes, and then write them up that it would just be simpler to get the darn minutes out in draft form in a few days! 

[flyboy53]

You know, it just struck me. The idea of the live-streaming was to keep people informed. Yet, most of the membership can't watch because of our schedules. So, why doesn't NHQ record the event for playback whenever on the NHQ website? That way the meeting can be viewed in at the member's leasure.

In NYS, the public portion of meetings of public entities are recorded via a camera mounted on a laptop computer and then posted on the agency's website for public view. The directive is about three years old and relates to those agencies were public money or tax dollars are used in order to comply with the state's open meetings law.

[NIN]

No, I meant live-blogging FROM the meeting, not watching an expensive, trouble-laden video feed.

Live bl-whating now?  I suppose we should have our personal robots drive us to the conference in our hover cars, too?  How are you going to send that many faxes out?

Maybe in your ivory tower of R&D there exists some free service that would allow someone to send
snippets of information to the general public, but not out here in the "real" world.

I suppose next you will suggest we can all carry a hand-held computer that will communicate with anyone on the planet?  You're watching too much Star Trek, kids!!!

Watching too much Star Trek?  Bob, don't be a total ass clown.  I would have expected a little more out of a technophile such as yourself.

Liveblogging is the process by which people blog from within events.  It involves nothing so more than a laptop with a connection to the Internet, and someone typing updates into a blog.  It tends to be short snippet updates (almost like a Twitter update).

Much the same as people do here in CAPTalk during NB or NEC meetings that have video feeds (ie. they're watching the video feed and typing updates into a thread here), you could have someone easily doing the same actually FROM the meeting and bypassing the expensive and troublesome video feed altogether. 

The downside to live blogging is that you're only going to get the "big" items, not all the nuances of the sidebar discussions, and such like that.  You need someone who can type quickly, capturing the essence of whats being said.  Much like the way CAPTalk'ers post during the NB/NEC live feeds, maybe it would help to have 2-3 guys doing it (might be a good use of some of the back-benchers and straphangers they have in those meetings).

I was going to give an example of live blogging, but it was from an Apple event (either Engadget or Gizmodo's coverage of the iPad launch) and we all know that Bob won't accept anything related to Apple as a "fact" or "evidence" since its just a bunch of "toys for fanboys."  I'll have to find another example that wouldn't contain Steve Jobs mug..