IT Development/Technology committee meetings/Minutes 4 March 2014
Apologies and introductions
Attendees
- Online
- Harry Burt (HB)
- Emmanuel Engelhart (EE)
- Mike Peel (MP)
- Joseph Seddon (JS)
- Doug Taylor (DT)
- In office
- Carol Campbell (CC)
- Michael Maggs (MM)
- Charles Matthews (CM) (chair)
- Richard Nevell (RN) (minutes)
Apologies
Roger Bamkin is unable to attend meetings arranged during work hours. Katie Chan and Jonathan Cardy send their apologies as they are at an editathon. Tom Morton is unavailable for this meeting.
Agenda discussion
Meeting started at 15.03
The agenda was agreed and the meeting proceeded.
Minutes from previous meeting
CM noted that disambiguation issue is below attention of this committee. In order to address the issue, he set up the gnome home page on the UK wiki.
Bugzilla
Bugzilla in hand. Staff using it to report bugs, but not including confidential details. Instead they are using Bugzilla to note tasks in summary form.
Spam
Currently the UK wiki is suffering from an influx of spam accounts creating pages, with around 10 spam accounts created every day. EE set up a local spam blacklist, but spam continues to be a problem. Dealing with the spam is a drain on staff and volunteer time.
ACTION: HB to write a spambot to deal with spam accounts. WMF maintains a spam blacklist; the bot will copy that to our servers and we can use that list.
CM noted that Module wiki also suffers from spam accounts. Once a bot has been written it can also probably be deployed on Module wiki.
Performance of the UK wiki
CM mentioned that the UK wiki has often been loading slowly. EE notes we regularly approach capacity of our server to host our web services - we have an overly high load on the community server.
ACTION: RN to chase up Tom Morton with acquiring more capacity
Programme Manager
RN reported that we have had no applications yet; the deadline is 10th March. If we receive no applications by the deadline, WMUK will go to a recruitment agency. JS says the lack of applications is unsurprising.
Open ID
ACTION: HB will update the committee via the tech@ list
Tech workshop
MP proposed a workshop on general tech issues to be hosted at the WMUK offices. Comments were invited. MM felt it would be useful to discuss strategy and priorities. CC, JS and HB agreed. CM was not interested in attending such a workshop. It was suggested that MP seek input from the mailing list. CC and MM offered to help with agenda of the workshop. HB asked whether it would be aimed at the current committee members or more inclusive. MP felt it was a good outreach opportunity.
ACTION: MP, CC, and MM to discuss via email
WMSV proposal
Wikimedia Sverige intend to apply for funding from the EU Horizon 2020 programme.
ACTION: CM to be available to meet Jan Ainali to discuss the application further
Zurich hackathon scholarships
HB suggested that we ask whoever gets a grant to attend the hackathon be asked to discuss some of the issues that Tech Com faces. MP feels the requirements for scholarship WMUK is offering, and the expectations that WMUK has in return for the scholarship, weren't clear enough. MP and DT felt that Tech Com should in future have a say in the conditions for scholarships relating to the committee's scope.
ACTION: RN to ask Katie Chan to report on tech@ how many applications there are
Reporting
Board wants reports from individual committees. This time RN provided the minutes for board consideration. MP suggested a summary style would be preferable. Issue of who would produce the report: staff or volunteer. CC suggested this could be undertaken by project manager when in post. Committee members were invited to add points to the Tech section of the board reports page.
Wikimania
There is a pre-Wikimania event in June. HB asked whether there is a tech stream coordinator; JS informed the committee that Ed Saperia was the one organising such aspects of Wikimania and precursor events.
Possible forthcoming projects
CC is working on accessibility issues, and MM on metrics and what tools there are to measure them. After the board meeting there may be projects for the Tech Committee to discuss in relation to these areas.
Chair for next meeting
HB put himself forward as chair for the next meeting, noting that he would not be able to act as chair later in the year due to other commitments. In line with the committee’s interest in having a rotating chair for meetings, HB was endorsed for the April meeting.
DECISION: HB will chair the April meeting
Date of next meeting
DECISION: Tuesday 1st April decided as date of the next meeting. The time would be decided on the tech@ mailing list.
AOB
DT made the point that it would be useful for people unfamiliar with Mumble to get some practice using the software, and making sure the hardware was up to scratch.
Meeting closed 16.15