IT Development/Technology committee meetings/Minutes 6 May 2014
Apologies and introductions
Attendees
- Doug Taylor (Chair)
- Richard Nevell (Minutes)
- Michael Maggs
Apologies
- Andy Mabbett
- Carol Campbell
- Emmanuel Engelhart
- Charles Matthews
Meeting began at 14.38
Matters arising from the previous minutes
- Spam bot now implemented. Thanks are due to Harry. Spam is not eliminated, but reduced by about 90% to one or two a day.
- Piwik has bug open - report at next meeting. (related to the QRpedia item below)
- Tech Workshop is being discussed on wiki.
Dr Bjeorn Hassler's proposal
DT reported to the committee on the proposal, noting that the costs covered ten days of developer time. DT was in favour of supporting the project; RN agreed, and MM had no objections.
Metrics, WikiRate (MM)
MM discussed with other chapter representatives at the Berlin Wikimedia conference and presented on the topic. EE also presented at the conference on a similar topic. There was broad support for the idea that this is the kind of activity chapters should be undertaking. MM was of the opinion that the charity does not currently have the capacity to undertake this kind of project, and that further funding would need to be secured should this be pursued. Simon Knight has compiled a list of academic sources on the topic, and believes that academics could be encouraged to help with the work. Tom Morton feels that programming the tool is not the challenging aspect, but that deciding how to measure article improvement is the more difficult part.
Mike Peel joined at 15.09
DT made the point that some of the work of writing the tool could be done by volunteers. Proposed to ask Jon Davies to put to the board for a decision.
ACTION: RN to ask JD to put WikiRate before the board
Programme Manager recruitment
MM updated the committee on events. After putting out a call for tenders, we went to an agency. The additional fee was judged to be too high, so it was instead decided that a contractor should be sought to carry out a scoping exercise for WMUK's tech need with an eye towards what kind of post is needed in the future. The tender went out on 24 April. The contractor would put a recommendation to the CE for discussion with the board. It was considered that funding would not come from the FDC and that alternative sources - such as Google or Mozilla - would be worth considering.
DT suggested that old applications for the developer post (from 2012) might be worth reviewing for people to approach.
Mailing list changeover (RN)
It was agreed that having two mailing lists active with the same purpose was not optimal and one needed to be closed down.
DECISION: The tech@ mailing list needs to be closed
ACTION: RN to email the mailing list reminding people to use technology@ and setting 13th May as the date tech@ wil be closed
WMSE (CM)
Deferred until next meeting as Charles Matthews was not present
Wikimania 2014
Carried forward to the next meeting as a standing item
Mapping (JS)
Deferred until next meeting as Joseph Seddon was not present
Online voice recording (AM)
Deferred until next meeting as Andy Mabbett was not present
QRpedia stats
Covered in matters arising
Accessibility (CC)
Deferred until next meeting as Carol Campbell was not present
Date and chair of next meeting
DT suggested opting for an evening as more people may be available. Varying the time slot allows different groups to attend different meetings. Possible dates of 17th and 18th June were suggested.
ACTION: DT to send out a Doodle poll to settle a date and time
DECISION: MP or RN to chair next meeting depending on who is there.
Meeting closed at 15.47