Minutes of the SIPB Meeting of 09/29/2003


The meeting was called to order at 19:30 by arolfe.

In attendance were 
	Voting members: arolfe jtu keithw kenta merolish | golem
	Associate members: jhawk lnemzer ocschwar
	Prospectives: astronut mwp wjh | jbarnold wdaher
	Guests: 

Treasurer's Report:

Chairman's Report:

Office Report:
	kenta: I'd like to allocate up to $30 for a pair of computer
		speakers.
	keithw: Friendly amendment to $50.
	kenta: We used to have a pair of speakers; they belonged to
		alex_c.  He took his speakers home.  They were connected
		to various machines.  We can listen to and watch TV at
		the same time.
	<white ballot, motion passes>
	[kenta allocation: $50 for speakers]

Office Cleaning Report:

MIT Computing Report:
	jhawk: Recently, the folks who maintain the content of
		web.mit.edu have started listing only one spotlight on
		the front page and many subsidiary spotlights in
		sub-pages of web.mit.edu.  It's extremely rare for
		people to look at the subsections, so it's not nearly as
		effective.  Recently they asked sipb-tech-column if we
		could be featured on the student life sub-spotlight.
		Subsequent discussion on sipb-tech-column.  I'd like to
		introduce a motion...
	keithw: It seems to me that the high-handed language in the
		proposal would be counterproductive.
        jhawk: I move: "It is the sense of the SIPB that having many
                separate spotlights on the various sub-pages of
                web.mit.edu is counterproductive and a poor way to
                disseminate information, and we believe the community
                would be much better served by a return to multiple
                top-level spotlights."
	keithw: It's just unproductive.
	jhawk: I think it's counterproductive compared to the
		productivity of multiple spotlights.
	kenta: I agree that it's unproductive.
	golem: I think jhawk's text is really dorky but it's the right
		sentiment.
	kenta: Do we know why they went to multiple spotlights?
	jhawk: No.
	<6-0-3, motion passes>

	ocschwar: www/sipb now has the SIPB whiteboard, and there's a
		script in the outland locker for making changes to it
                (changewb).  I feel SIPB would be more useful to the
                MIT community if that web space was filled with useful,
                up to date content.  I'm working on facilitating that.
	keithw: Maybe we should append Omri's web page to what we put
		out on www.mit.edu.
	jhawk: In case anyone interprets Keith's suggestion seriously,
		there's a lot of politics surrounding www.mit.edu, and
		if we were to change it, there would be reperucssions;
		any actions we take regarding it should use due caution,
                and should involve webmaster.

Computer Services:
	keithw: Today, MIT signed a contract with the Loudeye
		Corporation.  Today LAMP signed its contract after
		12 months of negotiations.  We will have music soon, and
		launch soon.  Like within a month.

	golem: Who's in charge of Usenet these days?
	jhawk: Matt Power.

Publications Report:
	ocschwar: I've made changes to iAthena to add information about
		mail clients on Athena.  There is much more information
		that could be added.  Take a look at it.

	kenta: I'd like to allocate $10 for posters informing people of
		the combo change.
	[?]: The combo change is on Wednesday.
	wdaher: Where would posters like this go?
	<white ballot, motion passes>
	[kenta allocation: $10 for combo posters]

Orientation Report:

IAP Report:
	jtu: I'm still looking for teachers.  If you're interested in
		teaching Java, let me know.  I also want to allocate
		$1500.
	keithw: How much have we spent in previous years?
	jtu: nim said $1000, but alien said between $1000 and $1500
		would be fine.
	keithw: I think this should wait a week, under the principle of
		waiting a week to make large allocations.
	jhawk: I move to postpone one week.
	<keithw seconds>
	<4-4-1, motion fails>
	<6-3-0, motion passes>
	[jtu allocation: $1500 for IAP]

CokeComm Report:

Other Other:
	keithw: Move to reintroduce Other.
	golem: I think this motion is a terrible idea.
	arolfe: Other is supposed to be SIPB-related, Other Other is for
		anything else.
	<3-4-2, motion fails>

The meeting was adjourned at 7:47.


	Minutes taken and submitted by merolish.