[imc-nyc-audio] meeting last night re tabling thursday

[Banana Jim Verdi]

> I know that the idea of using something like Excel will raise issues
> with the open source committed people, and I think that's totally
> cool.

Actually, Openoffice.org is free, open-source software available for
most operating systems that is compatible with Excel.

> I guess maybe there's been some discussion about creating a shared
> calendar or database for people to check, created using open source
> software.

Working on it.  Consider this a mid- (as opposed to short-) term goal.
Excel-style spreadsheets are easy to export into these systems anyway.

Longterm, I'm part of a team working on developing a custom app for
*exactly* this (groupware that supports alternative decision-making
structures).

> Also, this is a whole nother can of worms, but I'm a little freaked
> out by the idea of running only open source editing software on the
> computers at  the space, and on the broadcast machines.

This resembles my concern.  I have no prob at all with using only
Linux/Audacity/etc if we have enough volunteers who can provide
training to anyone who needs it.  Can we?

> I know that there are important political reasons to use open source
> software, but to me there are also important political issues about
> making the stream and resources open to the widest number of people.

Agreed.  To me, that is the primary goal.  The IMC has sold tshirts
made in sweatshops, printed on bleached, rainforest-cut paper, and
lots more that's opposed to the politics of its members- but all to
support the only stated goal: empowering individuals to present an
alternative to corporate media.  I'm not saying this is OK, just that
it's a question of priorities.

> What if we are using pirated and cracked versions of this  software?

Another point here that I was kind of trying to raise at the last
meeting is that there's a dichotomy in our current stance- "There are
good alternatives to copyrighted material that deserve promotion, so
let's only use open-source software... but we're not afraid of
trouble, so let's play (to name some of my choices) Gil Scott-Heron
(RCA) or Passi (v2) or that track from the new Faithless album (BMG)
or whatever on the stream."

> also last thing - tech request/question - is there anyone who can
> help me  install PGP on my laptop?

FYI to all, Shiftcontrol (dotorg) provides free PGP trainings with
some regularity.  I can ask after this, if there's interest in getting
a group together.

-BEN

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