SCN: Re: Now what?

[Douglas Schuler]

I just looked the secretary of state web site and it looks like
Joel took care of this soon after I brought the issue up.
(http://www.sos.wa.gov/corps/search_results.aspx?search_type=simple&criteria=all&name_type=contains&name=Seattle+Community+Network+Association&ubi= 
)

It might be useful to see the documents that were submitted.

Joel?

Thanks!

-- Doug



On Jul 10, 2011, at 7:26 AM, ljbeedle at scn.org wrote:

> Thank you Ken.  I was wondering if anyone would remember we
> were trying to fix the tree and not the forest.  Renewing
> our filing with the state should be easy unless the rules
> and law have changed a lot in the last few years.
>
> So please someone, take care of first things first so we
> can continue.  Then you all can work on the forest.  I am
> just trying to prune a few leaves but wonder if all my time
> is being spent wisely if we are just going to have the same
> discussion over and over.
>
> Yes, I am feeling discouraged right now but I shall
> continue pruning my few leaves.  Just someone set up to the
> plate and file with the state.  Joel, I believe this would
> be you.
>
> Lois
>
>
>> Well, although I hesitate to advance this as anything
> other than the
>> messiest of all possible solutions (ain't democracy a
> pain), but wouldn't
>> the "classic" resolution be something along these lines:
>>
>> 1. The CURRENT BOARD renews or otherwise reactivates
> SCN's registration with
>> the state.
>> 2. The CURRENT BOARD immediately schedules and convenes
> an ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP
>> MEETING as the ultimate decision body for SCN (yeah, that
> probably means
>> reactivating a means for people to enroll or otherwise
> confirm membership,
>> but this would be the sole and final action of the
> current board)
>> 3. The ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING determines and votes on
> a new board of
>> directors (with any enabling "legislation" to vote on all
> positions, not
>> just those that may have expired under whatever process
> the Board has been
>> using in the absence of full membership meetings).
>> 4. The NEWLY ELECTED BOARD is charged by the ANNUAL
> MEMBERSHIP MEETING with
>> either dissolving the SCN corporation and turning assets
> over to a suitable
>> successor (which I'm thinking is maybe not as likely now
> as it might have
>> been a month ago), or leading a process of restructuring
> SCN with a new
>> mission and goals, and hopefully new energy based on a
> broader
>> commissioning.
>>
>> Clearly, current board members could still be re-elected,
> but they, along
>> with any other candidates/nominees, would have the same
> opportunity for
>> expressing their vision and commitment. Let the people
> decide. But let us
>> make one last invitation to a wider "people" (those who
> continue to care
>> about SCN or could be involved under a reborn mission and
> structure).
>>
>> I think that's what the SCN "of olde" may have done.
>>
>> No question, this would be a "put up or shut up"
> proposition based on who
>> really can muster a strong enough constituency for a
> genuine rebirth (or
>> genuine closure). Democracy is a pain. And the case could
> be made that there
>> may be little passion for the energy that would be
> required for confirming
>> membership or receiving new members. My only thought was
> that if there were
>> sufficient spark to continue in any form, than some kind
> of full membership
>> meeting, even if only 20 or so folks, could more
> objectively symbolize and
>> support a launch into a new direction. And, needless to
> say, we'd probably
>> have to recruit a facilitator with a terminal disease
> (sorry, "with nothing
>> to lose") to oversee the proceedings.
>>
>> Or we could engineer a "friendly coup" from among the
> relatively few of us
>> who, as Al notes, already know too much about each other
> to "just start
>> over" with the same faces in the same places. This is my
> read on the current
>> proposals, and I'm ultimately open to whatever unfolds.
>>
>> Just thinkin'
>>
>> Ken Gillgren
>>
>>
>>  _____
>>
>> From: owner-scn at scn.org [mailto:owner-scn at scn.org] On
> Behalf Of Al Boss
>> Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2011 1:36 PM
>> To: SCN
>> Subject: SCN: Now what?
>>
>>
>> Hi, all.
>>
>> JJ, as always, raises an interesting point, and it has
> prodded me into
>> finally getting around to typing out something I've been
> thinking about for
>> the past couple of weeks.
>>
>> The SCN/SCNA situation is pretty overwhelming when viewed
> as a whole.
>> Leadership, direction, volunteer base, equipment, users,
> and information
>> providers are all pretty lean, although we seem to be
> doing much better at
>> the physical things (equipment and capital) than the ones
> that require
>> people in the mix.
>>
>> The SCNA part, the need for an active board and a
> functioning structure, are
>> obviously essential, and the bulk of our conversation
> over the last few
>> weeks has been--correctly, I think--around that subject.
> Maybe because we
>> have active participants in that conversation, my
> thoughts have wandered to
>> another question.
>>
>> If I wanted to approach people about joining either SCN
> or SCNA (preferably
>> both), I'd immediately have to explain what SCN is. What
> does it do? What's
>> it for?
>>
>> JJ's analysis of our principles mirrors mine, but our
> conclusions might
>> differ. Technology has changed tremendously since 1992,
> and specific needs
>> have changed, but like JJ says these principles are short
> on specifics. The
>> thing is, I think that's a good thing. Here's why:
>>
>> The big issues haven't gone away. They're not obsolete.
> What's happened is
>> that we were a little too successful in our vision for
> the response to these
>> issues, so much so that much of what we offered is
> available elsewhere from
>> better-resourced providers that offer a much wider range
> of features.
>>
>> Free email? Check.
>> Free Websites for nonprofits? Check.
>> Internet access somewhere in your Seattle community?
> Libraries, community
>> centers, Internet cafes.
>> Free dial-up access? Available from several sources.
>>
>> I imagine you get my point. Aside from the computer
> giveaway program, much
>> of the "stuff" of SCN, the actual services we provide,
> are either obsolete,
>> commonplace, or no longer relevant.
>>
>> But that's just stuff, isn't it? It's not our ends that
> are flirting with
>> irrelevance; it's our approach.
>>
>> Access: Are there technological things that people don't
> have easy access
>> to, things that could make a positive difference in their
> lives? Yes. Same
>> things as in the early 1990s? No way.
>>
>> Privacy: Folks need to consider that, now more than ever.
> We've always
>> offered services that won't sell your data. I can see
> room for a big chunk
>> of information about what that means, about what privacy
> means in this
>> decade, about where we can still expect it and where it's
> completely gone.
>> Back then, we were an alternative; now we're a haven--and
> we know why we are
>> and how we are, and as part of our commitment to
> community we can educate
>> the citizenry about why and how that matters.
>>
>> Democracy: Are there still things a bunch of smart,
> technically savvy,
>> community-minded suckers (that's us) can offer, that'd
> help level the
>> playing field a little bit, that'd help folks get some
> extra advantages
>> they'd not otherwise have? Are there things we can do to
> help voices get
>> heard? Do I even need to answer that?
>>
>> I can keep this up all day, but if you've read this far
> you probably see
>> where I'm heading. And, you can probably see why JJ's
> question dovetails
>> with mine so well. He asked about the agenda, about what
> to fix, and that's
>> just what I was considering: what are the needs of today?
> What kind of
>> problems would benefit from SCN being a part of the
> solution? What are our
>> strengths?
>>
>> For example: Seattle Schools have special rooms where you
> go for computers.
>> But when kids aren't in school, the technology is
> ubiquitous. In school all
>> kids learn to keyboard, and to never look stuff up on
> Wikipedia, and that's
>> about it. There's more if you pursue it, but suppose you
> want to learn how
>> computers work rather the history of the floppy disk and
> how to use Word?
>> Don't expect you'll find that at school. Maybe, maybe not.
>>
>> So, wait till college. If you make it in a local college,
> you'll learn that
>> there is no operating system other than Windows. How many
> of our community
>> colleges have more than one class using something that's
> not from Redmond?
>>
>> Musing: if SCN were where kids could build communities of
> interest, that
>> they had to maintain, I wonder if there's an easy way we
> could sandbox them
>> in a way they could learn about the back end as well as
> the front, without
>> compromising our system? Stop, JJ, don't hurt me, I'm not
> saying _that_ is
>> what we should do--or even could do. Other people already
> do that.
>> (Freeshell.org and SDF come to mind.)
>>
>> I _am_ saying that Out There we've got a lot of people
> out of work, a
>> generation of people who don't remember a time without
> computers, schools
>> requiring community service, Amazon and Google with
> offices in a county that
>> has a dearth of ways to learn Unix/Linux, and a host of
> other juicy
>> challenges, and In Here we have some of the smartest
> people I've ever had
>> the pleasure to work with, stable equipment, expertise in
> hardware,
>> software, community, education, security, flaming,
> analysis, coding,
>> debating, and finding good coffee. Certainly there are
> some good matches in
>> there.
>>
>> At the same time we're shoring up our leadership
> structure, we should also
>> be thinking about what we might want SCN to do in this
> phase of its life.
>> Directors will direct, but it's quite possible that what
> we want from
>> directors (and what they want from us) should be
> different from what we have
>> been doing since 1989 when we first started kicking
> around the ideas.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Al
>>
>
>
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Douglas Schuler
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