Program Subgroup Notes February 15, 2010
From USSF 2010 Wiki
Meeting Minutes
February 15, 2010
Start Time: 9:04pm
End Time: 9:59pm
1. check-ins
a. Jerome (Atlanta, GA) – League of Revolutionaries for a New America
b. Monica (Highlander, TN)
c. Flo (Minneapolis, MN) – International Jewish Anti-Violence Network
d. Ife (Detroit, MI) – African International
e. Sarah Coffee (Detroit, MI) – Midnight Special Law Collective, Logistics for USSF
f. Mayowa (New Jersey) – Women of Color United
g. Walda Katz-Fishman (Washington DC)– League of Revolutionaries for a New America
h. Leslie (Ithaca, NY) – Green Guerillas Youth Media Collective
i. Alicia Garza (Oakland, CA) – POWER
j. June (Berkley, CA) – Economy Network
k. kiran nigam (Berkeley, CA) – Oakland, CA
l. Darryl Moch (Philadelphia, PA) – Labor Arts Exchange
2. The Review Process: workshop tags, tasks, timeline, who, how
a. Tasks: June talked to ICT to make the outline proposal form downloadable. The ICT person said that we need to go through the form and make it exactly how we want people to see it when they get it. We then need to get it back to them within the next 2 weeks. At this point there are only a few things that need to be done. Kirin will do the brief changes that need to be done to make it downloadable and get it to ICT.
b. Tags: Leslie made some revisions to the tags based on the feedback (from last year). If the group likes it, she can send them in. Walda suggested that the revisions be completed and the tags sent out for a final review so we can bring closure to this. Leslie will send them to Walda and Kirin by tomorrow (2/16/10) at the latest.
i Walda raised several questions to consider: What is the submission going to look like when we go in to review it? What will be the additional categories for the review process? At one point, someone from the tech team was going to come into the call and talk to us. It may be helpful for you or someone to talk to the tech team so that we can find out what needs to happen.
ii Meeting participants were asked if there were other suggestions for tags. No one offered other suggestions.
c. Interface: About 6 proposals have been submitted so far. Walda suggested that we find out what the interface looks like to us as reviewers and what is needed to complete it. In addition, what must be done to get the reviewers signed up for access so they can begin reviewing? Would a one-on-one with Mark be good? Leslie will talk with him first and if he needs to talk with the group, he can come to the next meeting.
d. Timeline: The March 20 deadline is coming up quick. Walda suggested that we think about our relationship with other work groups so that the information on this deadline gets out. How do we do this? Since we expect submissions to come in late, Darryl suggested that we state that they will be considered if there is room; he is concerned that the deadline is quickly approaching. Jerome responded by stating that it would be better to leave deadline as it is so people can get their proposals in. When March 20 comes around, however, we can continue to accept submissions as long as there is room. Alicia and Ife said that they would be willing to assist in communicating with the Communications and Outreach Committees to make sure that they are getting the word out.
e. Proposal Reviews: Those interested in reviewing are Darryl, Ife, Alicia, Leslie, Jerome, Mayowa and Flo. The criteria for selection need to be developed. This should be put on next week’s call. The Culture Committee may have developed some criteria already that program can use.
3. Update on Conversation with the Technology Working Group
a. We need to follow up with the group. Don’t see them anywhere on the website. The tracks are embedded in the form. There is some edited version of the final report, but there should be a live link next to the call for workshops.
b. According to Alicia, what’s needed is a condensed version of the call next to the link. The issue is functionality. The document itself has a lot of bullet points and explanations. But if people want to see the track titles I can send it out. The tracks and the sub-points are what people need to see. The point is to see what is available. She will email it to Kirin when she is finished. Kirin will take it and make it into a ticket.
4. Update: Program Design Team and Logistics
a. Walda and Jerome gave a summary of the Program Design Team meeting.
i The Program Design covers 1) Day 1 (opening activities); 2) Days 2 – 4 is (bulk of workshops, cultural performances, plenary sessions, etc.); and 3) closing days. They discussed the Children’s Social Forum, canopies, and Detroit Expanded – activities that will take place in other parts of Detroit and the world (via technology). They also discussed the importance of making sure that the political goal is met and identifying where all of these different pieces of the program will take place. There needs to be a tight relationship between program, culture and logistics.
ii Programming will take place under the canopies; however the schedules will not be placed in the USSF program guide. Organizations with canopies will schedule their own activities. Sometimes this scheduling takes place up until the day before the start of the USSF. It is not feasible to include their schedules in the program because of how scheduling happens and because there can be up to 100 canopies – which would make the program too cumbersome. The Program Design Team will need to identify what the different canopies will do. The name and a description of each canopy will be in the book, just not the canopy activities.
iii The PDT discussed a concern raised by Detroiters who work – will workshops take place on Saturday? Saturday is normally the Peoples Movement Assembly day. No decision was made at the time.
iv Since the opening day march isn’t scheduled until 5:00pm, some wondered whether or not other activities will be scheduled earlier in the day, or even after the march. They are still discussing plenary sessions. But the plan is that they would take place in the evening.
v Plenary Sessions: What has been proposed is 3 plenary sessions in each of the 3 evenings (June 23, 24, 25). And that they reflect the themes of the day. The themes are Detroit and the region (day 1); U.S. struggle to international struggles and how we relate to them as part of a global movement (day 2); and visions, alternatives and solutions (day 3). We were going to take the theme of the day, start at 6:30 and go to 2 – 2.5 hours. They would be panels not of talking heads but of people who represent the movements. They would be progressive speakers. It would be a short panel where a few people would talk for a short period of time, but we are talking about the world café. And having it transmitted into multiple rooms in Cobo Hall so that there would be smaller breakout rooms for discussions and some cultural presentations. So the aim is to have technology, culture and use of multiple spaces to make it interactive and people friendly.
vi Other Items: The PDT did not get a chance to discuss youth activities. Also, it looks like there will be over 300 workshops. Jerome – so far we have that many timeslots.
b. Logistics Update: According to Sara, there is a logistics meeting on Wednesday. She said they expect something to come out of that. Programming is interested in such issues as how many people will each room fit, their locations, how accessible is the space is accessible, what is the technology capacity, etc. Logistics is focused on getting this information out by the end of February. It is at the top of the list of things to do.
Other logistical concerns include: 1) To identify what the space comes with (e.g., additional equipment, sound, etc.) that the social forum is going to have to pay for; 2) To consider how we want to organize the workshops physically. Do we want a cluster? Is it tracked? Interspersed regardless of theme? There will have to be a group that looks at all workshops. This will need to include logistics, program and culture. Sara said that she will work on this and Darryl and Ife said they would help.
5. Other
a. Walda saw that the culture submission is online and suggested that each person on this call go to the website and get familiar with it. Doing so will help us to see if there are any gaps in the website content. We want to get all the organizations registered and submit workshops.
6. Next call, reminder/agenda person, note taker, facilitator
a. Next Monday’s meeting, Flo will take notes and Darryl will facilitate
b. Program sub-group call is in 2 weeks – Karen will take notes; Alicia will facilitate
Return to Program/Culture WG main page.
