United States Pirate Party

At Hack Pittsburgh, instead of the usual speech that Ryan gives to hackerspaces, we instead had a much more informal discussion. We spoke to the members and others in attendance about not only our goals and platforms, but also about how they may affect the hackerspace community.
 
The estimated attendance of this event was 25 people.  

During FreeFest, Bethany gave a 15 minute run-down on all the platforms of the party, and our main goals. After that, Ryan spoke about the changes that could take place in the future by ignoring the important issues the party represents. Things such as the fate of the internet, media institutions, and other issues.

Ryan, Bethany, and the intern attended an open mic at Bowling Green State University. This open mic was hosted by the group FREEDOM. A short description about their group:
 
FREEDOM is a non-hierarchical student and community organization dedicated to social justice, cultural awareness, and the art of human expression. FREEDOM members meet every week to dialogue about our society and our lives. We then come up with creative ways to address social issues.  
 
During the open mic, Ryan spoke with the crowd about issues of the future. He also announced the talk we would be giving the following day at the FreeFest. We got to know some of the students and individuals that attended, and their issues with current cultural and social concepts.

During the actual festival, we, Ryan and Bethany spoke with as many attendees as possible. We estimate that during the course of the weekend, we spoke with at least 300 people, individually, about the party. Mostly, we explained to them what the party is, what our goals and platforms are, and how that may impact them as both individuals, and members of an alternative community.

The four of us, Ryan, Bethany, the intern and the mechanic went up to the work week for the Alchemy festival. Information about Alchemy can be found here: http://www.alchemyfestival.com/
 
We helped build the main structure for the event, speaking with the people about the issues they face, as an alternative community, all the while. We find that the best way to learn about people and their thoughts and struggles is to work along side them. Our goal at Alchemy was to discover the issues that they feel underrepresented on, and how the Pirate Party may be able to fill those gaps.  

Ryan, Bethany, the intern, and our mechanic attended a meeting for the Freeside ATL hackerspace, in Atlanta, GA. Before and after the meeting, we spoke with individuals curious about the party. During the meeting, Ryan briefly described the party, some of our main goals, and our basic information.  
 
The estimated attendance of this meeting is 20 people. 

A brief run-down of "hackerspaces," often reffered to as "makerspaces": A hackerspace is a form of shared work space. The members of the space typically pitch in a predetermined amount for membership dues monthly. They use this money to rent a space, and to purchase equipment that they may not, individually, be able to afford. The term "hacker" here refers to someone who uses their skills to make new things or improve upon existing things. It absolutely does not refer to illegal computer hacking; spaces usually look down on this sort of activity, and do not allow it to happen. Members come in all forms, from technologists to artists to carpenters to general handy-man types. Often, they have events, give classes, and are involved in their local communities.
 

     This document regards a currently dead bill known as the Orphaned Works Act. Many readers will probably be wondering why I would bother writing about a dead bill. Beside the fact that the bill may be ressurected, this document has two goals: (a)to help the reader understand the goals of the corporate special interest groups in regard to copyrighting, and (b)to provide a talking-point in regards to the inconsistancies of what is being said and what is being done.
 

Dearest Constituants,
 
A complaint has been brought forth as to the timeliness in which records and logs have (not) been posted. I would like to issue a public response to this, and also open up debate for positive suggestions as to a set time-frame in which records and logs should be posted.

No deadlines or rules as to the frequency and time limit for records exists. It seems that I have not made them available in a desirable amount of time. I would like to correct this so that I may do my job better, and so that I am held accountable for my position and all that it entails. If I have overlooked some information relevant to my post, I fully expect you, the constituants, to not let it escape my review.

In light of this, I would love to hear suggestions on deadlines, methods in which the records are kept/posted, etc. I will be starting a new forum thread for this discussion here, and my hope is that a system can be put in place that is agreeable for everyone.

Also, there has been an official request for records for a few things, and those will be made available and easily found. I am not yet sure how this will best be done, however, it will be completed within the next day or two.

Thank you for your continued patience as I further understand my role as Records Officer,
 
Bethany Jolly
 
Edit: meeting logs from the 09/28/09 meeting