[pp.int.general] A report on the first 1/3 year of the PPI Board

[Gregory Engels]

Today, the new PPI board has been in office for 122 days - exactly 1/3 of a year.  Since we did not take the opportunity to report on our first 100 days of office, we would like to take this opportunity to communicate what has already been done and what is yet to do inside the Pirate Parties International.

First: what has been done:

These projects have already delivered results and are progressing rapidly. Volunteers are needed in most of our projects - if you want to participate, we would welcome you to do so. 

Press Team:

We have created a starting set of procedures to deal with the press inquiries and PPI's own PR. http://wiki.pp-international.net/Press_Work Right now, the team consists of 20+ Members (headcount on the mailing list, however many of them are not really active). We absolutely need more people, especially native English speakers with proof reading capabilities. Every helping hand is welcome! 
Project Lead: Denis Simonet, PPI
Press Team Leader: Gefion Thürmer

Newsletter "Pirate Times"

Three days ago, we launched the combined pirate newsletter / news blog "Pirate Times" http://piratetimes.net/ . The goal is to send out a Newsletter every two weeks (which can be subscribed to at http://lists.pp-international.net/listinfo/piratetimes ). We already have 155 subscribers, with 300+ unique visitors today alone, three days after its launch). The team consists now of nearly 40 people (team mailing list head count), but, of course, more authors, editors, graphic artists and others are needed. http://wiki.pp-international.net/Pirate_Times
Project Lead: Josef Colentine. 

PPI Liquid Feedback

We have set up a Liquid Feedback 2.0 instance for the internal PPI use (such as for discussions of Statutes amendments) at https://lqfb.pp-international.net

Mailing Lists

We have created a handful of mailing lists for different purposes - to use internally within PPI teams, and externally to teams and organisations that we would like to support as they act for the benefit of the Pirate movement. We host, for example, a list for coordinating the help of the German Pirates in the current Pirate Party of the Netherlands election campaign and several lists helping to coordinate the efforts and discussion in the creation of PP-EU.

You can find the overview of all PPI lists at http://lists.pp-international.net/listinfo .  We also undertook a reorganisation of the internal pp-leaders mailing list used for internal member communication to ensure that every member of PPI is represented.

Forum

PPI Forum has started to show its age a little, but it is still a useful resource as a documented history of the beginning of the international Pirate movement, going back to 2006. Over the years, it has sadly been neglected and eventually became Spam-ridden and nearly unusable.

We have upgraded the forum to the newest software version, got rid of all the spam and most of the spammers (more than 2000 spam accounts where identified and deleted!). As a result, it is gaining a new lease of life, but it will still need massive reorganisation; PPI is not the same organisation as it was 2006 or 2009 and this should be reflected in the PPI forum. We are in need of some experienced forum admins to help us breathe new life into it and help us undertake the reorganisation.
Contact: Gregory Engels

What has been started and is in the process of being done:

These projects are in the process of being carried out, even if they yet have to deliver significant results. But it is foreseeable that they will succeed any time soon, especially if you are able to offer your help and expertise.

Media assets database - "Image Bank" 

A project of creating a media assets database to be used by various pirate websites and press teams (including PPI's own press team and Pirate Times) is on the way. Right now, the project charter is being finalised. With the requirements lists and a high level overview finished, the next steps after the finalisation of the project charter would be the set up of the team infrastructure and a public call for team members.
Project Lead: Marting Jungkunz (PP-IE)

PPI HQ and Bank

Unfortunately, we are still stuck in paperwork needed to get done in order to get the bank access handed over to the new team and to fully open the HQ operations. With the friendly support of Amelia Andersdotter, we are able to share her office space in Brussels - even maybe having our own interns sometime soon. The next step is to call the PPI HQ General Assembly to document the formal handover from the previous board.

Pirate VPN

We are in the final stages of creating a system that would allow PPI and its members to resell Pirate-VPN accounts, allowing users a high level of anonymity and censorship avoidance. The backend and the e-commerce systems are ready to go, what is still missing is the design of the landing pages and the documentation of the whole process.
Team Lead: Travis McCrea 

Corporate Identity and Design

Jelena has started to work with a designer to create CI and CD for the PPI in order to build on that for the website redesign.
Contact: Jelena Jovanovic

Social Media Team and SMÜ

We are in the process of creating a social media team and to select a "Social Media Überchief". We have received a number of impressive applications and are currently scheduling interviews with applicants.
Next steps: Appoint a team leader and define procedures.

WIPO Observer Membership

PPI have submitted an application to WIPO asking to be admitted as a permanent observer member. This would allow us to attend almost any WIPO event, meeting or assembly. WIPO has put the application of PPI onto the agenda of its upcoming General Assembly and the Secretary General has recommended the assembly to grant PPI (and all other applying international NGOs) the observer membership.
Next step: we still need to apply for "ad hoc" observer status to be able to visit some meetings in their next assembly.

Liquid Feedback for new Parties

The board decided to offer to host liquid feedback for any Pirate parties who ask us to do so (and to offer it to the new parties we are assisting in their foundation process). This would allow for new parties to profit from the direct democratic process of liquid feedback early on. 

We have a working LQFB installation that can easily be opened up for such hosting, but we would prefer to have a dedicated virtual host for doing it, in order to ensure a high level of integrity and stability for the LQFB users.
Next step: we need to find a (virtual) host and the sponsorship for running it (since we still have no access to our bank account).

Tech team

We have created some structures for the tech team to manage various PPI IT assets (which used to be operated in a rather ad hoc mode), but we are still in the process of defining procedures and even documenting the various assets and access roles that we have in place at the moment.

Right now, there are 23 members on the tech team (mailing list head count) http://lists.pp-international.net/listinfo/ppi.techteam
Next steps: create team documentation and define the project plan for the transformation of IT operations.
Team Lead: Travis McCrea 

What is yet to be done:

This is a small excerpt of what is also on our list to be done. We haven't yet had enough time to start them - perhaps you can help us here, too.

International Archive

We will create the international Archive of Pirate movement.

Regional PPI Conferences

It is planned to conduct at least two regional PPI conferences - one in North and one in South America. The call for hosts is currently being worked on, but overall it is in an early stage.

Next GA

The call for the next PPI GA is being worked on. We wish to start the planning of the GA after the next one early on so it can be announced before the next one takes place. 

Communities of interest

This is in the strategy paper but is not yet taken care of. 

Website relaunch

This is dependant somewhat on the creation of CD/CI and the functioning of the tech team. Planned for autumn.

More Applications for Observer Memberships

The application for observer membership at inter-governmental bodies takes a long time, sometimes several years. We will start the application process in due time.

EU Lobby register

We will submit a registration to the EU lobby register, but we will need someone responsible for managing the lobby relationship. (Please apply to the board or co-chairmen)

Translation Task Force

The TTF is functioning just fine. However, some improvements in the processes and supporting tools will be implemented in time. High on our list is the intention to to implement a crowd-translation management system that would allow for translation in parallel, involving more translators and allow for the translation of longer and more complicated texts.


As a conclusion, I want to thank everyone who is involved in the numerous PPI projects, teams and task forces. Without our volunteers (and this includes board members, by the way) who spend their precious time and energy in helping build a worldwide Pirate movement, there would be no PPI and no Pirates. Every one of our projects is dependent upon the people who are doing great work.

Thank you, you are a true pirate!

On behalf of the entire board, 
sincerely yours, 

Gregory Engels
Co-Chairman
Pirate Parties International

mobile: +49 172 853 44 91
skype:gregory.engels
jabber:dichter at jabber.piratenpartei.de
my free time: http://tungle.me/dichter

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