Geek Salon
After my “Unity Through BBQ” party for my precinct, Travis County Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt wants to follow up on the idea of creating a “Geek Salon”. She learned that I had brought a group together to try and advise Tim Mahoney, an ACC Trustee. She wants to expand this effort into something more formal. For example, she has a voting machine problem in our county. How and what would unbiased technologists advise Ms. Eckhardt to do?
Geek Salon Principles:
1) These are social gatherings hosted at a citizen’s house addressing issues of community interest. The invited politician is a guest. This is not, as defined by statute, an official public meeting.
2) Participants must not have a direct business interest in the subject of discussion. These are technical discussions. Exploring how technical choices affect policy is a major goal. (This should be a similar process to how technical issues are decided in the Linux community.)
3) There will be one major topic of discussion. This will be published in the email invitation. Only RSVP as attending if you are prepared to discuss this issue.
4) Even though this is not a public meeting, minutes will be taken and published. This ensures the Salon’s independence from financial bias.
5) Attendees are welcome to suggest new topics and participants for future Salons.
It helps if you like BBQ. (For you vegetarians, I make a great smoked portobello mushroom.)