Lojban: The Logical Language

If you are new to Lojban or this site, please read the help page first.

Finding Lojbanic Information: [ Help | Resources | Popular Pages | Site Map | Search ]

Basic Information About Lojban: [ FAQ | About Lojban | General LLG Information | News ]

Learning Lojban: [ Just Starting Out | Experienced | LLG Publications | Texts In Lojban ]

Helping The Lojban Community: [ Projects | LLG Committees | How You Can Help | Give Feedback ]

Languages: | | | | | | | |

Minutes of the 1996 Annual Meeting of the Members of The Logical Language Group, Inc.

The eighth Annual Meeting of the Members of The Logical Language Group, Inc. was called to order on August 11, 1996 at 10:41 AM EDT.

Non-members in attendance at the annual meeting were:

• David Barton voted in as member during the meeting

Roll call was taken of the members.

Members attending (7) were:

• Athelstan
• John Cowan
• John Hodges
• Nora LeChevalier
• Robert (Bob) LeChevalier
• David Twery
• David Young

Members "present" (6) by proxy:

• John Clifford proxy to Nora LeChevalier
• Colin Fine proxy to Bob LeChevalier
• Guy Garnett proxy to Bob LeChevalier
• Nick Nicholas proxy to Bob LeChevalier
• Veijo Vilva proxy to Bob LeChevalier
• Tommy Whitlock* proxy to John Cowan

(* = Arrived soon after roll-call)

Members not in attendance (3) were:

• Jorge Llambias
• Sylvia Rutiser
• Karen Stein

Notice of meeting by Secretary/Treasurer was duly given in advance of meeting date (per Article 3, Section 4 of the Bylaws).

Reading of the Minutes:

• MOVED: To waive reading of minutes. - PASSED.

Report of officers - President:

• We are legal because we paid our corporate fees.
• We are largely moribund; we've even been lax with the sales tax (we have not been selling anything). There is about 1 inquiry per week, usually on the net.
• We are trying to steer people to the Web; this will encourage them not to send money yet, but to wait for the book.
• Locals need to call us here to come to help get the backlog out.
• We did not renew the bulk mail permit; we hadn't used it in 2 years. It would be $100 for another application fee.

Report of officers - Treasurer: (reported by Bob LeChevalier).

• No books or balances done in last year (money not getting lost, but not yet processed).
• Income less than $1000.
• Expenses less than $1000 so far.
• Book financing is an issue.

Report of Committees:

Finance Committee: No pending requests, and no money.

Committee for Proper Notice of Meetings: Done!

Consideration of new members:

• MOVED: That Dave Barton be accepted as a new member. - PASSED.

Election of Board of Directors:

• MOVED: To re-elect the existing board members. - PASSED.

Old/Unfinished Business:

Bylaw amendment (originally proposed 2 years ago):

Some discussion.

• MOVED: To amend the bylaws (article 3 section 8) by striking out "Roberts' Rules of Order" and substituting "Standard Parliamentary Code 3rd edition" - PASSED.

New Business:

Unresponding members:

Some discussion of what to do about unresponding members and what policy ought to be in place, if any.

• MOVED: That the president be directed to contact the non-responding members, determine their level of interest, and report back. - PASSED.

Correction of minutes:

John Cowan pointed out that the last minutes had an inconsistent count of people attending, an attending by proxy. (The number attending was listed as 7, but there were 8 people listed. The number attending by proxy was 4, but there were 3 people listed.) The secretary stated that the list, not the count, was correct.

• MOVED: To correct the minutes to reflect the proper count of people. - PASSED.

LK (lojbo karni):

John Cowan had said he'd have camera-ready copy by December 1, but he's a couple of months behind. LK will not be out until the book is available. Estimated cost: $750 for 5 sheets to 1000 people, using first-class mailing.

Mentioned for the record:

• August Wired had a fairly prominent mention.
• Nick Nicholas is presenting the first peer-reviewed academic paper on lojban.

Reference Grammar book:

John Cowan has finished writing it! The final reviewing is in progress. The biggest thing left is the index.

The plan has been to convert the documents to HTML (they are now in straight ASCII), and have Bob Chassell put them into TEX Info format and publish them in the Free-Software variant of perfect binding. This will produce a 6x9 inch book of about 600 pages. Dave Barton's wife may be able to be prevailed upon to help a bit with the art work.

The figures both Bob and Dave Barton have been quoted from publishers are: $6000 for the 1st copy, $500 for each additional 500 copies. But, Bob Chassell's method may be different. This would mean an estimated $17 cost per book, probably making $30 price if 1000-print run.

Discussion followed about publication and prices, including: Hardback is not all that expensive. There has to be balance between getting word out and breaking even (and providing for the next book).

Plan is also to publish on WEB.

Tommy suggested a special first-edit run of 1000 with a price of $40 per book.

Consensus seemed to be 1000 hardcopy was the way to go.

Responsibilities:

• Closing date for review (Bob): Labor Day.
• Index: John Cowan
• Error correction: John Cowan
• Produce HTML: John Cowan
• ISBN process: Bob

• MOVED: That the closing date for review be tentatively set at Labor Day, and actual supervision of the completion be up to the Board. - AMENDED.

Some discussion yielded:

• AMENDMENT: "... members of the Board". - PASSED.

Baseline:

• MOVED: That [we will fill in the blank later] constitutes the beginning of the 5 year period during which LLG will not consider any proposed changes to the language or books, except correction of typo's or other obvious errors.
• AMENDMENT: That this is the baseline we have talked about.

Emotional discussion followed, especially abut place-structure and lujvo baselining. Bob was reluctant to baseline them because he didn't want to have to commit to them in order to publish the dictionary; and, he didn't want to delay the dictionary for the review.

During discussion phase:

• MOVED: To adjourn for recess. - PASSED.
• Meeting recessed at 1:03 EDT and re-convened at 1:37 EDT.
• MOVED: To table current topic. - PASSED.

Grant proposal:

Dave Barton is interested in looking into doing a grant proposal.

• MOVED: That we set up a committee, composed of Dave Barton (as chairman), Dave Twery, and Bob LeChevalier to consider the preparation of the grant proposal. - PASSED.
• MOVED: To authorize the committee, on completion of the proposal, to send it to any foundations it sees fit, and report back. - PASSED.

Baseline (continued):

• MOVED: To untable earlier discussion of baselining. - PASSED.
• AMENDMENT: To fill in the blank with "publication of the Reference Grammar". - REPLACED.

This means no work on the dictionary is authoritative; it is all editorial and production.

(Dave Barton left at this point, with proxy to Nora LeChevalier)

• Replacement AMENDMENT: To baseline the contents of the Reference Grammar as of December 31, 1996, and all else as of June 30, 1997. - PASSED.

Therefore, the motion becomes: Baseline as of December 31, 1996 the contents of the Reference Grammar, and as of June 30, 1997 all else, which constitutes the beginning of the 5 year period during which LLG will not consider any proposed changes to the language or books, except correction of typo's or other obvious errors.

This gives Bob 6 more months to do whatever review he feels needed on the Dictionary lujvo and place structure without unduly delaying the book.

• MOVED: To adjourn meeting. - PASSED.

The eighth Annual Meeting of the Members of The Logical Language Group, Inc. was adjourned at approximately 2:24 PM EDT.

I certify that the above motions were presented to all members present for discussion and approval, and that all motions were approved as noted. I further certify that these minutes are an accurate representation of the seventh Annual Meeting of the Members of The Logical Language Group, Inc.

Nora LeChevalier

Secretary/Treasurer

Last modified: Mon Jun 27 23:10:21 PDT 2005

Please contact us with any comments, suggestions or concerns.