ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING OF THE OPEN-SOURCE SPEECH RECOGNITION INITIATIVE, INC.
("OSSRI")
Tuesday, 20 January 2004
Location: OSSRI listserve
and 312 Washington St 4-1, Wellesley MA 02481 USA

The meeting came to order at 00:00 GMT.

ATTENDING

Susan Cragin
John Dowding
Jessica Hekman
Volker Kuhlmann
Tristram Metcalfe
Edwin Suominen
Ivan Uemlianin
Dustin Wish

GUESTS

Mark Kyes
Juan José García Rojo

AGENDA:

1. Adoption of Agenda.

VOTE: YES=8 NO=0 ABSTAIN=0

2. Affirmation of intent to incorporate.

AFFIRM,
That we, Susan Cragin, John Dowding, Jessica Hekman, Volker Kuhlmann,
Tristram Metcalfe, Edwin Suominen, Ivan Uemlianin, and Dustin Wish, have
formed the Open-Source Software Speech Recognition Initiative to develop
speech-recognition software that (1) offers both continuous speech
recognition and command-and-control functionality and (2) runs on
open-source platforms;
AND
by doing so, we wish to benefit the many groups of disabled persons that
will benefit by this technology, and the Open Source community;
AND,
that we wish to incorporate under the laws of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, United States, under the name Open-Source Software
Recognition Initiative, Inc.

DISCUSSION

SUSAN CRAGIN changed punctuation in this paragraph and added the word "AND" to make it grammatically correct. The change does not need a vote.

ED SUOMINEN

In the spirit of "open source" collaboration, I would like to
propose the following amendments to the first paragraph of the agenda.
If there was an opportunity to comment on the content earlier that I
missed, I apologize.
1. Change "to develop" to --to foster development of--.
2. Delete "(1)"
3. Change "and (2) runs on open-source platforms." to --to users of
open-source software, both in the operating system and in the
speech-recogntion software itself."
4. Add the following sentence: --Recognizing the present lack of
comparable open-source alternatives to closed-source speech
recognition software, however, we support efforts to make such
proprietary software usable on open-source platforms.--
Revised paragraph would read:
"That we, Susan Cragin, John Dowding, Jessica Hekman, Volker Kuhlmann,
Tristram Metcalfe, Edwin Suominen, Ivan Uemlianin, and Dustin Wish,
have formed the Open-Source Software Speech Recognition Initiative to
foster development of speech-recognition software that offers both
continuous speech recognition and command-and-control functionality to
users of open-source software, both in the operating system and in the
speech-recogntion software itself. Recognizing the present lack of
comparable open-source alternatives to closed-source speech
recognition software, however, we support efforts to make such
proprietary software usable on open-source platforms."
The proposed changes would make clear that we may be supporting efforts
we aren't directly involved with, and that we prefer open-source
solutions overall.
Comments welcome, of course.

JOHN DOWDING:

I agree with the original paragraph, and also with the revision.
In the interest of giving Susan the greatest latitiude to deal with whatever legal issues may be relevant, I suggest that we table the revision until the next meeting if this causes difficulties with the legality of the incorporation.

ED SUOMINEN

I concur, if any such difficulties present themselves. (Ed agreed to table a vote on his motion to the next meeting.)

IVAN UEMLIANIN
It's round midnight Tuesday 20th Jan (i am in GMT +0000 zone). My votes are below.
Regarding Ed's proposed changes: I agree with changes 1 & 4, but not with changes 2 & 3. In fact, if you don't make change 3, change 4 doesn't seem necessary. So, change 1 is a good idea; the others, I can't see the point - the original says pretty much the same as the revision, and is shorter and sweeter.

VOTE: YES=8 NO=0 ABSTAIN=0


3. Adoption of the proposed BY-LAWS, amended as of today, the text of
which is appended to the end of the Agenda.

VOLKER KUHLMANN noted that the address given for him was incorrect, and requested that it be changed as follows:
Volker Kuhlmann, 21 Roche Ave, Christchurch, New Zealand
He also noted that some country names had been omitted.

VOTE: YES=8 NO=0 ABSTAIN=0


4. Election of Directors.

Proposed that the current slate of members be elected as Regular
Directors, with Tristram Metcalfe being elected a Special Director, as
provided in the By-Laws.

VOTE: YES=8 NO=0 ABSTAIN=0


5. Election of Officers.

Proposed that the following officers be elected.
President: Dustin Wish
Treasurer: Susan Cragin
Clerk: Susan Cragin

VOTE FOR 3 OFFICERS, AS STATED: YES=8 NO=0 ABSTAIN=0


3. Welcome of New Members.
Mark Kyes has asked to become involved, and I, Susan Cragin nominate him
for membership. His e-mail address is mkyes@geckosoft.com.

OBJECTIONS?
NONE HEARD.

6. Adoption of the following RESOLUTION:

RESOLVED,
That the OSSRI hereby states its affirmative intention to apply for
nonprofit corporation status under U.S. Commonwealth of Massachusetts
General Law c.180 and for tax exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of
the United States Internal Revenue Code;
AND,
That the Questionnaire and Application for Pro Bono legal services from
Goodwin Proctor, a Massachusetts law firm, dated as of this meeting accurately
reflects its intentions;
AND FURTHER,
That Susan Cragin is authorized to act on behalf of the Corporation in
all matters relating to the applications, including soliciting the
services of a pro bono attorney and in filing the applications.

VOTE: YES=8 NO=0 ABSTAIN=0


7. NEW BUSINESS / OTHER ISSUES

A. TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES WITH THE MEETING.

VOLKER KUHLMANN
As I can see, Ed and John have made some comments but not cast a vote.
The only other vote is from Jessica. I suspect this may render the
whole meeting invalid (no quorum) and I would like to ask the remaining
people to cast their votes urgently within the next hour.
(to Susan) Minor technicality: unless your computer's clock is wrong, emails you
send are time-stamped with the time when you click send, which was
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 22:25:57 -0500
22:25 local time plus 5 hours = 27:25 GMT, i.e. already 3h 25min past GMT.
Now I better get my vote in before the AGM finishes in 1.25 hours.

SUSAN voiced a comment that Ed Suominen seemed to have left the meeting without casting a vote.

ED SUOMINEN
Susan, I did vote affirmative on everything, at about 23:12 GMT. It's no
big deal, but I didn't want the impression to be left that I was in
opposition to anything on the agenda, which I'm not.

DUSTIN WISH arrived late due to technical difficulties with his system. He cast affirmative votes for everything, and with the concurrence of all members his votes will be recorded.

CONCURRED.

DUSTIN WISH
Everything looks great. I am very happy to be a part of of this project.

B. New member
Juan José García Rojo asked to become a member, and that his membership application be discussed at the next meeting. His e-mail address is: jjgrojo@tid.es


HAVING HEARD FROM ALL THE MEMBERS, THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED.


Submitted by Susan R. Cragin, Clerk, 22 Jan 2004