Sunday, July 29, 2007

Minutes of Meeting held on 29.7.2007

Blank Noise Kolkata met on Sunday afternoon at Dana's house. Attendees were:

Dana
Shuktara
Madhura
Dibyajyoti
Saptarshi
Anuj
Tamojoy
Priyanka
Sunayana

CORE GROUP
We discussed how much time each member could afford to dedicate to BNP per week and based on the kind of commitment each of us promised, we evolved a core group of sorts, of members who are willing to be contacted on their phones at any time, who have regular and constant access to the internet and who can devote at least half an hour each day if necessary for BN work.

This group consists of
Sunayana
Anuj
Saptarshi

and Priyanka, Dibyajyoti, Dana and Shuktara are going to wait a week or two and see if the conditions are convenient for them to do the same. The core group will have to be in constant communication and make sure all the news and delegation of work reaches everybody.

FUNDS
The question of funds was raised and we agreed that it would make sense to eventually (perhaps after our first intervention) have a membership fee of Rs.10 a month to fund pamphlets, xeroxes etc.

Tamojoy also offered to provide corporate sponsorship in the form of t-shirts and a limited amount of cash (Rs. 10,000 approx.) provided that BN is ok with the corporate logo on the sleeves of the t-shirt (although the front and back can carry our own messages). He also has to find out if our non-NGO status will be a problem for the prospective sponsors.

WORK SET OUT FOR THE NEXT ONE WEEK
1. We have decided to carry the survey conducted at the previous meeting further this week. Members have chosen to work singly or in pairs, at assorted key junctions of the city, to ask a fixed set of questions. This questionnaire is being re-written and will be available for use by Wednesday night. Anuj remarked that we would have to note down the questions directed to us by the people we survey as well as the answers we get from them.

Tamojoy is going to ask about Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) permission to carry a small camera and microphone on the streets. We did this the previous time but since then it has come to our notice that we need municipal permission to do this on an extended basis.

2. Tamojoy is also going to find out as much as he can about how best we can liason with the Kolkata Police (KP) so that we face the minimum trouble from them during interventions and also hopefully receive help from them if necessary.

3. Tamojoy has also offered to locate, through his contacts, victims of stalking. Our aim is to sms them in a general sort of way, telling them about Blank Noise, and see if they get back to us. If even one of them does, we intend to try an intervention with the stalker and hopefully collect some data for our cause as well as help the victim out.

A sample sms: "Have you ever been stalked? If so, Blank Noise needs you. Contact us at [my number] or through our blog at [kolkata blog url]."

4. The executive Whiteliner buses plying important routes in the city are planning to have a paid newspaper rack. We propose having our questionnnaires/pamphlets there too, if the logistics can be worked. We will need to pick up the completed questionnaires from the terminus later, but this need not be a problem.

5. A skeleton questionnaire will be sent by Sunayana, to be checked and added to by all members, to have the actual questionnaire for the survey ready by Wednesday night. (Sorry guys, I know I'm late. Will send it in the afternoon. Got caught up in work.)

6. Members contributed a couple of ideas for scripts for the bus interventions. These will be worked upon by Sunayana with maybe some help from the others (online), and will hopefully one will be ready for group re-working for our next meeting.

The next meeting will be held on Sunday, August 5th.
The venue will be announced later, but we would prefer to hold it in somebody's home, if that is possible.

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