July 2006 online board meeting considered the following
nine items and nineteen resolutions, and the following voting resulted:

Item #1: approval of PEOI's March 2005 minutes = Unanimous approval.

Item #2- evaluation of PEOI's home page revision.

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Mihai D Caramihai:

Overall remarks:
? the “3 clicks” rule is not respected.
? the interactivity is reduced
? the navigation is not very simple

Detailed remarks:
A. Aspects regarding the authority

1. Who wrote the page?
PEOI is clear identified on the Home page. The copyright credit (©) is distinct.

2. What are the author's credentials?
There are information about PEOI (the About us page) but the navigation using
the scroll bar is – a little bit – difficult. The “contact information” are relevant
and easy to use.

3. Purpose/intended audience
The purpose of the page is clear, but the target group isn’t very well defined.
The user feed-back is not defined.

4. Current?
It is not a date at the top or bottom of the page.

5. Is the information up-to-date?
The update time is not specified. In general, information for science, technology,
and business ages quickly. Information in the humanities and social sciences ages
less quickly. However, old information can still be perfectly valid.

6. Public opinion polls
It can be useful in order to quantify the “user satisfaction”.
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Kavery Sachdeva Handa:
My suggestion is rather than having the links for Program, Courses, Students
etc., wouldnt it be better if we have all of them as a side menu bar? The
purpose of putting these links on the front page is easier navigation for
the visitor, and making the website user friendly as well as professional,
we can achieve both our objectives by making a side menu bar which will
not only make front page less occupied and but also make it look more
professional..
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Thirumagal Kanagasabai:
The website is much easier to navigate now. I just have one suggestion:
I think it would be good idea to put the 'volunteers needed' box at the
upper portion of the website because PEOI's backbones are volunteers.
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Michael Palmer:
I note some evidence of change at the front page but beyond that I
struggle to navigate the site. I would be interested to know if others
encounter similar frustration???? My background is in computing and I
feel relatively comfortable following the logic of most websites /
databases / programming logic. .
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Romina Sengara:
It was a more concise homepage with clearer direction and much simpler to navigate.
Just what we needed much more user friendly with less information!
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Minh Vo:
MV: the resize button is great!
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Simon Rosin:

I think that the new home page is a significant improvement in terms of
presenting the different aspects of PEOI, the focus on prospective students
and courses/programs is long overdue and really is excellent. I would suggest
several other improvements could further improve the page:
1. Reduce text under the headings so that all 10 major sections are visible on
the home page
2. Remove the old home page content below the main page - this double up of
content makes the site look unproffesional.
3. I would like to think the Kennedy quote could still be incorporated, it
provides an excellent 'headline' for the site
4. Only one design comment - the headings should not resize after having been clicked.
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Item #3- review of mandate of Volunteer Recognition Committee.

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Thirumagal Kanagasabai:
"Showing appreciation with certificates would probably be the most
straightforward and cost-effective method of recognizing volunteers for
their contributions to PEOI.

Letters of references/recommendations should be done at the request of
volunteers and they would most likely request it from
coordinators/executive directors/etc who know them and their work well, so
I don't think this should be done the Volunteer Recognition Committee
(VRC).

Plaques will be great, but they may not be cost-effective. Further, they
would have to be made externally, engraved, and sent by post to
volunteers, and so, could end up costing substantial amount of money.
Certificates are easier to create and mail, and are not that expensive
even to send internationally.

To decide who should be recognized, the VRC should use statistics as
suggested on the agenda. Further, they may also create a volunteer
recognition form that can be sent to all coordinators and executive
directors to nominate who they think is most deserving of the recognition.
This way, volunteers in each field (such as, business, computer science,
etc.) and/or based on their registration status (authors, illustrators,
editor, etc.) can be considered. PEOI has a lot of volunteers, so the
committee must implement other ways of selecting volunteers.

Maybe, on the certificate, we can state how many hours of contributions
has been made to PEOI. For example, John Smith has made xxx hours of
contributions to PEOI. Perhaps, we can even set up standards hours, such
as, 100 hours, 500 hours, 1000 hours, etc., and when an individual reaches
that level, they can be given VRC certificates. This would make VRC's job
simpler, in my opinion. This might also motivate volunteers to do more
work so that they can reach the next level as soon as possible.

As for the number of times the recognition should be done, once or twice
an year should be sufficient. Doing this every month would be a lot of
work for VRC. It's important to set the standards high but realistic.

John can state who received these certificates and for what reasons,
including how many hours of contributions, on the monthly newsletters, so
it would motivate other volunteers."
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Michael Palmer:
Nice design and a great concept. I agree with the comment from
Thirumagal Kanagasabai in thread 271 which suggests "Certificate of
Appreciation" rather than "Volunteer Recognition Certificate" - though
either works. With regard to the process of recognizing individuals, I
suggest some objective criteria be developed using available statistics
- hours contributed, content delivered, etc. so that effort and
achievement are at the forefront and nominations are not a requirement,
rather the statistics gathered could automatically trigger the award.
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Romina Sengara:
I still feel the mandate holds true to what that committee should focus on!
The May newletter helped to put this into action and come up with some of
these items to help recognize volunteers.
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Kaveri Sachdeva Handa:
Should have more professional look
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Item #4: Administration:

Y N A
12 - 1 2006-07 #1 approval of PEOI's 2005 Financial Statements
12 - - 2006-07 #2 permission for 2006 fund raising

Item #5: Reappointments of board members
12 - - 2006-07 #3 reappointment of Kenneth Barden as board member
11 - 1 2006-07 #4 reappointment of Jeanne M. Henry as board member
10 1 1 2006-07 #5 reappointment of Poi Kee Frederick Low as board member
12 - - 2006-07 #6 reappointment of John Petroff as board member
11 - 1 2006-07 #7 reappointment of Romina Sengara as board member

Item #6: Appointments of new members

5 4 2 2006-07 #8 appointment of EVIS KORE as board member
3 5 4 2006-07 #9 appointment of Shubhangi Joshi as board member
10 1 1 2006-07 #10 appointment of Mohammad Ashaq Malik as board member
3 5 4 2006-07 #11 appointment of ahmad fahmi bin kamarudin as board member
6 2 4 2006-07 #12 appointment of Atul Philip as board member
9 2 1 2006-07 #13 appointment of Frank Geerling as board member
2 4 6 2006-07 #14 appointment of DHEERAJ MALHOTRA as board member
7 2 3 2006-07 #15 appointment of Lynley Mackay as board member
6 3 3 2006-07 #16 appointment of Shahid Ali Panhwer as board member

The following six individuals are new members of the board of directors:
- EVIS KORE
- Mohammad Ashaq Malik
- Atul Philip
- Frank Geerling
- Lynley Mackay
- Shahid Ali Panhwer

Item #7- removal of non-participating board members:
12 - 1 2006-07 #17 removal for absences of Sachin Paranjape as board member
12 - 2 2006-07 #18 removal for absences of Maree Weir as board member

Item #8- election of chairman of the board.
12 - - 2006-07 #19 appointment of John Petroff as chairman of board of directors

Present at and participating in November online board meeting:

1-Kenneth Barden
2-Mihai D Caramihai
3-Johannes M. Glas
4-Kavery Sachdeva Handa
5-Carol Law
6-Thirumagal Kanagasabai
7-Kimberly Louis
8-Michael Palmer
9-John Petroff
10-Simon Rosin
11-Romina Sengara
12-Minh Vo

Missing votes:

1- Deborah Barantchouk, second absence
2- Rinku Bhattacharya , first absence
3- edna eufemio, first absence
4- Jeanne M. Henry, first absence
5- Poi Kee (Frederick) Low, second absence
6- Siddhartha Maheshwari, second absence
7- Melissa Lee Price, second absence
8- Allison Raymond, first absence
9- Peter Short, second absence
10- Nazim Syed , first absence
11- Peter Wells , first absence
12- Adele Wong, first absence