1) The Contact with the Province has been signed and "the cheque is in the mail" (an honest to goodness quote from Andy Williamson of the Technology Fund).
2) I am in the last stages of negotiation with the UofT over the ITRC<->UofT contract for Telepresence. We have targeted next Wednesday as the day we have the contract signed. We'll then open appropriation accounts.
3) I have a Lawyer working on the ITRC<->TRIO contract for Telepresence. Once it is in place, Peter Leach will cut contracts with UofOttawa and Carleton.
4) Morris, Bill and myself have gone over the requirements for the faculty research aspects of the project and have decided on the April/92-Dec/92 program. Morris will speak to each of the Ottawa/Carelton people individually and Bill will speak to the Toronto people. Once the activity and resources are agreed, I'll send each participating researcher an "official" letter. We can commit $$ only until the end of Dec/92; if we hit our contractual obligations with the Province (Industry involvement, European involvement) then the rest of the $$ will flow.
5) Bill and I are moving our offices into the Toronto Telepresence area on May 1st. My office will be in Sanford Fleming Building, Rm 2002E - same phone numbers (UofT: 978-8508 - cellular: 518-0071). Bill will be in 2002A - phone number 978-1961. Garry Beirne's new number is 978-0705.
6) Rosanna Reid from ITRC will work with me (at least over these next few months) as the Telepresence Project Administrative Assistant. Although she will work only 1/2-time - she will coordinate local logistics, handle meeting organization, know peoples schedules (except for Bill's -- which is humanly impossible), track expenditures in appropriation accounts, and generally run the place. We will retrofit the SF2002 conversation nook to be a reception-style area for her. In the meantime - she can be contacted at 978-8558 or rosanna@itrchq.itrc.on.ca .
7) The SSHRC grant that Barry Wellman and Marilyn Mantei have applied for has been accepted. This is great news for Telepresence as the work they intend to do is highly complementary to our stuff.
8) The Toronto CAVECAT NSERC strategic grant is winding up in November. Ron Baecker, Marilyn Mantei and friends are putting together a follow-up proposal to carry on with the work. For more info, contact Ron or Marilyn.
9) Rich Helms now has a giant RS6000 machine in his office that, when booted, sounds like the space shuttle engines warming up. Rich, Garry, Ross, and Tom are toying with the idea of putting the proposed "Smart Server" on it. Idea's are solicited for a network name for the machine - send them to Rich.
10) Barry Wellman is hosting a few candidates for our "Social Scientist" position during the week of April 27. There will be talks scheduled at the UofT. For information on the times, contact Barry or Rosanna Reid.
11) Maciek Kozlowski, the Ottawa Engineering Manager for Telepresence, will spend Wednesday, Thursday and part of Friday here in Toronto. We will work on putting together a business plan for the project, some promotional material and I will take him around to meet folks.
12) Morris and Bill, Maciek and I had some great talks with Telepresence people to hear how the project is structured, what each participant intends to do, how we intend to link everyone's activities into a field-trial-able system, and have a chance to talk to the industry people about what is in it for them. I propose a day-long meeting on May 25, 1992 here at the UofT. Draft agenda will follow but everyone will talk. This is an important meeting and I think every one participating in the project should be there. Please send rosanna@itrchq.itrc.on.ca a message confirming your attendance. Thanks.
14) We are still working on negotiating a site for the Ottawa Engineering group to set-up shop. Maciek and I are looking into this.
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