Easter Holidays Tech Meeting Minutes

Planning infrastructure migration, documentation and tooling work, and recording and photo projects for Term 3.

Minutes by Odin

"I love it when Raven shits on people, it brightens my day." - Charis (2026)

Attendance

• [President] Tom F
• [Secretary] Odin
• [Tech] Charis
• [Tech] Vlad
• [Tech] Tara
• [Tech] Luna
• [Tech] Olly
• [Tech] Alfie
• [Tech] Raven (muted)

Apologies

• [President] Tom S

Agenda 1: Cupboard Organising & AdamRMS

AdamRMS / Account Access

• Tara: Said she had written part of this agenda a couple of weeks ago, but Alfie would know more.
• Need to roll out AdamRMS to the rest of exec.
  • It is still unclear how account distribution should work.
  • Options mentioned included signup codes and OAuth.
• Raven: Said the society is planning to move to Authentik at some point.
• Tara: Asked how that would work.
• Raven: Said they and Tom S would figure it out.
• Tara: Asked for a fuller rundown of how the auth setup works.
• Raven: Said they would explain properly once they are less ill.
• Tom F: Asked how difficult it would be to use Keycloak for now and switch to Authentik later.
• Vlad: Thought that should be workable.
• Raven: Said it should work in theory; it just needs doing.
• Tom F: Said the move to Authentik has been pending for a long time already.
• Raven: Said they intend to make progress on it soon, though IDG delays have slowed things down.
• Tom F: Said that if account access is needed, Tech should set it up now and fix the implementation later rather than block itself.

Cupboard / Equipment

• Alfie: Said TEDx are still storing their Blackmagic Pocket 4K in the tech cupboard.
  • It is convenient.
  • It is not UWCS property.
  • There is a standing agreement that UWCS can use the camera in exchange for storing it.
• Charis: Asked what the actual issue was with keeping the Blackmagic camera there.
• Alfie: Clarified that the concern is ownership rather than convenience.
• Tara: Said the next practical step is to document the arrangement somewhere appropriate.
• Alfie: Can look at doing that in Term 3, but does not have time right now.
• Tara: Said that once Warwick TV has a larger tech crew, they could also start using AdamRMS.

Agenda 2: Server Infrastructure

Migration Plan

• Vlad: Said Tech now has a server in Germany rented from Hetzner.
  • It is running Proxmox.
  • It is clustered with local infrastructure.
  • The aim is to make it easier to move services across.
• Most core services are currently on Milner, so DNS work will be part of the process.
• Hetzner was chosen because of cost and its generally strong reputation.
• Tara: Asked whether there were specific areas others could help with.
• Vlad: Said help would be useful with container work and with pointing uwcs.co.uk at the new server.
• Vlad: Wants a minimum working subset of services running on Hetzner first, then maintenance on the existing servers afterwards.
• Tom F: Asked how this fits with the migration map that had been drawn up in #tech-zone before Easter.
• Tara: Said the current phase is moving existing servers onto a VPS.
• Raven: Asked roughly when the restructuring should happen.
• Vlad: Thought it would be best left until after exams.
• Raven: Said they expect to be freer after exams as well, and linked that to the Authentik work.
• Vlad: Said there is nothing stopping the old and new setups running in parallel for a while.
• Raven: Said that has effectively already been happening, but IDG issues mean it is not yet properly usable.

Maintenance / Access

• Raven: Warned that the restructuring will require downtime.
  • If maintenance is known in advance, Tech should give at least seven days' notice.
  • People get antsy about unscheduled maintenance.
• Charis: Asked whether any upcoming work would require physical access to the servers, and suggested keeping track of that explicitly.
• Raven: Said they are around year-round, and Skiros is usually local when not out of the country.
  • There is also a port in CS0.03 patched to the servers.
  • Historically, the main physical fix needed has been turning Milner back on.
  • Most other intervention can be done remotely from the LAN.
• Charis: Noted that recent Hopper maintenance did require physical access, so it is still worth tracking.
• Raven: Said Hopper has already been nuked, and that Tom S sent a deprecation email at the end of Term 2.
• Tom F: Asked whether the maintenance deadline was still vague or whether people would know when the maintenance was actually happening.
• Raven: Said "soon tm", which Tom F was unimpressed by.

Communication

• A suggestion was raised that Tech could send deprecation emails early for more services, so infrastructure can be taken down when needed.
• Vlad: Joked that this would amount to emailing people that the servers could fall over at any moment.
• Tara: Asked whether any third-year projects depend on UWCS services.
• Raven: Said yes, mainly Portainer, but stressed that UWCS does not offer these services under any binding contract.
  • Ideally, projects should not be dependent on society infrastructure.
  • A warning email would still be a good idea.
• Tom F: Joked about downtime announcements in Comic Sans on Instagram Reels.
• ███ █: "██ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ██████████████ █████████, █████ ████ ███!"

Agenda 3: Photo Gallery

• Tom F: Asked whether there had been any progress on a UWCS photo gallery.
• Raven: Said no.
• Tom F: Recalled that Tom S had once mentioned a possible service for this.
• Tara: Suggested Piwigo, which the Drama archive uses, unless something more advanced is wanted.
• Raven: Mentioned PhotoPrism.
• Tom F: Said it had been brought up before, but then got lost during elections.
• Raven: Said it could potentially be integrated into the main website.
  • The main website is also a pain to work with.
  • If not done sooner, it could become a summer project.
• Tara: Asked whether the gallery should just be launched separately from the website.
• Raven: Was happy with that as an initial approach.

Photo Consent / Older Photos

• Raven: Asked what date range the gallery should start from.
  • It would be nice to show older events so people can see what they looked like.
  • The harder part is going back through old photos and dealing with opt-outs.
• Tara: Suggested starting with the current generation, perhaps the last year or two.
• Tom F: Agreed that doing it going forward may be the easiest option.
• Tom F: Suggested something similar to WHACK's photo-lanyard system.
• Raven: Asked how WHACK handled that, noting that lanyard minimum-order quantities can be excessive.
• Odin: Said they did not remember photo lanyards at WHACK.
• Tom F: Explained that WHACK handled it fairly quietly.
  • There was signage saying photography would be taking place.
  • People who did not want to appear in pictures could ask exec for a lanyard.
• Raven: Questioned whether it needed to be that complicated, suggesting a simpler "move out of shot if you do not want photos" approach.
• Odin: Pointed out that there have been times when photos were taken without people realising.
• Charis: Said clearer systems help photographers, especially at large events.
• Tom F: Provisional plan is to make a public photo gallery, likely using PhotoPrism.
  • Happy to invest in signage and lanyards.
• Raven: Said they may experiment with PhotoPrism later that afternoon.

Agenda 4: Possible Ticketing System

• Raven: Raised the idea because a lot happens in #tech-zone, and a ticketing system would make requests easier to track, even if it feels a bit corporate.
• DCS Tech and IDG both use tracking systems.
• Charis: "I love it when Raven shits on people, it brightens my day."
• Tom F: Joked about using Jira.
• Raven: Objected strongly.
• Tom F: Suspected there is probably a Discord bot for this.
• Tara: Pointed out that not everyone uses Discord.
• Tara: Said she had tried TicketTool on her own server and thought it worked quite well.
  • Asked whether people would be up for using it.
• Raven: Asked Tom F whether "the talking to™️" had happened yet.
• Tom F: Asked whether that conversation should happen now or later.
• Tom F: Said the ideal setup would allow people to submit tickets both through Discord and via the web.
  • Even a website link in Discord might be enough.

Agenda 5: Training for Tech Recordings

Setup

• Current recording setup discussed was:
  • camera with microphones connected
  • camera into a capture card
  • capture card into a recording PC
  • laptop input as needed
• There was some discussion of CS104 and how camera positioning there can feel very front-row-heavy.
• Tara: Suggested wireless HDMI as one possible approach.
• Odin: Mentioned a possible Amazon listing.
• Another past setup involved using a blue USB stick with OBS and working through the lecture-capture camera.
• Tara: Has seen that done, but would rather avoid relying on the lecture system directly.
  • If something goes wrong with the stream, it is awkward to interrupt the lecture.
• Raven: Recalled that lecture-capture PCs can struggle if asked to stream and record at the same time.
• Tara: Said the practical alternatives are using your own laptop or an e-waste PC.

Equipment / Use Cases

• Alfie: Said someone bought a new capture card and that he had posted a picture in chat, though he did not know the exact model.
• Raven: Said they had wanted more capture cards anyway because of WASD.
  • During the Mario Kart run, Tech had two Elgatos but still needed a software workaround to move video around.
  • More capture cards would be useful.
• Tara: Said there may also be chances to stream parts of LAN competitions.
  • She, Finn, and Owen had been discussing that.
  • The society has equipment in the cupboard that is not used often outside one-off events.
  • If UWCS maintains good trust with other societies, it would be good to use that equipment more often.
  • One idea is something similar to WASD, such as streaming a multiplayer race.
• Raven: Said one difficulty at WASD was that the learning curve for getting involved was too steep.
  • Term 3 is a good time to experiment with that kind of event.
• Tara: Also mentioned BONCS and revision lectures as possible things to stream.
• Tom F: Would prefer those to be recorded, rather than only streamed.
• Tara: Said it would still be good to get the ball rolling.

Training Session

• Tom F: Suggested booking a room for an hour.
• Tara: Said she already has a workable setup and mainly needs time to teach other people.
• There was discussion of availability around the 15th to 20th April.
• Raven: Said the old tech strategy of "do it live" should be avoided.

Agenda 6: Documentation

• Tara: Said lots of docs are out of date.
  • People should each take a few pages.
  • Read them over.
  • Either update them or remove them.
• Tara: Also suggested a page in the content management system showing when pages were last updated.
• Raven: Said anyone who has logged into the wiki should already have wiki access.
• Tara: Asked whether there was anything in particular that people wanted to take ownership of.
• Raven: Said they will be writing something there "soon tm".
  • Before they either leave Warwick or stay over the summer, they want clearer documentation and a more structured process.
  • That should make it more transparent which members hold what information and how people should get in touch.
• Tom F: Asked whether anyone wanted to add anything else under documentation.
• Tara: Asked whether she could add public comments.
• Raven: Said yes.
• Tom F: Asked whether that could instead just happen in #ask-tech-team on Discord.
• Raven: Said comments can be turned off if they become a problem, but doubted many people would use them anyway.
• Tara: Added the first comment.

Agenda 7: Website and Diagram

• Tom F: Said the website and spaghetti diagram both need updating.
• Raven: Is waiting on photos from people.
  • Would rather do the update in one go.
  • Last cycle had very patchy photo coverage.
  • Does not want to leave it too long.
  • Wants the new exec on the site by the start of Term 3.
  • Will start chasing people for photos.
• Raven: Thinks this is likely to become a summer project and was not well enough to discuss it in depth during the meeting.

Agenda 8: Discord Permissions

• It is standard for Tech Officers to receive admin permissions.
• Tom F: Said he has now done this for Welfare and intends to do the same for Tech.
• Tom F: Said that, █████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ████ ████, he has a very low tolerance for misuse.
  • If one person gives him reason to intervene, everyone will lose the permission.
• Everyone acknowledged this.

Closing Words

• General feeling that most major tech work is now focused on post-exam infrastructure changes, clearer documentation, and making better use of existing equipment.
• The meeting closed with responsibility assignments for the main workstreams.

Assignments

• Alfie: Cupboard organising and AdamRMS.
• Vlad: Server infrastructure, working with Charis.
• Raven: Public photo gallery.
• Olly: Possible ticketing system.
• Tara: Training people for tech recordings.
• Charis: Documentation upkeep, post-exams.
• Luna: Website updates.
  • Raven may end up helping with this anyway.