============================================== Candidate: Andrew Patrick (aa118) ============================================== About Andrew Patrick ---------------------------- About Andrew Patrick (aa118) - age: 36 years - status: married, 3 kids, no pets - location: Kanata - education: - university studies at McMaster U and U of Western Ontario - graduated with Ph.D. (and student loans) in Psychology - work: - employed as Research Scientist at the Communications Research Centre, a federal government lab - conducts research on services and interface designs for "electronic highway" applications (which does involve looking at the FreeNets) - community involvement: - Epilepsy Ottawa-Carleton Education Committee - Carleton Board of Education Special Education Advisory Committee - National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors What Have I Been Doing ---------------------------- Andrew Patrick Significant Activities with the National Capital FreeNet - participated in the original organization meetings - sat on original hardware/software and system design committees - assisted in the original installation and operation of the system - led the development of the User Agreement - developed the early registration procedures - elected to Board of Directors and Executive Committee in 1992 - assisted in the Grand Opening in Feb 1993 - led the development and hiring for the System Administrator position and supervised the System Administration contract - led the organization of the 1993 & 1994 Annual General Meetings - acting head for the Hardware/Software Committee - adapted and installed the first Gopher service - programmed the E-Mail-to-FAX service - programmed the MMS menu maintenance software - programmed software for donation recognition - programmed volunteer registration database - assisted in the development of the Volunteer Strategy - assisted in the development and hiring for the Executive Director position - represented NCF at the 1993 and 1994 FreeNet Conferences, presenting papers and leading sessions on the system software - developed NCF policy on privacy - represented NCF during many media contacts, interviews, and appearances - represented NCF during presentations to local service clubs, community groups, and business organizations - assisted in the development and drafting of the NCF mission statement - assisted in the development of the NCF administration organization scheme - handled complaints concerning user conduct - assisted in securing the donations of computer equipment from Hardware Canada Computing Fundamental Principles of the NCF ---------------------------- Andrew Patrick Fundamental FreeNet Principles The NCF was created by a group of people who shared an idea of what a good community system would be like. The NCF project is based on a few fundamental principles that are important for understanding what the FreeNet is, and how it got that way. They are also the reasons why we have attracted so much attention and help from the community. These are also the reasons why I got involved with the NCF. These fundamental principles are: - the NCF is "free" to use. There is no requirement for members to give money to the NCF, and no requirement that information providers pay money. All contributions are voluntary. In many ways, it is a social experiment in building a cooperative system out of community support. - the FreeNet is not for commercial advertising -- other places can do that. - a main goal of the NCF is to provide "access" to a new communications and sharing environment. - the FreeNet strives to be a "broad" community resource. It is here to serve all of the community in the best way it can, not any specific group with special interests. Why is the FreeNet "free"? ---------------------------- Andrew Patrick Why is the FreeNet "Free"? The FreeNet is not actually "free" -- it costs a lot of money to operate the system each month. Better terms to describe the FreeNet might be: "publicly funded", "a community cooperative", or "voluntarily funded". The term "free" is convenient for expressing the fundamental principle that there is no requirement for members to give money to the NCF, and no requirement that information providers pay money. All contributions are voluntary. In many ways, it is a social experiment in building a cooperative system out of community support. Why do we rely on donations? Well, because the people who started this thing wanted it that way. The idea was to build a community resource that is different from commercial or hobby systems; one that was directly supported by the members. Tom Grundner, the 'father' of the FreeNet movement, recently summarized a number of other reasons why FreeNets should be "free". His four basic points are: - what will happen to the relationship with the users if they are paying fees? How will demands change? Can we provide a fair service for the costs that we could charge? - if we charge fees, the chances of ever getting charity status will be very low. It will probably also reduce our chances of getting government and corporate support. - the FreeNet runs on volunteers for the most part. What will happen to them when we charge fees? Will they still be willing to give their time and efforts for a system that charges it users? - if we charge fees, there are many things that may increase in costs. Would we still get reduced rates from local suppliers? Would we still receive donated equipment and supplies? Internet Services on the NCF ---------------------------- Andrew Patrick My Position on Internet Services Two key aspects of the National Capital FreeNet project are: - providing local community access to a computer communications system - building a community resource for the sharing of information and ideas. With the current demands on the FreeNet computers and phone lines, we are having trouble providing effective access and our goal of being a valuable resource for the community is being threatened. A reevaluation of our policies may allow us to enhance our services and provide even better access than we have in the past. Recently there has been a lot of discussion about how much the FreeNet should focus on local information versus global Internet services. It is important to recognize that services like telnet, Gopher, and WWW provide valuable and important information that is often just as useful to the community as that provided by local organizations. Many information providers on the FreeNet, for example, now include pointers to related information available on the Internet. In operating the NCF we have gone to special efforts to limit the Internet services that we provide. The restrictions we are placing go against the global trend in computer networks, and it is not surprising that our members have found many ways to get around the restrictions. Instead of enforcing the restrictions we have attempted so far and imposing new ones, it may be time to recognize that the NCF is part of a much larger whole, and that Internet services are an important part of this community project. One of the main reasons for restricting Internet services has been the cost. Internet connections are expensive and Internet services can produce high demands on computer systems. However, we may not be able to raise enough money to maintain the services we have now if we do not keep up with the times and offer the services that are now possible and popular. Also, by offering complete and valuable services we may be better able to achieve the central goals of the project, especially if we can raise a lot more money. Perhaps it is time to change from a restrictive policy on Internet services to a donation-sustained model. Perhaps we should offer whatever Internet services our members and sponsors will support. If these services are important to our members, they will support them and we can grow. If the members do not support the services, we will not provide anything more than what we do now, and we may not be able to sustain that for long. The Solution: The National Capital FreeNet should recognize that Internet services, such as telnet, IRC, and FTP, are an important part of this community project. As a result, the NCF should provide network services in an "open", "equitable", "sustainable", and "enhancing" fashion. The network services will be "open" in the sense that there will be no arbitrary restrictions on the services. This means binary file transfers, unrestricted telnet, 24-hour international IRC, etc. may be provided. The only restrictions will be the financial, operational, and technical ones created when running a large system with limited resources. The network services will be "equitable" because the NCF will take measures to ensure that all of its services are available to a maximum number of people. This may involve placing limits on the number or duration of connections (e.g., a 2 hour per day connection time limit). It may also involve placing limits necessary as a result of limited computer resources (e.g., restricted services during periods of high system load or to a small number of simultaneous users, or providing each member with small disk allocations). The network services will be "sustainable" because services will be added and maintained only if they are supported by the members and the community. The Fundraising and Hardware/Software committees will determine the resources needed to support network services, and the success of fundraising campaigns and volunteer recruiting efforts will determine the resources that are available. The network services can be used to "enhance" the key components of the service: local access and community information sharing. The addition of new services will be useful to support the project as a whole. For example, it might be determined that 24-hour international IRC services could be supported on 10 modems at a time if 20 additional modems were installed and network capacity was increased by twice the amount used by the new service. This would allow us to introduce a new service, and provide support for the project as a whole. More Internet services on the NCF may also benefit the local commercial Internet providers. The services that we offer will demonstrate the power and utility of the worldwide Internet, and may increase the demand for the fast, dedicated, most up-to-date services these providers offer. Motion: THAT The National Capital FreeNet approves in principle the offering of Internet services where financial and technical resources allow, while maintaining and enhancing our local access and information sharing components. The Hardware/Software and Fundraising Committees are tasked with developing implementation principles and priorities, and fundraising targets, for approval by the Board at a later date. [NOTE: The Board of Directors recently defeated this motion after little discussion. This continues to be a major issue for the future of NCF.] Daily Time Limits ---------------------------- Andrew Patrick My View on Time Limits - in the past year we have experienced very rapid growth in membership (140%). - the support from the community, in terms of voluntary donations, has not kept up with the interest, and we have only been able to expand our modem pool by 71%. - the projections for 1995 show no growth at all unless we are very successful at fundraising. Fundraising will be our main focus for the next year, but it will not be enough in the short term. - one way to measure the success of the NCF is how people talk about it in the community. When I meet someone and mention FreeNet and they say "Oh, its great. It lets me ..." then I know we are doing well. - recently, the reaction I have been getting is "FreeNet, its irrelevant because I can never get on". When individuals and community organizations will not get involved because they cannot get on the system, we have a fundamental problem. - by looking at the usage patterns of our members, it is clear that a small group of members (about 2300) are using the system a great deal, and this is preventing others from getting on. Thus, a small portion (about 6% of the total members) are dominating the service. The Solution ------------ - the Fundamental FreeNet Principles still apply: the NCF should be free to use, non-commercial, and focused on providing access to the broad community - if we discuss removing the services that attract the frequent users, many members become upset. - it seems more reasonable to continue to offer what we can, but ensure that the access is shared among the whole community of interested people. - the best way to do this is to limit everyone to a reasonable amount of time on the system, and the usage pattern shows that 2 hours per day is more than enough for 94% of our total number of members. - the time limit only applies during our "peak" hours, and that is determined by the load on the modem pool and the computer systems. If the modem pool and systems are never overloaded, there is no limit. - so, there is a mechanism to reduce the limit -- expand the modem pool and system capacity. With more modems and equipment, the peak time gets smaller and smaller, and the limit gets reduced. - each new modem costs about $1000 in the first year, and that includes the modem, phone line, and the portion of terminal server and computer needed to operate it. Priorities for the Future ---------------------------- Andrew Patrick Priorities for the Future The NCF is facing a number of challenges. Here are the areas that I am worried about, and where I will b continuing my efforts: - fundraising is the most important project at this time. Our growth in membership has not been matched by a growth in the funds available. We need to increase our efforts in fundraising of all types, including seeking government grants, corporate donations and partners, support from information providers, and individual donations. I will be making fundraising my main focus in the short-term. - we are experiencing a number of serious problems in scaling the systems for more members. There are technical problems in serving this many members, and handling more than 200 people online at once. More funds to buy more equipment will help a lot, but a major technical reconfiguration will probably be needed in the near future. - we need to plan for the future. There are a number of technical developments, such as advanced Internet services like the World Wide Web and off-line client/server packages, that may be very useful for our continued development. We must also plan for building an organization that continues to be effective with many more members and groups taking part. - we need to make decisions better. Our Board of Directors, staff, volunteers, and members must communicate effectively and make timely, well-considered decisions. This gets more and more difficult as we grow in size and complexity, and it could be a major problem if not addressed quickly. Choosing Your Candidates ---------------------------- Andrew Patrick Choosing Your Candidates When you are choosing the candidates you are going to be voting for, there are a number of factors to consider: - look for candidates that have been involved with the operation and committees of the FreeNet before the call for elections. These are the people who have volunteered their time to make the FreeNet happen, and the ones likely to have an authentic interest in working seriously on the project. - look for people with real-world skills. The NCF is becoming a half-million dollar corporation, and this means lots of professional activities need to get done. The Board of Directors does far more than direct, it also does much of the management and operation of the system. We need people who have skills and experience in the following areas: hardware & software, accounting and business management, volunteer management, legal, government relations, corporate relations, and fundraising. - examine the material provided by the candidates and ask them questions. Find people with a vision for the mission and future of the FreeNet. Look for people who understand the "big picture", and also realize the necessities of day-to-day operations and decision making. Once you have done this, vote for the people who will represent your views.