============================================== Candidate: Yvonne Dionne ============================================== About Yvonne Dionne ---------------------------- About Yvonne Dionne... Born in Gander, in 1961, to an Acadian Francophone father serving in the Canadian military, and an Irish Newfoundlander mother who is chief homemaker/mover. Moved 27 times and grew up all points east of Sudbury and in Europe; rooted contentedly in Ottawa for last 15 years. Sense of humour, artistic, generalist, humanist. Always a traveller, I took a solitary two-month camping trip to the West Coast two years ago via my MiniVan, and currently travel the planet via the Net. I absolutely love Canada. Education: Educated in over 14 schools, graduated from Moncton High, then spent one wonderful year recreating my Kindergarten at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Yearning for book learning resulted in BA in Mass Communications from Carleton University during its "hotbed of rest" days in the early 1980's. Continuing education includes studies in management, communications, systems and a smattering of law. Experience in Systems: - implementing and managing online database technology, text retrieval applications, document management, subscriber services, telecommunication, publishing systems and network environments. - Biggest project, as planning and control officer, was on a team which implemented the federal government's Open Bidding Service, from its beginning as a BBS in 1989 to its current 28,000-user online display of government contract opportunities and online ordering of bid documents. Our project won 4th place overall out of 114 applicants in the Institute for Public Administration of Canada 1993 Award for Excellence. We saved the federal government over $1M in development costs, and $1.5M and $2M respectively in annual document distribution and newspaper advertisement costs. Experience in Management: - implemented a board-directed annual workplan, policy development, setting priorities, providing internal and external communications. - managed contracts, cyclical planning, operational budgets, capital acquisitions, human resources and training. Experience in Communications: - writing, editing, public relations, advertising, speaking and presenting. - excellent command of the English language, capable command of the French language. - taught adults in Ottawa Board of Education Literacy Program for 3 years. Experience in Fur Management: - Two totally cool cats named Dweezil and Sydney. Dweezil is the orange one. Yvonne Dionne Offers to GIVE SOMETHING BACK ---------------------------- Yvonne Dionne Offers to GIVE SOMETHING BACK... I offer my candidacy to the National Capital FreeNet (NCF) Board of Directors in order to further the mission of the National Capital FreeNet. I bring my excellent ability to research issues, solicit opinion, make critical comparisons, present options, interpret between users and technical folks, and make thoughtful, practical and creative consensus-building solutions. I will work to be a reliable and knowledgeable board member, to actively participate in all fund-raising and development, and to actively work towards true electronic democracy by making FreeNet more representative of our community. I will demonstrate my commitment to the FreeNet concept through active leadership. My NCF priorities are: 1. Funding 2. Accessibility 3. Community involvement 4. Preparing people to meet the changes of the electronic community. Since signing on in January 1994, I have been amazed by the international "travelling" I have been able to do. I have been more impressed, however, by the way this form of electronic communication allows me to actively participate in my own back yard again. I met many new friends online, and have had many conversations, debates and interviews about this new form of "multi-way" communication, as I am sure is true for many of you. The NCF means something different to every member, yet there is one common theme: connecting with others, both online and "offline". I have hosted and participated in many offline activities, and have met folks (and have encountered opinions) I might never have run into in my usual Ottawa circle. I have taken my online experiences and made them real, and I believe I can communicate that "real" benefit to those who are uninitiated and perhaps a little baffled by all the media and governmental hype. As a Net-user, I have learned that helpful cooperation and positive "word-of-mouth" apply in my physical neighbourhood as well as in the electronic one. Because I feel I need to put back some of what I have received, and because I see great value in what I have received from the NCF, I offer my candidacy as a Director of the National Capital FreeNet, in order to further its vision and mission. What Yvonne Dionne Thinks About the NCF Mission ---------------------------- What Yvonne Dionne Thinks About the NCF Mission... In the NCF Mission statement, these four words stand out to show the difference between a FreeNet and a commercial service: - Free - Accessible - Community Based - Prepares People I believe that each NCF member, including *you*, has a role in the advancement of the FreeNet concept both here in the National Capital Region, and in other telecommunities. The current Board, the volunteers and the staff have performed a series of small miracles to create the NCF we know today. Its online Minutes, Bylaws, Annual Reports, Committee Reports, Board Discussion, Technical Discussion and its very electronic nature have worked to make the FreeNet an openly governed, actively maintained organization. This electronic model of organizational management makes it possible for me, a plain ol' member, to become knowledgeable about the inner workings, in a relatively short period of time. This lets me actively participate in NCF development at any volunteer level. This is true for each and every member. I am beginning to understand that this FreeNet did not happen by itself, nor is it the brainstorm of a select few users. It has become an extremely successful world-recognized working model of the FreeNet concept. I believe the current resource crunch is temporary, and it is most certainly not insurmountable. Simply put, the NCF needs a boost of financial and volunteer help. FREE ---------------------------- FREE... I support continuing the NCF as a free service. There should be no membership fees or dues. It is obvious, though, that information providers, information users and corporate line sponsors all gain value from a free network, as does society as a whole. We need to encourage use of the FreeNet by people of all economic levels. It is clear, though, that someone has to pay. While reading and roaming FreeNet to get annual reports, statistics, history and information to prepare my position statements, I rambled into "go toolbox" selected "15 - News tools" and selected "2 - List all your newsgroups that have unread news", thinking that would show me all my favourite groups and their new news. Well, option "3" does that, (but who reads that far down a menu?) and what I got from "2" was a listing which showed me every newsgroup I had *ever* looked at, including those from my five-hour-in-a-row newbie exploring 'way back in January 1994. I had been all those places! I was reminded of the great advice I got about my cat from the Cat Lovers, about the great deal I got on a paper-cutter in Items for Sale, about the fun I had getting ott.singles together for the Great Canadian Ottawa Singles Dinner, about helping to get the Military-brats usenet newsgroup up and running, and so much more. In short, I believe the greatest direct value is gained by the regular members. 13,000 unique users access FreeNet each week. We need to enlist the active support of the folks who receive the greatest value from FreeNet. I support all the development activity outlined in the current NCF Development Plan. It will continue to remain important to solicit donations of dollars and equipment from governments, information providers and corporate sponsors, but I feel we should focus strongly to tap into the resources of the people who perceive the most value from the FreeNet by reminding them of the value they receive. In addition to the NCF Development Plan, I propose: Donor recognition in a file, similar to the current donor listings, sorted by user-id and name, by date of donation and donation amount, (or by donation amount category/range.), perhaps broken into smaller files by ID range (aa-af, ag-at, etc.) This should always be very visible for "guest" account users. This will show every donation, will show users who continue to support the NCF over time, and will encourage users to renew their support by example. It will also give new members an idea of what regular users actually contribute once they recognize the value in NCF. Volunteer recognition could be made in the same file as the financial contribution, and could list by user-id and name, by type of contribution (fundraising, community outreach, programming, maintenance, helpline, etc), by result of contribution (quantity of dollars, new information providers, improved file maintenance, sequential hours of uptime, quantity of queries answered, etc) by quantity of hours volunteered. This will publicly recognize the stunning contributions of volunteers, enable other users to see the type of work being completed and its direct result to them, and will give the volunteers tangible evidence to include in resumes, to show to prospective employers, or to submit as school projects. It will also enable NCF to count the "invisible labour" it takes to run a system of this magnitude. The $400,000+ /year budget does not nearly recognize the actual costs. The "reminder" message to solicit donations of regular members could add some type of system-generated data which tells the prospective donor how many logins they log per week, quantity of hours online, their top-ten newsgroups, and any type of personalized information we can provide. A calculation based on the "piggybank" idea, (anywhere from 7.5 cents to 25 cents per login) could be made and suggested as a possible donation. Also, a comparison of similar use on a commercial services should be given. I will work to continue efforts to: - maintain some sort of access limit based on total system load "peaks" until our resources allow for unlimited access once again. - acquire either charitable or foundation status for the NCF. - balance the technical constraints against the budget and the members' requirements. - scope out the Hardware/Software Committee's vision of what NCF needs and could accomplish given the right combination of resources. - increase funding activity and to attract volunteers with programming and system administration skills. - to actively support the SIG "challenge program" donations, perhaps displayed in a separate file, so comparison and competition can be fostered. (NOTE: ott.singles folks - Who will take up this one!?) - complete the NCF Database project to give the member/donor information necessary to support NCF administration and development. ACCESSIBLE ---------------------------- ACCESSIBLE... In order for the electronically-linked community to become a true democracy, representation of all socioeconomic groups must be actively sought, both as information providers and as information users. An electronically-linked community will be better able to keep informed about community issues and decision-makers will be better equipped to seek opinion of more and more people. Better-informed decision-makers will make better policy and law. Commercial service providers may not place as high a value on the active solicitation of all socioeconomic groups. This role falls to the FreeNets. My first priority as a Board Director will be to ensure the funding efforts are well underway to support the challenges of this year and beyond. As a second, concurrent priority, I will work to continue current efforts to make the NCF accessible to all by actively participating on the Public Access Committee. I did a little brainstorming with some pals, and asked "Where do lots of people gather, for long periods of waiting time, of all income levels and social groups?" They came up with places like train stations, bus stations, airports, hospitals, health clinics, community centres... and so forth, all key spots for public access terminals. Once the funding issues begin to settle, I will work to broaden participation in the NCR by: - working to find a way to acquire equipment, support installation and provide maintenance of public access terminal stations in a variety of sites. - supporting active solicitation of groups with very little opportunity, incentive, equipment or means to become electronically linked to their community, by working to provide demos for groups in their own locations and to point out the possible value for each group, including seniors, parents-at-home, church and community groups, new citizens, adult literacy groups and many others. - consulting with other community FreeNets to determine who are the most unlikely to communicate electronically, and to gain ideas about how to reach them. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT ---------------------------- COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT... People used to have a much tougher row to hoe when seeking or offering advice and assistance in their own community. Television, community cable, newspaper, bulletin boards and radio passed on messages, but left people with awkward, time-consuming and sometimes expensive ways to reply, whether for clarification, advice or to offer assistance. Folks began to feel helpless in their own communities, more aware of issues around the world than of those at home. Community-based, multi-way, uncensored, un-filtered electronic communication is changing the way we see our planet, but it is also enabling us to see our own back yard again. The success of the NCF Municipal Elections Project attests to the real possibility that true electronic democracy may be just around the corner. Efficient two-way discussion, debate, questions and answers and community feedback are all possible and available in the electronic environment. By informing and involving voters, our politicians gain a valuable access to the pulse of the constituents. In addition, the continued success of the NCF depends highly on the work of the information providers in the community who act, often beyond the call of their job description, to monitor and maintain information on the NCF. It will be important to recognize and assist other languages to be supported by the NCF. This will require system changes to support characters. By "linking people and organizations" and "providing useful information", the NCF allows our community to have a layer of logic applied over the myriad of community-based services, service providers and resources. An electronic repository which is free to all enables each citizen to research and find the assistance they need, or wish to offer. The "information-sharing" role of the NCF must remain one of the top priorities, after funding issues begin to settle. I will work to: - ensure that the needs of the information providers are heard at the Board level, and taken into account at times of decision-making. - verify that information providers are receiving all assistance and recognition possible. - first, improve the Francophone community's participation and visibility, then to assist other groups as they identify themselves and request this type of support. - investigate how other FreeNets and countries are handling different language and character sets. - establish a list of "other language" helpers to network for support for members of all linguistic communities. - encourage politicians to continue using the NCF to gather and disseminate information post-election. - Seek and support new information providers, including municipal, provincial and federal governments, and in all cultural and socioeconomic communities. - Encourage and assist other FreeNets to maintain a broad community base and to use the NCF Election Project as a model. PREPARES PEOPLE ---------------------------- PREPARES PEOPLE... I support the FreeNet as a way to prepare people. To the uninitiated, the electronic highway is being presented in the media as a place you need to hurry to, or risk being left behind in the cyber dust. Even the term "electronic highway" suggests urgency, speed, quick decisions, risk of crash and roadkill. To people like my parents, or to folks who are less technically adept, or reluctant to change, a slower, country road is more suitable. My Dad still thanks the bank machine. As the commercial service providers race along with graphical interfaces, iridescent CDs, sound, light, choices and colour, there are many people who require a more text-based, 45 rpm, menu driven, sunny, grassy country road. As FreeNet members learn about the Net, and "go quickly" and boldly around the world in comfort and ease, they will move on to commercial services and abandon the quaint FreeNet. Before they go, however, they should be encouraged to give someone new a hand up onto the road. To ensure a continuous supply of new members who prefer the country road, and who don't mind paying a wee bit of a toll, we need to commit to helping new folks get on-line, and to assist new members to become familiar, and to provide information about service providers to keep the FreeNet "country road" moving towards the fast lanes. I will work to: - support a "hand up" campaign for members to get one or two new folks linked electronically. Often, the most difficult stage is the initial loading of communications software, dialling, login and registration. Once online, people sometimes require assistance in downloading, file management, email and so forth. For the most part, people already aboard are extremely helpful. We need to actively encourage this assistance, and work to match up current users with the uninitiated. - support all outgoing communication, news releases, community information and outreach activity includes a way to contact a real-live person about the FreeNet, whether through a committee contact, or helper listings. - recognize that users go through a learning continuum of New Member, Regular Satisfied Member, Regular Dissatisfied Member, Former Member, and that, at each stage, people perceive different value, have different "hours online" needs, and can contribute in different ways, whether financial or volunteer. Positive word-of-mouth from a Former Member who has moved on to a commercial service is valuable and will attest to the usefulness of a FreeNet. The NCF as a Public School ---------------------------- The National Capital FreeNet needs to formally identify its Priority Users, then get funding to support its needs, and encourage knowledgeable folks to either move on or to donate money and time to work toward the NCF objective. The following is from a post I made... Article 173 of ncf.agm95.candidate-forum: Subject: The NCF as a Public School Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 20:52:46 GMT If you think of NCF as a public school where folks come in, regardless of race, creed, colour, finances, ideology or ability, to a) access electronic communication and b) to learn, is it not logical that they will one day leave, and should be encouraged to do so, once they outgrow the school's technology and its curriculum ? As I wrote in my candidate statement, FreeNet members go through a continuum: New Member, Satisfied Regular Member, Dissatisfied Regular Member and Former Member. I see now that there are three other groups: The Unknown Prospective Members (those without the technology, the money and/or the knowledge of how to access the internet world), The Information Providers (who stock and maintain NCF's information holdings), and Volunteers. Membership in one category does not mean you cannot belong to another. I believe FreeNets exist primarily for the Unknown Prospective Member who cannot, or is unlikely to obtain access to electronic communication through commercial means. Everything we do should support this "big picture". If commercial service providers are not targeting the Unknown Prospective Member who lacks the necessary money, technology or knowledge to access electronic communiction, and therefore are disenfranchised from electronic democracy, who will? The FreeNets will. Next on the list of priorities, tied for second place, are the Information Providers and the Volunteers. These folks are the textbook providers and the teachers in our "cyber public school". Third on the list are the new students, the members who don't know where their class room is, who need help getting out of their snowsuits, who still aren't sure that this "school" thing is for them. Fourth on the list are the Satisfied Regular Users. These people know what their schedule is, know exactly where to go, have friends and groups, can handle extracurricular activities and just love school and all it has to offer. They offer a hand to the newer kids, they begin to debate with the teachers and they start to understand the process as well as the ways of circumventing the system, and changing it when need be. And they all hope to graduate someday. Fifth on the list are the Dissatisfied Regular Users. These folks have gone beyond what the school has to offer and are ready to leave, but stay and fight to turn their little public school into a privately-funded university, forgetting about the kids who are still in daycare dreaming of Kindergarten. These people demand better shop equipment, want surgers for the home ec department, want teachers to cater to only their needs. Dissatisfied Regular Users need to be graduated out into the big world, for they now have the knowledge, the equipment and the money to move on, unlike the people the school was built for, even if they are cyber Dougie Housers and are only 15 or 16 years old. These Alumni have a valued role to play for the public school. They can come back as teachers, they can sing the praises of their alma mater, they can write textbooks and they can send cheques. If they want to set up private schools which exclude people based on knowledge, equipment or money, they can do so, but not at the public expense. Express Lane: My platform in 12 items or less ---------------------------- Express Lane: My platform in 12 items or less... 1. I see great value in the NCF, and I want to work to further its mission. 2. My NCF priorities are (in order of importance) funding, accessibility, community involvement and preparing people to meet the challenges of the electronic community. 3. I am able to research issues, see many sides of an issue, make critical comparisons, present options and make thoughtful, practical and consensus-building solutions. 4. I will work to be a knowledgeable board member, I will actively participate in fund-raising and development, I will actively work toward true electronic democracy. 5. I believe the regular users of NCF, 13,000 per week, find the most value in NCF and will be willing to become regular donors of money and/or time. 6. Once funding issues are settled, I will work to broaden the membership of the NCF by actively seeking inclusion of all socioeconomic groups. 7. I will work to broaden the range of information providers on the NCF, and to ensure their needs are heard and met at the Board level. 8. I will work to keep our NCF aware of activity in other FreeNets, to ensure a good exchange of information and ideas. 9. I will encourage current members to give a "hand up" to potential new members, and to encourage face-to-face introduction to the net community. 10. I believe strongly in the FreeNet concept, and am very impressed at the NCF's advances to date. I will be a vocal supporter and will promote the achievements and mission of the NCF at every opportunity. 11. I have managed people, budgets, systems and communications. I have two totally cool cats named Dweezil and Sydney. There you have it folks, 12 items or less. If you get some more time, breeze through the other aisles. You might see something else to toss in your cart. Remember to check out all the other candidates' stores too.