All Candidate Information ========================= This file has been built from the information that has been provided by the candidates. This file is rebuilt every hour. To download this file, start your capture function now, and press "c" to continue; or "go pda", choose "items of interest", then "Candidate Information". On the World Wide Web, this document is accssible as: http://www.ncf.ca/ip/freenet/agm/1996/candidates/all.txt.en Candidates: in order for you information to appear here, you must use relative paths in your menus, and the information file must appear in the AGM directory. The line "%p p freenet/agm/1996/candidates/aa673/bio" is acceptable. Only files on your main menu will appear. Last update: Sun Mar 10 20:30:03 EST 1996 =========================================================================== begin:au025 Jeff Bossert --------------------------------------------------------------------------- JEFFREY J. BOSSERT, M.B.A., P.Eng. au025@freenet.carleton.ca NATIONAL CAPITAL FREENET CONTRIBUTIONS/EXPERIENCE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NCF Treasurer, April '95 - Present Chair, NCF Finance Committee - Presented Monthly Financial Statements - Co-ordinated Preparation of 1996 NCF Budget - Prepared and negotiated NCF staff contracts - Co-ordinated Annual Audit of 1995 Financial Statements - Advised Board of financial impact of strategic decisions Other NCF Activities - Facilitated Donation of: - Ethernet Switch from Plaintree Systems - Router from Newbridge Networks - Assisted NCF Executive Director in selection and hiring of NCF staff - NCF 1995 Volunteer of the Month EDUCATION: ~~~~~~~~~ Master of Business Administration, The University of Western Ontario, 1991 Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical with Distinction), Carleton University, 1984 EMPLOYMENT: ~~~~~~~~~~ 1991 - Present Comgate Engineering Limited, Ottawa, Ontario Senior Consultant - Conducted comprehensive technical and management audits of major government projects and facilities - Specified multi-protocol LAN/WAN communications systems to support distributed computing environments - Prepared technical and financial proposals for clients - Analyzed and documented communications systems requirements based on international and defacto standards 1986 - 1989 The CGI Group/Intellitech Canada Limited, Ottawa, Ontario Systems Engineer - Verified the application of formal systems development methodologies and standards to client projects - Analyzed requirements and prepared technical specifications for a number of computer systems - Participated in the specification, design, development and testing of Intellitech's X.25 data encryption product line 1984 - 1986 Epitek Electronics Limited, Kanata, Ontario Test Engineer/Failure Analyst - Developed and implemented methods to track yield loss trends in manufacturing - Analyzed defective hybrid circuits and prepared reports for management recommending corrective action - Designed and constructed specialized electronic test fixtures 1981 - 1983 Skye Student Painters, Ottawa, Ontario Partner/Manager (Summer employment) - Managed all aspects of the business - Supervised a crew of six workers PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Western Business School Club of Ottawa Executive Committee Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO) Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) RECREATIONAL INTERESTS: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Playing guitar, Classic automobile restoration Skiing, Hiking, Cycling, Softball --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finance Committee - 1995 Annual Report Mandate: The NCF Finance Committee's mandate is as follows: 1. To provide the NCF Board with an annual financial plan in the form of a budget that is consistent with the NCF's strategy, as approved by the Board. 2. To review the financial status of the NCF on a monthly basis and provide financial statements to the Board. 3. To advise the NCF's Board and staff on the feasibility and financial risks associated with new proposals, initiatives and staffing issues. 4. To prepare, negotiate and manage all aspects of staff contracts, including renumeration and reporting requirements. 5. To safeguard the NCF's assets through the acquisition and renewal of the necessary insurance policies. 6. To safeguard the NCF's finances through the institution and management of procedures for the handling of NCF finances by NCF staff and volunteers. Members: The NCF Finance Committee is composed of the following individuals: Jeff Bossert, Treasurer and Chair Lisa Donnelly, Executive Director Rudy Wytenburg, Accountant Jean Wilmot, Past Treasurer Processes: The NCF Finance Committee meets periodically as necessary to review major financial issues and regularly communicates using the NCF's e-mail and the telephone. The NCF's financial statements are maintained using Microsoft Excel (Spreadsheet program) in Excel 4.0 format. The financial statements are translated into a text-based format for presentation on-line on the NCF. 1995 Activities: The NCF Finance Committee's primary activities during 1995 were as follows (note that Jean Wilmot served as Treasurer until April of 1995, when Jeff Bossert began serving as the NCF's Treasurer): 1. Support of the conduct of the annual audit of the NCF's financial statements. 2. Renewal of staff contracts for the NCF's Executive Director, Director of Development, Systems Administrator, and Accountant. 3. Guidance in the hiring of the NCF's Office Administrator, and Junior Systems Administrator. 4. Renewal of the NCF's Commercial & General Liability Insurance covering the NCF's computing facilities at Carleton University, and the NCF's Director's Liability Insurance. 5. Preparation and presentation of the NCF's financial statements on a monthly basis to the NCF Board. 6. Preparation and presentation of the 1996 Draft and Final Budgets to the NCF Board. Suggestions for 1996: The NCF Finance Committee plans to work more closely with the NCF's Director of Development to support the pursuit of donations that will allow the NCF to meet its strategic objectives, while minimizing the financial risk to the NCF. Jeff Bossert, NCF Treasurer, 22 January 1996 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- end:au025 Jeff Bossert =========================================================================== begin:am283 Francois Deshaies --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Information professionnelles ============================ Baccalauréat en génie électrique de l'Université Laval. Spécialiste en multimédia à l'Institut canadien du service extérieur. L'objectif de l'école de langues à l'Institut consiste à former des employés fédéraux à l'acquisition ou au maintien des langues officielles du Canada ou des langues étrangères. Dans mes tâches à l'Institut, je suis responsable de l'implantation des nouvelles technologies de communication appliquées à l'enseignement des langues dans un milieu multiculturel. Ce travail est accompli en étroite collaboration avec des coordonnateurs et des professeurs de l'Institut. François Deshaies am283@freenet.carleton.ca --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Professional Background ======================= B. Electrical Engineering, Laval University Multimedia Specialist, Canadian Foreign Service Institute The Institute's Language School specializes in training federal employees in acquiring and maintaining their language capability in both official languages of Canada and in foreign languages. I am responsible, at the Institute, for implementing new communications technologies related language training in a multilingual environment. This work is done in close collaboration with coordinators and teachers at the Institute. François Deshaies am283@freenet.carleton.ca --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Motifs justifiant ma candidature ================================ - Augmenter le contenu francophone du libertel de la capital nationale en informant les différents fournisseurs potentiels d'information francophones sur les mérites du libertel. Par ex. : Villes, organisations, compagnies, centres d'enseignement, bibliothèques, etc. - Informer la population francophone sur les différents outils qui sont mis à leur diposition grâce au travail acharné de bénévoles qui croient au Libertel. L'information pour tous, c'est important ! - Participer activement à l'évolution du Libertel dans notre région, car je considère qu'il est préférable d'éviter le clivage entre les branchés ($$$) et les non branchés du "chemin" de l'information. Bien sûr, il n'y a pas si longtemps, on ne parlait pas de guichets automatiques et les disques de vinyle faisaient partis de la vie courante. Mais nous vivons maintenant dans un monde de plus en plus informatisé et où l'information se digitalise pratiquement sous nos yeux. François Deshaies am283@freenet.carleton.ca --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am seeking nomination to the Board of Directors ================================================= - To help increase French content on the National Capital Freenet by ensuring that potential Francophone Information Providers (e.g. cities, organizations, companies, training centres, libraries, etc.) are aware of Freenet. - To publicize towards the Francophone community the various tools available, tools which have been developed by hard working volunteers that believe in Freenet. Information for everyone is important! - To actively participate in the evolution of Freenet in our region. Freenet is the vehicule to bridge the gap between the "have" and the "have not" of our society in using the Information Highway. No so long ago, Automatic Telling Machines was unknown and we were still playing vinyl records. Today, the Information Society is at our door step and information at our finger tip by the magic of computers. François Deshaies am283@freenet.carleton.ca --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Intérêt personnel ================= Le système d'opération LINUX. Il s'agit s'un système d'opération gratuit pour toute personne intéressée à travailler avec UNIX. Ce système d'opération a d'abord été développé par Linus Torvalds; par la suite, une vague de programmeurs bénévoles, dispersés aux quatre coins de la planète, en ont assumé la relève. Voilà un exemple intéressant des merveilles de l'autoroute de l'information et de ce qu'elle peut nous apporter. Je suis aussi intéressé par les languages-auteurs pour la création de contenu multimédia et par l'évolution du language HTML. François Deshaies am283@freenet.carleton.ca --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Personal Interest ================= The LINUX Operating System. This is a free operating system available to anyone interested in working in Unix. Its development was started by Linus Torvalds. Today, an overwhelming number of volunteer programmers around the globe are maintaining and developing it. This is a marvelous example of collaboration brough by the Information Highway. I am also interested in authoring languages for multimedia and in the evolution of HTML. François Deshaies am283@freenet.carleton.ca --------------------------------------------------------------------------- end:am283 Francois Deshaies =========================================================================== begin:ab341 Nadia Diakun-Thibault --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NADIA DIAKUN-THIBAULT ab341@freenet.carleton.ca * Ontario Advocacy Commission, Member (1994 - 1995) * Executive Director, Council on Aging for Lanark, Leeds and Grenville * Served as Parliamentary Advisor, Legislative Assistant to Members of Parliament (1985 - 1988) * Nominated for a "Reel Award" 1992, as producer/writer of the Alzheimer Society of Ottawa-Carleton video PSA * Nominated for Canadian Nurses Association award for writing on health issues, 1991 for "Dark Side of the Moon," published in Homemakers Magazine, 1991 * Author and editor; newspaper articles, academic conference papers and speechs * Healthpartners/United Way speaker, 1991-1994 * Ontario Senior Achievement Awards Selection Committee, Province of Ontario, 1993 -1995 * Alzheimer Society of Ottawa-Carleton, Board of Directors, 1990-1993 Served as chair, Public Policy Committee; chair, Public Relations Committee; Ad Hoc Review of Constitution and By-laws * Information Provider, National Capital Freenet: Alzheimer Society of Ottawa-Carleton; Council on Aging for Lanark, Leeds and Grenville; Golf SIG; created ASCII riding maps for Federal Election area on National Capital Freenet; helped establish the Volunteer Centre of Ottawa area * Scouts Canada leader, Oxford Mills Beavers EDUCATION Masters of Public Administration, School of Policy Studies, Queen's University; specialization - Health Policy (Spring 1996) (Ph.D. - ABD) University of Toronto, Slavic Languages and Literatures Bachelor of Science, Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA Biology and Physical Sciences, 1972 PERSONAL Married, son. Interests: golf, photography, cycling, cross-country skiing, squash, long-blade skating; health policy/health law. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NADIA DIAKUN-THIBAULT RESPONSES TO MEMBERS' QUESTIONS BOARD MATTERS > Q. How do you see yourself working with other members of the Board with whom > you have a disagreement and vote differently from? With volunteers and staff? > How do you intend to deal with conflicts when they arise? Boards operate on majority vote; if a matter receives a tie vote, it is up to the chair to cast the deciding vote... generally, chairs cast a "nay" vote in such cases, because if a motion was not strong enough to win a majority, then it does not deserve to win by the chair's deciding vote. This is generally accepted parliamentary practice. Volunteers and staff do not vote; Board members should not be engaging in disagreements with volunteers. Boards set policy and conduct of staff; staff, usually the executive director, manages volunteers. If some other practice might be required, then the Board sets the rules... > Q. How would you deal with a matter which you feel very strongly about and > the rest of the Board disagrees? It's not a questionof dealing, but of procedure. The Board's duty is to debate a matter. If my arguments were on solid ground, then the Board might be persuaded to agree. If the arguments are weak, then the collective wisdom of the Board takes precedence. Much depends on the issue. There will always be contentious issues; the skill of Board members is to resolve in such a fashion that will satisfy the mandate, not personal positions. If a Board member cannot accept the final decision of the Board, then there is an option to resign. This, of course, is not the first option one chooses. > Q. Under what circumstances would you go outside of NCF and speak against > NCF while a member of the Board of Directors? Under no circumstances as a Board member; the job is at the Board level to resolve the issue. If the issue in one person's opinion is one with which they cannot agree, and if this is the sole dissenting opinion, then the honourable thing to do is resign. Having done so, the person is free to dissent as vigourously as they please. I believe that Board members must abide by some parliamentary decorum. There is a process; conducted fairly and honestly, it should satisfy everyone. > One of a Director's responsibilities in any non-profit organization is > the development of the organization: helping secure funds and support for > the organization. This is not the way many organizations operate. Once upon a time, some organizations worked on the principle of "Give it, Get it or Get off" with respect to contributions, and that led to those giving or getting ruling the roost. Directors should contribute in their own way to the development of an organization and such development is not limited to fundraising. My strength is public policy. Devoting time to public policy issues is just as important as going out and soliciting funds. Sometimes a strong public policy argument will help secure the funding goal. > How will you contribute to NCF in the following development areas: > Q. Work - how will you volunteer time and effort to raise money? > How have you helped raise donations of money and equipment for NCF > in the past? Please refer to above. I've contributed myself, but never participated in fund solicitation. > Q. Wisdom - how can you use contacts and influence to generate > contributions of money, equipment or volunteer resources? > Wealth - even NCF members of very limited income have donated money to > help NCF serve everyone. It's both an individual effort and a collective effort of the Board. Generally, it is not my practice to discuss publicly whom I know or what I know. > Q. Will you "lead by example" and dig into your own pocket, by donating to > NCF on a regular basis? > Q. Have you donated to NCF in the past? I have donated to NCF; I've donated countless hours maintaining three areas for not-for-profit organizations. I have personally promoted National Capital Freenet without drawing attention to having done so; many of us do. The action of writing a periodic cheque has nothing to do with the value of contribution. ============================================= PUBLIC PRESENCE OF BOARD MEMBERS > To all candidates: there is currently a trend in the board newsgroups, > where a small core of board members are actually posting. Problem is, > it's always the same ones, with the odd person pitching in his two cents. > Will you continue this trend? After being elected, to dissapear into some > dark corner only to show up at the odd board meeting? > > To be most efficient, a board member should know what people think. The > only way to do that is to interact with people. Will you malke a point to > do this? If elected, I will respond on NCF. I don't have a commercial account as yet; when I do, it will be used for other purposes. It's really quite simple, Michael. As a member of the Board of Directors of NCF, it would be my duty and responsibility to be active in the forum area on NCF for that very purpose. And as in the past I did, I will exercise duties and responsibilities as a member of the Board diligently. ============================================= CANDIDATE'S NCF PROFILE > I'm just wondering if the candidates (who, year by year, seem to be > going back in familiarity factor for me (not Mike, of course :) ) could > please identify who they are to your average NCF user paddling through the > numerous menus and newsgroups. Are you a regular on the Seniors' SIG? Do > you spend hours perusing the Feminism information? Are you an "IRC > addict"? That's a fair question: here is my list of interests on NCF. All social policy sigs; law; seniors; health; aging; volunteering; golf; cycling; computing, etc. USENET - medical, science, gerontology, alzheimer, medfinance, legal, economics, health care in general. Visit various WWW sites that deal with public policy. I spend possibly six hours doing research on the net. Have a job and family to fit in, as well as other commitments. ============================================= FRANCOPHONES ON BOARD > Should there be Francophones on the Board of Directors? I should think that among the candidates there would be and is a francophone. > Does the current election procedure ensure presence of Francophones on the > Baord of Directors? If yes, please explain how ? Not having been part of the AGM election procedure preparation, it would be unfair to comment. As I understand the nomination procedeure, a candidate had to be nominated and seconded by two members of NCF. And that was the sole requirement. > If no, how can this be corrected ? If you are suggesting that a certain number of seats be reserved for francophones solely, I would only caution that such a provision has disadvantages. Creating boards on the identifiablibity principle sometimes dosen't work well at all. Selecting directors who are capable of doing the job does. National Capital Freenet should reflect its catchement area. And its catchement area takes in both sides of the Ottawa River, above and below the Rideau River, etc. > In your opinion, what should be the role of the Francophone Committee > which, like other committee, reports to the Board of Directors? The role of the Francophone Committee is to deal with francophone issues; it should do the prep work, make recommendations, and report its finding to the board. The board then makes decisions. This is the traditional model of Boards and how they function. John Carver has proposed a different model, one that dispenses with committees altogether. In the life of any organization, one I believe is dynamic, the way work is done best depends on the evolution of the organization. And it is a useful exercise to look at the evolution of an organization, its needs, and adjust accordingly. ============================================= SPECIAL PRIVILEGES FOR BOARD MEMBERS > Question to the candidates: What special privileges do you think you > would require as an NCF director in order to do your job effectively? The word "privileges" disturbs me. If a Director is to fulfill the duties and responsibilities in this virtual world, and one of those ways is communication with other board members, staff and members in general, then there must be a mechanism for one to do so. That suggests doing things related to NCF using NCF. As a member of a Board of Directors previously, I was expected to attend Board meetings, chair a committee, participate in organizational events, support the efforts of the organization, etc. The tools were paper, mail, meetings and faxes (a more recent addition). NCF affords an efficient and speedy communication vehicle. What is an appropriate time allocation for a director? Well, that's a tricky question. It's been my experience that people have other preoccupations in life as well as their volunteer work. I should think that if the expectation of me as a Director were to be active, then I should hope that it would be facilitated. Surely there is a reasonable policy and technological solution, perhaps even one that has not been explored. ============================================= PROPOSAL BEFORE BOARD > I am wondering if it would be possible for the candidates to give an > idea of how they would handle a proposal brought to the board. Due to > discussions in one of the technical groups, I suspect that it is one that > the new board will have to visit in the new year. > > The issue: > Should anonymous (guest) users be able to read all of the NCF > newsgroups, some of the NCF newsgroups, or none of the NCF newsgroups. Russell, your question with the background notes would take much too much time to answer adequately; although you called for brevity, it wouldn't do justice. So, I will tackle that which is possible to tackle... handling a proposal brought before the board. I should think that ample bacground material would have been distributed well ahead of a scheduled meeting for members unfamiliar with the issue to catch up. Then I would expect it to be on the agenda for further discussion; it may be possible to reach a concensus and decision then. If the proposal generated more questions than answers, back it goes for more work... that is deferred until such time it can be debated. Your suggested questions to the SIG operator and IPs are reasonable enough. The Alzheimer Society of Ottawa-Carleton, for whom I serve as IP, is happy to broaden the distribution of its info. Those are options a board could look at. I know that for every seemingly simple option, there are complicated tasks and obstacles that must also be overcome. Sometimes the solution is good, and will do the job, but getting there is too costly. This makes for less attractive options. ============================================= FUNDRAISING > To all candidates, I am very impressed with your > qualifications and the skills and sense of commitment you > bring to this election. To help me make up my mind, please > answer the following questions. My answers: Q.: Will you personally donate to NCF? YES Have you donated to NCF in the past? YES Q.: Are you prepared to actively and aggressively solicit donations on behalf of NCF? If so, do you have any experience as a fundraiser? Part of the responsibility of a Board member is to assist the continued development of an organization; helping increase the financial resources of an organization for it to be able to provide services, programs, etc. I'm not very good at selling raffle tickets, but I'm a golfer and have for the past 5 years played (1st year I caddied) at the annual Alzheimer Golf tournament; also supported the Healthpartners/United Way golf efforts of one government department; we were rained out, but the cheques stayed with the campaign. In my other life, as Executive Director of the Council on Aging for Lanark, Leeds and Grenville, grant proposals, program applications, fundraising letters are part of the job. It's a difficult task. We don't always get every grant... no organization does, but we have been successful in a modest way. Q.: Will you make NCF's continued financial viability a > priority in planning NCF's strategy and voting as a member > of the Board? YES. > There is an old adage applied to Board members: Give, Get, > or Get Off. Which will you do? I have given, I have gotten, and I believe that a board member can still be a contributor in other ways even if individually the person cannot give much, isn't an aggressive getter, but propels the organization forward through other talents. ============================================= --------------------------------------------------------------------------- end:ab341 Nadia Diakun-Thibault =========================================================================== begin:aa456 Jim Elder --------------------------------------------------------------------------- <<< Candidate for NCF Board -- Jim Elder, aa456 >>> Why elect Jim Elder to the NCF director team Jim is a long-time National Capital FreeNet (NCF) member, participates in the building of the FreeNet, has experience as a corporate director, and has helped build several successful local hi-tech organizations. NCF Experience Related Experience o NCF Board Planning Committee, o Director, Board of Directors, community representative CrossKeys Systems Corporation o NCF Strategic Plan for 1996, o Management, Newbridge Networks co-author with NCF planning team o Management, Mitel, Mitel New o Community Networking SIG, founder Zealand o Attendance at many board meetings o Design, Bell-Northern Research o NCF Menu Improvement Project, o Engineering education (B.Eng, coordinator 1978), P.Eng (1982) o System Design Task Force, caretaker o 40 years of life experience/travel o NCF Auction, design involvement o Some French, some Spanish o Working relationship with NCF o Ottawa community member since 1978 Executive Director, NCF Technical o Able to do an eskimo roll without Director, NCF System Administrator, a kayak paddle and many NCF directors o NCF member/contributor since 1993 With a solid grounding of NCF and related experience, Jim Elder is well-prepared to help guide NCF in the interest of members. * * * Contributions to the National Capital FreeNet -- Jim Elder I like the concept of electronic community networking, so I've done a bit of volunteer work to help improve NCF's services and operations. o Appointed to the NCF Board Planning Committee (1995), as a founding member, joining five NCF Directors, NCF's Executive Director, and two other members of the community (see 'go planning'). o Contributor to NCF's Statement of Values (adopted by the Board in June) o Co-producer of NCF's current Strategic Plan (adopted by the Board in December) (see 'go policy'). o Participant in NCF-hosted Community Network Conference, 1993, 1994. o Founded the Community Networking SIG (1993) as an online forum to advance community networking (see 'go comnetsig'). Forums were created to help develop NCF's mission statement, explore ways to improve NCF's services, and to exchange information. I planned and produced the following NCF services and features: o Designed and implemented many of systems that provide usage information for NCF management and members, including 'showcounts' and most of the real-time displays in 'go usage' and 'go popular'. As a result of this self-initiated work, NCF may be the world's best-measured FreeNet. o What's popular (usage of menus, newgroups, and services). Helpful to members, essential for good planning. o Searching menu titles for specified words. Before this service (produced with Ian Allen), one had to hunt through menus to find NCF content. o Extensions to the FreePort menu commands, enabling such now-familiar features such as the '*' marker that flag newsgroups with unseen articles o 'FavList', allowing quick access to favourite newsgroups (this has become one of NCF's most popular services) o Enhancements to the FreePort newsreader to make it easier to use (July95) o NCF resource manager, to permit load measurement and balancing o With Andre' Vellino, coordinated the "Menu Improvement Task Force". New NCF menus went in service in July 1995; well-received. o Participated in preparations for the "Great FreeNet OnLine Auction", 1994 o During 1995, spearheaded the push to make the World Wide Web accessible to NCF members by making the Lynx text-based web browser available (Lynx was ported to NCF by Michael Richardson). NCF has been a great success, supported by members and the community. * * * Professional and Organizational Experience I helped start CrossKeys Systems Corporation, a Newbridge affiliate. I am a member of CrossKeys' board of directors and am active with their senior management. CrossKeys produces software to manage telecommunication networks; it was founded in 1992 and is growing quickly, now providing over 150 people with high-quality jobs. CrossKeys was recently selected as one of Canada's 50 Best-Managed Private Companies by Arthur Andersen and the Financial Post, and was awarded "Entrepreneurial Company of the Year" by the City of Kanata. Previously, at Newbridge Networks Corporation, I helped design and manage the development of user interfaces for Newbridge's network management workstation, now used to control thousands of network nodes around the world. At Mitel, I managed development of microprocessor-based subsystems and established the software design lab for Mitel in New Zealand. Years ago, at Bell-Northern Research, I designed software (and can still do so). -- For NCF, understanding network and communications technology will help me evaluate proposals and plan for the future, and my management and board experience is helpful background for being a director. You Can Help Too! The National Capital FreeNet (NCF) is supported by tens of thousands of people who donate money, hundreds of volunteers who give time, organizations donating equipment and other support, and by some public funding. What really makes NCF valuable is your participation. With your support, NCF provides the 'cyberplace', but people and organizations of the community provide the content that makes NCF worth visiting. Your participation and donations make NCF better. If you have suggestions, you can reach me by email at aa456@freenet.carleton.ca. I welcome your input. Thank you for your interest! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- end:aa456 Jim Elder =========================================================================== begin:ah654 Chris Hawley --------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Chris Hawley ------------------ Hi folks! I just wanted to tell you a little about myself and what I do so you can get to know me a bit better. I plan on having other menu items for more 'focused' information, and just the brief basics here. But before I begin, I feel I must thank Dave Sutherland (aa001) and Lisa Donnelly (am412) for supporting me in this election by nominating and seconding me for candidacy. It's a big compliment to be nominated and seconded by two of my favourite folks on NCF, doubly so when one of them is the CEO and probably the most popular and well-known NCF executive, and the other is the truly dynamic and amazing Executive Director who seems to do most of the 'real work' to make the Corporation operate in a manner which I feel is exemplary among non-profits. Thank you both very much! NCF and I --------- I've been on NCF for about 2 1/2 years. Except for a short initial 'lurking' stage, I have been active as a volunteer for all that time. NCF has been a great part of my life in the time I've been here, impacting all aspects of my life, and empowering me to more effectively learn, communicate, and educate. I've always been excited about electronic meeting places, from my days as a Wildcat! BBS sysop, and co-sysop of other similar, bigger systems, to International IRC, to the National Capital FreeNet. I feel that this sort of resource will become more and more useful, and that popularity will increase in direct proportion to utility. NCF represents to me the culmination of all my earlier hopes and dreams with respect to electronic community/meeting places/communication, as well as the most suitable medium for bringing the advantages of the Internet to the general population, and expanding all our horizons at the same time. As a true community (in the sense of people gathered in one place) that is online, NCF has brought me closer to folks in this area. I place a very high value on the NCF and its Mission, which I feel impacts me on a personal level as well as a physical community level. Beyond our local focus, NCF also can 'rock the world' in some ways, too. Personally, as I mention above, it is a dream come true. In terms of practical utility, it is very useful as an email address and USENET News reading service. I also find the IRC to be entertaining and also a good way to communicate in real time with other NCF'ers. In a physical community sense, I feel that NCF is raising the awareness of the local population of networking and the Internet, getting people together who would not have otherwise met, and in general helping to educate and associate people of the region. As a global entity, NCF is still leading in some innovations, such as this very online Annual General Meeting -- It's the first of its kind that I've every heard of! People have watched us to learn how an online AGM might be run, and hopefully they will take advantage of our experience. We also enjoy very good uptime statistics due to our committed staff, especially the System Administration staff. We're the #2 FreeNet in sheer numbers of registered users, and most people I have talked to call us "the best", even when they are complaining about something they want to see done better. Why you should vote for me -------------------------- In general, there are things that I offer the NCF as a person and as a source of whatever knowledge I have gathered. I like to think that my dedication and interest in the health, management, and Mission of the NCF is demonstrated and documented in my personal NCF history. Those of you who are familiar with me know that I really do care, and am active in my support of the NCF. More specifically, I've got a unique set of skills and motivations which I feel make me ideal as a Director on NCF: 1) NCF is right in line with a life-long dream of mine. - I am totally committed and dedicated. - I am motivated beyond most other means of motivation. - I am passionate about NCF and its Mission. - I really care 2) I'm a professional SunOS/Solaris UNIX Systems Administrator. - I can offer advice on the numerous technical issues which inevitably face the Board. - I am useful in planning meetings where technical angles are needed. - My professional contacts educate me about new technology or developments, which are occasionally interesting to the NCF. 3) I'm a creature of technology and the Internet, yet am also very much a 'people' person -- I'm equally at home in both arenas, and by experience do not need to have one be exclusive of the other. - I can relate easily between people issues and technology issues. - I believe that technology should never be a roadblock to progress, but should forever strive to be the enabling factor in achieving that progress. 4) I am an experienced, active, and productive Director of the NCF. - I know the ropes. I am fully functional and productive today. - I know how to get things done. - I have a demonstrated committment, demonstrated results, and a proven track record of hard work on NCF's behalf. - I have done a good job, and will do so in the future. Miscellany ---------- Detailed information will be put in other menu options (or URLs) as I create them. I feel that the above information should give the reader a good impression of why I feel I am an excellent candidate for re-election to the Board of Directors of the NCF. I urge you to vote for me in the current AGM election, which lasts through March 11th, 1996. Thanks, Chris Hawley --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Issues Folks Have Mentioned, In No Apparent Order ------------------------------------------------- Chris Hawley Sun Mar 3 01:43:55 EST 1996 Sun Mar 3 21:04:05 EST 1996 What is NCF What should it become --------------------- "The National Capital FreeNet is a free, computer-based information sharing network. It links the people and organizations of this region, provides useful information, and enables an open exchange of ideas with the world. Community involvement makes FreeNet an important and accessible meeting place, and prepares people for full participation in a rapidly changing communications environment." -- The NCF Mission I think this answers both generally. Specifically, I want the NCF to be the Place To Be on the Internet for people of this region. Imagine this: Local corporations and government see the value of NCF as an excellent way to reach the community because people in the region know how useful NCF is, and visit it whenever they want a quick information resource. It's good PR to be associated with NCF because we're a bastion of Community Service in Ottawa. Ottawa becomes world-known for the highest level of networking and Internet knowledge and familiarity anywhere thanks in great part to NCF and initiatives it sponsors. High-tech firms want to build here to take advantage of the technically-advantaged workforce. NCF has made the community a better place for technological awareness and community action. Is it a dream or ...? Is WWW a good idea ------------------ Yes. The WWW is the way people use the Internet. It's cheaper than the current FreePort software, causes a decrease in CPU load on the servers, and enables a host of beneficial features such as multi-lingual capabilities, transparent data access, and world-wide available software for enhancements. The costs of WWW are that since the NCF becomes more useful, more people will use it, meaning more computers and network bandwidth will be needed. Initially, there is an investment which happens before that increase of utility is realized. Therefore, it is easy to see only costs at the first stage of the game. However, as time progresses and the NCF and its members begin to reap the many benefits of being current with the Internet and of using the WWW technology, the 'profit' to our members will be realized on a much larger scale than some folks expect. Budget ------ To the question of what I think we should be spending our money on, I can only say that I wholeheartedly support the budget presented by Jeff Bossert and the Finance Committee. Donor Database -------------- We need this up and accepted ASAP. There is currently an Oracle database running which has not been fully tested or approved. NCF needs to know who's donated so we can understand where our money is coming from, and who we are not reaching. We are pursuing Oracle for some help in closing off this application. I am actively interested in seeing this project through to it's earliest possible completion. Access for All -------------- I believe the NCF accomplishes its mission best by getting as many people as possible to participate directly. This is different from others who think that NCF best serve its mission by getting as many people as possible to participate in any way they can or care to. I feel that the "community" comes from logging on at NCF and being here, not from simply reading or writing an article to an ncf.* newsgroup. Recruiting and Keeping Volunteers --------------------------------- The Volunteer Task Force has made progress in this area, writing a Volunteer Strategy document. I hope to see 1996 bring a more organized and fulfilling volunteer experience overall to all volunteers and would-be's. Non-technical people/issues on NCF ---------------------------------- There are a majority of issues which confront the Board that are not technical in nature. I am a very technical person, yet I am typically very personable, even moreso than technical. I am very capable of dealing with non-technical issues that may come my way -- but don't try to bullshit me with technical terms, because I won't buy it. Censorship ---------- Censorship Sucks. However, there should be places where people who are easily offended can go to enjoy themselves as well. I believe that the NCF should have places where "almost anything goes", or "legal things go", and also places where "be nice" is the rule. We should all get to enjoy our favourite parts of NCF, as equal members. Newsgroups Censored or Cut -------------------------- Newsgroups are not carried on NCF because of 3 reasons that I can think of: 1) Carleton doesn't carry them, and we don't yet look elsewhere for articles. 2) They are too big on the disk, or promote too much downloading CPU load on the servers. 3) They are illegal. I don't believe in censoring newsgroups because they are in poor taste or are disagreeable (but legal) in content. Posting in Board groups ----------------------- I read all the posts in the board and board-unmoderated groups. Often I don't feel the need to say "Me too", and the answer is already there, or my opinion at least. I think the most regular posters in there are those who get there first routinely. Of course this is not the rule. My position on this is that yes, we as a Board should indeed be spending more time writing there instead of just reading. What some folks might not realize is that the Board has agreed within our ranks to take turns posting to the groups, monitoring them to make sure someone was being responsive on behalf of the Board. Then, when those folks are indisposed, those who read news the most are still there posting. Don't think that just because each Board member doen't fill up those groups personally, that they're not all thinking about what's going on in there. Better, Faster, Newer - Techno-Whiz-Kids ---------------------------------------- The Board is not a group of techno kids who all want to do everything better, faster, and newer with respect to technology. I think that in respect to proceses and policies, we work for streamlining the processing and making the policies new enough to work with the newer contextual meanings that they inherit from current usage of technology. In other words, as the times change, some policies must change also. I'm not a techno-whiz-kid, but I like to make use of technologies which lend themselves well to solving problems. If I were rich, I'd probably be much more of a techno-whiz-kid. As it is, I'm only able to whiz with whatever my employer throws at me. :) My Interests on NCF ------------------- On NCF, my primary interest is actually being a good Board member. Most of my involvement stems from Board or related duties and contacts. Being an active Director around here takes some work -- it's not just sitting there at Board meetings once a month... Also, being on the NCF Board Planning Committee, perhaps my most demanding contribution to NCF, takes a lot of time, even my precious Saturday time. My other interests on NCF are the Linux SIG and the IRC SIG, both of which I maintain (although maintenance is not demanding). I occasionally use NCF to read news other than NCF business news, but all the newsgroups I read on NCF are the ones I need to do a good job as a director and volunteer at NCF: The Board groups, the Linux and IRC groups, ott.online and ott.general, some volunteer groups, the NCF picnic group (Hey, when's the next picnic?), and of course ncf.announce. Aside from occasional tweaks to the IRC system, I also like to get in there once in a while and use the service as well. If you want to talk to me in IRC, see if Mr_Chris is there, that's my nickname. Time Limits ----------- I hate time limits. Come to think of it, I hate most limits. I voted FOR the time limits, because they were aimed at getting more people online. More people online is a Good Thing(tm). I don't think we're seeing what we expected from them, though. I think part of it is because the percentage of Internet connections is larger than modems, so even if "more people got on via modem" it would be totally lost in the ebb and flow of the Internet users. Note: there are real stats on this sort of thing -- I'm just supposing here. I expect time limits to become smarter or die this year. Francophones: ------------- - Should they be on BoD? Anyone can be on the Board via due process (election). Our last and perhaps only Francophone member quit his post. - Are there Requirments of that? I violently oppose any such silliness as this. I encourage francophones to run for election, though. I vote independent of language preference to a great extent, personally. If I see two candidates, only one of which is bilingual and the other qualities of them seem fairly similar, I would indeed prefer the francophone person as having an advantage over the other, and as being a member of a group which I want to see prosper in the NCF environment more than it has in the past. - Role of the Francophone Committee I think it's the Francophone Committee's job to explore ways of making the NCF more 'friendly' or accessible to francophones. Helping get the francophone segment on NCF is an important task, because we want everyone here to feel welcome and a part of this. In this way, the natural blend of NCF information will closely mimic the 'spirit' of the National Capital Region. In some ways, it's also that committee's job to do the work required to make their plan happen -- they are effecting change for the group they represent. (The 'If you want it, make it happen' idea) - How to attract non-english folks? The evolution to WWW technology enables us to use all sorts of languages almost transparently. Not only francophones, but all languages of the region can conceivably by used on NCF. I hope that by embracing this worldwide technology, we will become 'instantly' more attractive to non-english folks, and that they will set up information on NCF in their own language for other National Capital Region folks to use. Special Privileges to do job ---------------------------- I don't use any special privileges to do my job, really. I use shell access to mali myself a copy of the Board meetings' agendas, and occasionally use the xx account I have for SIG maintenance to do SIG maintenance. Only rarely do I need more than a couple hours a day to do things, this election being a huge example. It irks me when folks hint that "you Board members have all the perks you want, you don't care about 'regular' NCF members' privileges". That's complete crap! I do all my board work as "ah654", who has a 2-hour time limit every frigging day just like everyone else. (This time limit has ben temporarily repealed during the elections so we can all get on and type these things) I'd like to see those people use their daily time to do WORK instead of personal things, and then see how loudly they protest these imagined advantages. The most used special privilege I use is my work email. All my NCF Board email gets bounced to my work address, and if it's urgent, I can make time during the day to work on it. It was in that manner that I got up an About file in my area while my computer was down. ncf.* postings offered to All of the Internet --------------------------------------------- I believe that the guest/anonymous access to the system was intended to be there as an incentive to join. I don't think guest should be able to read as much as he can already. At this time, there are people out there who have automated tools set up to abuse the guest account's access and make copies of whole NCF newsgroups, by making the guest user "read" all the articles and saving what is displayed. This is not the intended use of the guest account. I support the use of remote NCF user authentication, where that user can get NCF news wherever he or she may be on the Internet. This combined with the WWW interface makes the NCF much more 'available' to folks who don't want to wait for the NCF systems when they're busy and slow. So I guess you could say that I am in favour of having ncf.* rticles available to NCF users anywhere on the internet. Are we a node on the Internet or a Unique community? ---------------------------------------------------- Come on! Easy one! :) Anyone who thinks we're just anohter Internet-connected should try to find another site like us out there! When your clicking finger falls off, you'll realize that we've got some groovy stuff going on here that just hasn't been duplicated. The NCF is our online community, and as we make it even more available and accessible, even more of the local populace will see the utility of it and join up. Which, of course, only makes it better. It's a win-win situation for all members and Ottawa too! SLIP/PPP/Shell evolution of NCF ------------------------------- I think of SLIP/PPP access as a thing of the future for all people on the 'Net. PPP, or something similar, will be in use by 2000 on most Internet computers, if not sooner. NCF will be there, on the Internet as the most widely-used local source of information about and for the National Capital Region. ISP's will be selling themselves as a great way for locals to access their FreeNet, and have special bargain rates for "FreeNet Access Accounts". NCF may provide SLIP/PP/network access to PAT's, demo machines, and dialup users. It will be hard to justify why we provide all these services to the population at large, as long as they don't use our modems. It is not impossible for NCF to allow SLIP access WITHOUT being an ISP, or "on-ramp" to the Internet. Without getting technical, let's just say that there are controls in place between the NCF and the Internet, and the technology currently exists to do this, and will only get better in the coming months. Should anonymous users get All Some or None of the NCF groups? -------------------------------------------------------------- See above; Basically, my answer is "some", with the intent at guest access being to "sell" the NCF to the guest and convince that person of it's utility and other appealing factors -- not to "sell out" to automated processes which capture all the NCF members' conversations somewhere on the Internet. Dissenting opinions from experts -------------------------------- I find that there's almost never a dissenting opinion between experts when all the details are considered. In very rare cases it might happen, but in my experience, the dissention happens before all the details are known -- once you're there, there is generally a clear path to meet the objective. In a case where two or more well-respected experts disagreed about how to do somehting, I would endeavor to proceed in their plans up to the point of contention and then revisit the issue. chances are, new facts will have come to the surface, negating one course or both. Financial Viability ------------------- The financial viability of the NCF is of course crucial in our survival. I would indeed, as I always have, keep that as a priority in all business affairs of the NCF. That being said, I do prefer to leave the financial details to the experts, and just sit back and get ready to be impressed when they come back with their reports. Give, Get, or Get Off (Rebe Last) --------------------- I do all three around here! I give much of my time and energy to the NCF as a director, member of the planning committee, technical volunteer, SIG administrator for two areas, and various other things which have at one time or another consumed vast amounts of my time (Oracle database, elections). I get back a lot of satisfaction, and warm fuzzy feelings inside. I'm also damn proud of the NCF and my involvement. I feel personally responsible for the successes and failures of the NCF. I'm improving my managerial skills and planning skills and interpersonal skills, as well as typing skills these days. :) If I got off on NCF any more that I do already, I'd probably have to [deleted for the sake of good taste]. ;) Strategy Document ----------------- The Strategy document is a Cool Thing(tm), and I support it completely. I think that those who say it has nothing to disagree with in it are correct -- IF you are committed to the success of the NCF in meeting our Mission. Others who are not so much for the NCF as for something else that they thought the NCF would help them with might not be so natural about the Strategy document. Also, as someone who's occasionally allowed to be In the Know, and mostly thinks he knows much more than he does, I see real issues in the Strategy Document -- real things which we're grappling with now that can be answered by it. I expect to see these things, some of them at least, come out in the next 3 ro 4 Board meetings. Micromanagement? ---------------- Our current Board does not want to micromanage the operational details of running the Company. Occasionally, since we all have strong feelings about the NCF in general, we get bogged down into some operational issue until someone speaks up and we realize we have experts to spend time on that decision for us. In some cases, the operational-seeming issue is really much larger than that, such as the exporting of ncf.* newsgroups. While it's true that a motion was passed to support in principle the sharing of newsgroups, and that later the Board decided to say "Some" groups should be exported (when it allowed itself to be cornered into a choice between "All" None" and Some"). Still, the exporting of NCF newsgroups, while it could be handled operationally by staff and volunteers, is still one of epic proportions. Some say that is our most unique aspect, that interaction between fellow members that cannot be gotten elsewhere, and shouldn't be shared. Some say we stand to lose much in donations if we "give away" our best stuff. In any case, the larger-scale implications, very sticky ones in this case, have made this issue, which some persist in dubbing "operational", into a policy matter, and a strategic business concern for the NCF, Inc. Accountability -------------- I fully support accountability for my actions as a Director of the NCF. I agree with recorded votes whenever requested if not always, and welcome any feedback on how I voted on a particular issue. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- end:ah654 Chris Hawley =========================================================================== begin:aa457 David Jones --------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Jones (aa457) -- Biographical Information Education: --------- M.A.Sc (Electrical & Computer Engineering), University of Toronto, 1995. B.A.Sc (Computer Engineering, Co-op), University of Ottawa, 1992. Current employment: ------------------ I.C. Design Engineer, MOSAID Technologies. Freenet involvement: ------------------- Co-Chair, Hardware/Software Committee, Toronto Free-Net (TFN), November 1993 to April 1995. - Defined network architecture for TFN. Supervised installation and configuration of communication lines between the various Rogers sites (where TFN hardware and modems were located) and the administration offices at Ryerson University. - Advised TFN Board of Directors on hardware purchases and other technical issues. - Installed operating systems and FreePort software. - Performed all system administration until it was contracted out to a consulting company. Member of NCF Public Access Committee, February to August, 1993. - Helped define a public access strategy and standards for NCF public terminals. This committee has fallen by the wayside recently. I would like to see it revived, as public access is an important part of the NCF's strategy. Hobbies: ------- - Duplicate bridge - Software development (including freenet stuff) Visit my Web page: ----------------- http://www.achilles.net/~dej --------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Jones (aa457) -- Position statement ========================================= Current situation ----------------- - The NCF's ONIP grant has run out, so a former major source of funding is no longer available. - Ottawa-area businesses are setting up WWW pages at no cost to themselves - on community sites such as flora.ottawa.on.ca or commercial ISPs. - NCF information providers are forced to maintain their menus using clumsy tools that date back to the NCF's inception (which is why they consider using other public sites). - Non-speakers of English find the NCF hard to use - other than the menus, the system is not multilingual. - The load on the NCF's machines, and the demand for the NCF's modems is so high that the NCF is forced to impose a two-hour daily time limit for all members. - Technical services approved by the Board (such as personalized user-IDs) take a long time to be implemented because the technical director has too much other work to do. In the meantime, technical volunteers ready to work on various tasks stand by awaiting direction from the technical director. - Those who cannot afford a terminal or modem at home find it difficult to use the NCF because public terminals are few and far between. My view of the future --------------------- - The NCF offers Web pages and required training to Ottawa-area businesses, individuals, and organizations, and encourages donations in return for this service. - Users of NCF services use standard WWW browsers and news readers, from their own computers. Many of these tools support multiple languages. All are more powerful and versatile than the menu-based system that the NCF used to use. - Information providers use modern Web authoring tools to make and preview their information on their own machines, then send it to the NCF. - The NCF exports some ncf.* groups to the Internet community. - Since NCF users can access the NCF's information (via WWW) and newsgroups without logging into the NCF, load on the system decreases. Eventually the Board decides to remove the two-hour time limit restriction, as it is no longer needed. - The Board reinstates the technical committee to assists the technical director in design and implementation of services to meet Board requirements in a timely manner. - The Board reinstates the Public Access Committee. More public terminals are deployed. Organizations that provide information to the NCF sponsor public terminals set up to provide that information, in addition to other NCF services. Sponsorship revenue more than covers the cost of providing the terminals. All of the above can happen, provided that the NCF has the will to do so. I want to make it happen. Do you? Much of what I propose here is technical in nature. If you are interested, see the information item "Towards a new technical foundation for the NCF" in my menu. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Towards a new technical direction for the NCF ============================================= The NCF is slow during prime time. Why? Let's take a look at what goes on inside the freenet. Network logjam -------------- You dial up, and by some miracle, you don't get a busy signal. Next thing you know, you're at the login screen. But getting there is half the fun. Here's why: The NCF runs on five Sun workstations. Three of them handle users - you can log in to them. For this reason, they are called login servers. However, the Suns don't answer modems. That job is done by terminal servers: special machines with 64 or more modems attached to them. The terminal servers, in turn, connect to the Sun machines using a small network. Everything you see and do on the NCF happens through this network. You start typing your user ID. Every time you hit a key, the terminal server receives it from the modem and sends it to the login server. However, more than one character goes over that network. The terminal server is handling many connections at once; yours is only one of them. It must identify your connection so that the login server won't get your typing mixed up with that of another user. To identify your keystroke, and to make sure it arrives at the login server correctly, the terminal server sends another 40 characters of data along with the character you just typed. The login server receives the character you typed. It must now let the terminal server know that your typing was received correctly. After all, it could have gotten lost amongst all of the other users' typing. To do so, the login server replies with a message, 40 characters long, to the effect that it received your typing correctly. Later (by a few milliseconds), the login server sends the character you typed back to you. Why? Consider the case of you typing your password - it doesn't show up on the screen for good reason. The login server is the only machine that knows when to hide your typing - the terminal server doesn't know. For this reason, the login server will echo everything you type back to you, unless circumstances dictate that this not happen. Well, that's another 40 characters sent over the network to echo your typing, and another 40 characters sent from the terminal server to the login server to confirm that it received the echo correctly. Yowza! 160 characters sent over a network for every character you type! So you type your user ID (5 x 160 = 800 characters sent over network) and password (8 x 80 = 640 characters, assuming you are careful to use a long password) and get on with life: browsing the menus, reading your mail, favorite news, etc. all the time taking up 80 or 160 characters of network time with every key you type, plus the network usage required by the NCF to send your mail, news, and other information to you. We won't even think about how much time it takes for the login server to process and generate all of those 40-character acknoweldgement/routing information chunks. NOTE: Network usage is not so bad for information sent back to you. If you read a 1000-character mail message, it will typically be broken up into two 500-character chunks. Each chunk gets the 40 characters of identifying information added to it, and gets a 40 character acknowledgement, but an extra 80 characters for each 500-character chunk is not nearly as bad as 160 characters for each character you type. Due process for everybody ------------------------- The login servers must serve all of the users currently logged in, at once. "Serving" means lots of things: - Retrieving information (including mail and news) - Presenting it to you attractively - Letting you work with it - send it to your PC, reply to it, file it... To manage all of this activity, the login servers divide the work into "processes". The menu system is a process. The mail reader is a process. So is the news reader. So is the Lynx browser. Every service offered by the NCF has a process to do the work. And every user has his/her OWN process. That way, no private information gets mixed up with that of other users. You can imagine a hundred users on a machine, each running several processes. Yes, you can run more than one process at once. For example, from the menu system, choose the item for a discussion group. Read an article and reply to it. You now have three processes on the go: - The menu system - The news reader - The text editor that lets you compose your reply Well, only one is really running - the text editor. The others are waiting, so what's the problem? The problem is that your three processes, and every other user's three or so processes, all require memory. The login server has some memory, but not enough for all of this. So what does it do? It uses some of its disk space as temporary memory. The login server is much like a busy executive that must juggle requests from several customers at once. A customer's current account information is in the files. When a customer calls, the customer's file must be pulled, worked with, then put back in the filing cabinet when done. The freenet's login servers work much like that, except that customers "call" maybe once a second or so - every time you type a key. Also, the login server can't really handle 100 people at once. Rather, users "wait in line" and the login server handles them one at a time. Of course, the Sun workstations are fast enough to handle hundreds of users a second, so you get the impression that it supports 100 people at once. The real problem is all that filing: disks are the slowest part of the computer, and more time is spent filing the current state of your processes than actually doing any useful work. To get an idea of how busy the system is, look at the "load averages" posted on the opening screen. These numbers tell you, on average, how many users are ahead of you in the line of processes waiting for service. Using a machine with a load average of 20 or so is like going to a bank where there are 20 people ahead of you in the lineup - it's gonna take a while. Especially since, once the machine has processed your keystroke, you get in the back of that line again. All the news, but it's unfit to print ------------------------------------- News (discussion groups, SIGs, etc.) is nice and useful, right? Well, yes, but it can be nicer. The NCF's current news reading software does not support two important features: - crossposting - killing The way "crossposting" should work is as follows: a user writes a message and puts it in two or more discussion groups, both of which you read. How many times will you see the message? On the NCF, you will see it twice. On other Internet Service Providers, you will see it only once. The news software can tell when you've already read a message posted to more than one group, and will not show it to you again unless you ask. How many times have you read crossposted messages on the NCF? Does it bother you? "Killing" is even more useful, despite its violent name. Killing is like the remote control for your TV: it's the ultimate control on what you read and don't read. Let's say you read the Ottawa-area discussions (ott.general), looking for concert announcements, apartments for rent, and the like. Unfortunately, most of the messages are about Quebec separation and have been going on since late September, and may not interest you. On the freenet, you don't have much choice - you must read'em or weed'em - by hand. With a "threaded" news reader, you can say "kill", and all of those annoying articles are gone (well, they aren't really gone, but they won't be shown to you). That way, you can get what you're looking for much faster. OK, so now what? Is there a better way? --------------------------------------- YES!!! You're using a computer, right? So why not have it do some of the work? We have already seen that typing characters on the freenet makes very poor use of the NCF's network. However, if your computer could send the freenet requests of the form "fetch me this", then your information requests, and the freenet's responses, can be sent, usually with minimal overhead (more like 80 characters of overhead per 500, not 80/160 per one). The "Lynx" program that the NCF uses to access WWW documents works like this, and so do all of the Web browsers that work under Windows (Mosaic, Netscape, Cello). Using these on the freenet will greatly reduce the network load. This approach, where your computer asks for something, and the freenet answers, is called "client-server". Your computer is the client, and it talks to the freenet server. Client-server computing can be used to read/write mail, news, to browse the menus system, and with more effort, even to vote in an AGM. There is another interesting effect of client-server computing. Right now, the login server that you talk to must do everything: display menus, read news, read mail, read WWW documents, send files to you, etc. This, of course, consumes a lot of memory. However, with client-server technology, the freenet can designate certain machines for specific tasks. For example, there can be a "mail server" that does nothing except handle mail. The NCF already has a "news server" that does everything with news except presenting it to you neatly. Dedicating jobs to specific machines reduces the memory requirements of those machines. Why? Consider what goes on in the computer's memory when it does something for you. It must remember the following: - how to do the job - anything it got from somewhere else (such as the list of all newsgroups on the system, fetched from the news server) - anything specifically having to do with you When a machine is a dedicated server, it has several processes running on it, all doing the same job. In this case, the memory of "how to do the job" can be SHARED among all processes. This sharing also happens inside the login servers, but because they have more varied jobs to do, the sharing is not as useful. When a machine is a dedicated server, it can keep anything it needs to do the job close at hand. For example, the news server has the list of all newsgroups. Since this list is the same for all users, it can be shared among all of the news serving processes. This type of sharing does not happen on the NCF right now because it is not set up to do so. Client-server technology will make it easier to share in this manner. Finally, anything specifically having to do with you cannot be shared. After all, it's private. It's YOUR mail. However, with client-server computing, the freenet won't need any memory for this. The memory in YOUR computer is used for this purpose. The bottom line is that client-server technology requires a lot less memory. That's less time the NCF machines spend filing, and more time they spend serving you. A more responsive freenet is something we'd all like. Finally, on the subject of news, now that news is coming directly to your computer, you can read it any way you want. The better Windows and Mac news readers support crossposting and killfiles. Another benefit of client- server computing: your computer can get your mail and the newsgroups that you read much faster than you can read them. You can then log off and read your news, while another user has a chance to use the modem you just disconnected from. The result? Fewer busy signals! This being said, the transition to client-server technology will not be easy. The NCF needs to appoint a technical committee to oversee this operation, and the Board will need to deal with the many policy issues that arise. Nevertheless, if you want to see the freenet's response time and accessibility improve, then you can help make it happen by electing those who support this technology to the Board. Let's make it so! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- end:aa457 David Jones =========================================================================== begin:af706 Sean P. Maguire --------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Sean Maguire --------------------- These menus introduce you to Sean Maguire, candidate for the Board of Directors of the National Capital FreeNet at the 1996 Annual General Meeting. Item 1 is this file. Item 2 is a general introduction to the candidate. Item 3 provides a list of previous experience on Boards, Committees, and Councils that the candidate possesses. Item 4 describes the technical knowledge of the issues of the candidate. Item 5, when posted, will provide a brief rationale for the reasons behind the candidature. Part of this rationale can be found in posts to the election newsgroup by the candidate in response to questions. Feel free to take a look around. More may be posted if it is deemed appropriate. Thanks for stopping by, and please don't forget to vote in the AGM! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- My name is Sean Maguire, and I would like to represent you and your concerns on the Board of Directors of the National Capital FreeNet. I presently wear two hats: 1) I work at the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs (Land Claims Implementation Branch, for the curious). 2) I am a part-time student at Carleton University pursuing my Master of Arts in the School of Public Administration. I hold a B.A. from Concordia University and an M.A. from McMaster University, both in economics. I also attended the University of Ottawa for four years in an...unsuccessful...attempt to complete a Ph.D. in economics. For more on my experience, please read on into the next menu. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Academic: --------- Carleton University: Member, CUSA Council (Special Students), 1995 University of Ottawa: Member, Board of Governors, 1991-94 -elected to Executive Committee 1991-94 Member, University Senate, 1992-1994 Member, Faculty of Social Sciences Council, 1991-94 -elected to Executive Committee 1992-94 Member, Department of Economics Council, 1991-94 Chair, Graduate Students' Association (GSA) Council, 1992-1994 Member, GSA Board of Directors, 1991-1994 Member, OPIRG Board of Directors, 1993 Member of various university-wide committees, such as: Sports Services, Unicentre, Academic Freedom Concordia: Member, University Senate, 1989-90 Member, Arts and Science Faculty Council, 1986-89 Member, CUSA Board of Directors, 1989 Community: ---------- Board Member, Friends of the Environment Foundation (Ottawa) 1991-1994 Candidate, Ottawa Roman Catholic Seperate School Board, 1994 (finished 9th of 11) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- No, I do not. I know enough to successfully navigate around the Freenet, send mail, participate in newsgroups, upload/download files and such, but that's pretty much it. I am trying to get myself acquainted with some of the issues facing the Board by reading past minutes of meetings and the appropriate newsgroups. (For the first time ever, I have used up my two hours for two days running...). If you want every person on the Board to be fully acquainted with all of the technological issues surrounding the NCF from the first day they take office, then vote for someone else. Technical knowledge is simply not my strong point (yet). If elected, I promise to educate myself quickly (within three months) so that I will be more able to make appropriate decisons as a Member of the Board. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- end:af706 Sean P. Maguire =========================================================================== begin:dc992 Gilles Marleau --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Qui est Gilles Marleau (dc992) ? Je suis impliqué dans mon milieu depuis plusieurs années. Mes interventions dans le domaine scolaire et mon passage(6 ans) au conseil de direction de la Bibliothèque publique de Gloucester ont eu un impact important sur le développement de services pour la communauté. Je suis est bien connu des milieux franco- ontariens pour mes prises de positions et mes actions pour la défense des droits des franco-ontariens et la promotion de l'unité canadienne. Sur le plan professionnel, travaillant à la bibliothèque du Parlement, j'ai acquis une connaissance aiguë du monde politique. Gilles Marleau --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pourquoi Gilles Marleau (dc992) se présente ? Candidat au conseil d'administration du Libertel, j'ai l'intention d'apporter mon énergie, mon savoir et ma connaissance du milieu pour faire du Libertel un véritable outil de communication pour tous les résidents de la région de la Capitale nationale. Je suis un nouveau venu au Libertel. Après tout, avec un code d'usager dcxxx, je ne peux prétendre connaître le Libertel de l'intérieur :-) Cependant, n'ayant pas d'attaches spécifiques, de positions préconçues, je compte pouvoir apporter un regard neuf sur le Libertel. Pour moi l'aspect le plus important pour le Libertel est la présence communautaire. Le Libertel est un outil. C'est le nouvel outil de communication qui va permettre à ceux qui sont sans voix de pouvoir prendre la parole et de s'exprimer. Le Libertel qui dessert à peine 5% de la population de la région de la Capitale nationale, n'a vraiment pas atteint ceux qui ont besoin de ce moyen de communication. C'est en examinant le document de stratégie du Libertel qui identifie ses besoins fondamentaux que j'en suis venu à vouloir servir sur le Conseil d'administration : Le Libertel doit devenir un outil de communication pour les organismes et groupes qui sont les plus démunis dans notre société. Beaucoup d'organismes communautaires n'ont pas encore entendu parlé du Libertel et des possibilités qu'il offre. Un effort concerté doit être entrepris pour rejoindre effectivement les organismes communautaires. De la clientèle à desservir, un ensemble qui recoupe tous les groupes démunis et même davantage est particulièrement touché : les francophones. On dit qu'à peine 3% des utilisateurs sont francophones. Il est anormal pour le Libertel de la région de la Capitale nationale de ne desservir que 1500 francophones et que quelques organismes francophones communautaires. On retrouve au conseil d'administration un ensemble diversifié de personnes et d'intérêts. Il n'y a cependant pas de représentant de la communauté francophone au conseil d'administration. Il faut remédier à cet état de fait. En proposant ma candidature, je compte apporter une nouvelle voix francophone au conseil. J'ai la ferme intention d'aller chercher d'autres candidats francophones durant son terme afin d'assurer aux francophones une participation pleine et entière aux décisions du conseil d'administration. J'ai également l'intention d'appuyer les efforts du nouveau comité francophone pour que ce dernier ne se sente pas isolé et pour qu'il puisse jouer un rôle effectif. Un vote pour Gilles Marleau est un vote important pour assurer une présence francophone au conseil d'administration et pour assurer que les véritables besoins de tous les utilisateurs du Libertel puissent être comblés. Gilles Marleau --------------------------------------------------------------------------- end:dc992 Gilles Marleau =========================================================================== begin:an956 Michael Mason --------------------------------------------------------------------------- As the first recruit to the newly formed Development Committee in 1994, Michael Mason (an956) quickly earned the nickname "BullDog" for his unbreakable, single-minded determination when it comes to successfully gathering funds for NCF. A student at the University of Ottawa, always with two or three part-time jobs, menu maintainer for the Olde Forge, candidate for the NCF Board of Directors, Chair of the 1995 Great FreeNet On-Line Auction and non-stop energizer bunny of the fundraising team, Mike is a multi-talented man of eclectic interests, as comfortable donating countless volunteer hours to a non-profit community effort like NCF, as he is trading birkenstock quips with Lowell Green on the radio or at the golf course. When does he sleep? Give the BullDog a vote and an affectionate pat - he stands on guard for Free! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's a brief resume of what I've done on NCF: Volunteer of the Week (early 1995) Volunteer of the Month, October 1995 Member, 1994 Great FreeNet On-Line Auction Committee Member, Francophone Committee Member (one of the first), NCF Development Committee Development Committee Liaison to the Francophone Committee Information Provider to NCF, Olde-Forge Community Resource Centre Chairman, 1995 Great FreeNet On-Line Auction I have also attended all but one Board meeting since last March, therefore I have a pretty good idea about what goes on in one of them. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- What will Mike do as a Director for the NCF? (compared to Mike the member) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #1: Remain active on various NCF committees ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ He's currently involved as an active member of the Francophone Committee, the Development Committee and some of the DevCom's sub-committees (ie: 1994 Auction, or Chair of the 1995 Auction). Mike plans on being on those committees throughout his term as Director. The more directors on various committees, the better. It will give each and every one a different perspective on various aspects of the NCF. #2: Read *all* board discussion groups and remain active within them ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In Mike's 2 years online with NCF, he's read continuously what people had to say in board-unmoderated. Yes, through the 'time limits' discussion in late 1994 and early 1995, he read. Through the rest of 1995, he continued to do so. Mike has always believed that since people keep referring members to the board areas so that they can bring policy or operations questions to the appropriate people in there. Currently, only most of the board members read the board newsgroups. Many less post. Mike has posted in the past, and will continue to do so. He got the 'BullDog' nickname by sticking to his guns and being persistent. He isn't afraid to say what he thinks. That won't change. #3: Remain active in several parts of NCF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mike doesn't only read board-related stuff - he reads a wide variety of newsgroups that offer a big cross-section of NCF users. He knows what people want - and tries to find out more. He may not post everywhere, but he's there lurking! #4: What do *you* want Mike to do? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tell him! Tell other board members and candidates what you want from them! The board is elected to represent its members. E-mail is there - newsgroups are there. Stop the apathy - make a difference. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Board of Directors is responsible to its members. It is elected to represent the whole of its members when it comes time to make decisions related to policies and/or procedures. In order to REPRESENT its members, it must know what its members wants. How does it find out what its members want? By interacting with them. In an online world such as the NCF, there are two ways that this can be done in the easiest fashion: via e-mail, which is private for delicate issues that should be kept private, and secondly, within discussion groups. The National Capital FreeNet has two newsgroups where members are strongly encouraged to write in when they have a policy/procedure issue in hand. In a perfect world, a member could write a message there, where EACH board member would read it. Further, the board members would be encouraged to debate (or discuss) the issue at hand. Then, members with concerns could address their concerns to a given board member, in order to hopefully show this board member what he thinks. This, could conceivably help guide the board member with making his vote at the next meeting. After all, a board member is supposed to REPRESENT its members, so this is the best way for him/her to do this, by INTERACTING with his members. To do this, I think it is OBLIGATORY for a board member to do the following: (1) ***LOG ON*** to the system regularly - more than weekly (2) ***READ*** the board newsgroups (3) Comment on motions when presented online (4) Vote on motions put online The board member should also: (1) Post comments in the board areas, and discuss things with members from time to time. So members know what you think! (2) Be active on at least one committee that is unrelated to the Board (not Exec. or planning, etc..., but rather Development, Francophone, many, many others!) If the board members do this, they will be more accountable to their users. That, is a very important issue, or should be, in every member's mind. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- As every other organization on this planet, the NCF is not immune to the changing economic times. The FreeNet cannot count on getting as many 5-digit contributions from government bodies. Yes, the NCF has a computer power and phone line crunch. The NCF cannot go out and get 200 more phone lines, nor can it go out and purchase another 5 servers for users to "spread out" the system loads. There are MANY ways to get these without having to spend thousands we don't readily have available: The Development Committee is constantly coming up with ideas to raise money and solicit equipment donations from various organizations such as Newbridge, Sun Microsystems, US Robotics and many others. The DevCom is also trying to develop novel ways to raise money internally. The Board of Directors says that fundraising is a very high priority, yet when we have a potential gold mine at hand, it takes months for the means to raise this money to come into existance. As a Board member, I will emphasize the importance of system development WORKING WITH the DevCom. With my strong Fundraising background, I will ensure the continuity of fun and interesting funding drives. Cooperation of the Board, the Executive Committee and Staff is of paramount importance. I will stress this and will live up to what my history indicates I have wanted to do. I WILL MAKE THINGS HAPPEN! I WILL MAKE THINGS HAPPEN! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- end:an956 Michael Mason =========================================================================== begin:aa302 Russell McOrmond --------------------------------------------------------------------------- end:aa302 Russell McOrmond =========================================================================== begin:aa966 Natalie Munro --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Background ---------- Status: Married, with children. * active role in multiuser online community for 11 years * contact for volunteer coordination 1994/1995/1996 I've been a member of NCF since the very early days. Over the past year, with my involvement in volunteer coordination, I've had a unique opportunity in learning and making contributions towards the operational side of things. I've been an active volunteer with many official events, the Development Committee, the Time Limits Task Force and various other activities. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Priorities for 1996 ------------------- * Acknowledge the support NCF receives from volunteers, and work with staff, board and volunteers to ensure and enhance volunteer initiatives. * Work with staff and volunteers to introduce policies and procedures that support and enhance the operations of NCF services. * Effective planning for community outreach as per the 1996 strategy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discussion Items * Censorship Policies, procedures and guidelines need to be created to address this issue effectively. Policies must reflect the spirit of the mission statement. Procedures must reflect the needs of the membership. Guidelines must be in place to protect NCF against potential liabilities. * Public Access Public terminals and the human resources to set up and maintain them are perhaps the best form of outreach to the regional communities. This is well within NCFs reach, and some focus and leadership in this now dormant area could reap great rewards. * Language Where possible, and where volunteer resources are in place, NCF can support more than one language. * Time Limits Time limits have to go. There has to be a better way. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- end:aa966 Natalie Munro =========================================================================== begin:at571 Peter Timusk --------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Peter Timusk ------------------ Peter is a former computer programmer/data entry clerk. He has experience in board management in the non-profit sector. He has begun to study managemment of volunteers at Algoquin college in night classes. He has volunteered for over fourteen years in Hospitals, Museums, Community Centres and most recently Community Theatre. A brief statement of principles ---------------------------- I believe in being civil in attitude and open minded. I also believe the "net" can be used ethically and that we all chose to use the net "the right way". --------------------------------------------------------------------------- end:at571 Peter Timusk =========================================================================== begin:an386 Andre Vellino --------------------------------------------------------------------------- About André Vellino Background I was born in the UK in 1957, raised in Switzerland, educated in England and naturalized Canadian in 1990. My first language is French, but I am more proficient in English now. One reason I feel so at home in Canada is it's multi-cultural and multi-lingual character. Education I have an undergraduate degree in Chemistry, from the King's College London, an M.Sc. in Logic and Philosophy of Science from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto. I have done my mandatory stint in the US by working for the Environmental Protection Agency to develop intelligent software for predicting chemistry. This gave me first hand experience of how hard life can be when deprived of the CBC! So I decided to return to Canada 8 years ago to join Bell-Northern Research (now called Nortel Technologies), for whom I have worked ever since. There I have been applying techniques in automated reasoning and artificial intelligence to the field of telecommunications. Politics I don't have any fixed political views: I believe that political platforms are either too vague or too rigid to be useful. Problems must be matched to solutions within a framework of ethics, one that balances the rights and freedoms of individuals with the responsibilities they have to the community. These solutions are never the same except where the circumstances are identical. I believe we can learn a lot from the experiences of other freenet communities around the world but also set an example for how to bring an electronic community together. Contributions to NCF I have been using the Internet since 1985 and been actively involved with community networking since I first encountered the NCF. I started the NCF Special Interest Group on Buddhism and Meditation and developed one of the NCF's first WWW sites. This site now has the distinction of being the second most accessed Web site accessed from outside NCF. At the time, the only place for this SIG was in the "Lifestyles, Hobbies and Sports" category. I found this so silly that I decided to join the volunteer team working on the reorganization of menus and I ended up facilitated many of the menu redesign meetings. This work led to the honour of becoming NCF Volunteer of the Month in August last year. Since then I have had the task of menu maintainer for the Communications Centre and I actively participate in finding the best WWW sites for the NCF "Launch Pad". I have also given considerable thought to how the NCF could look as a WWW-based Freenet (like Chebucto in Halifax). Interests My interests are many and varied, but the ones that are relevant to my candidacy include, human rights, ecology , co-housing communities and spirituality. I have had considerable practice with consensus decision making and experienced it first hand as a viable approach not only to arriving at better decisions, but also as a method for involving the whole community with the decisions and their consequences. Arriving at consensus means opening your mind to new possibilities and is a great antidote to apathy! Position on NCF Issues Taking my queue from some of the recent postings on the newsgroup dedicated to the election of board members, here's my position on the issues that have been raised so far: VISION OF NCF Q: What is NCF and what it should become? A: I think that NCF is currently a mixed bag of an entry-level Internet Service Provider (ISP) and a source of valuable community resources. I think it should move towards becoming a hub of community information and services and provide a basic level of access with an easy migration path to commercial ISPs for serious users. The move towards the World Wide Web is a golden opportunity for NCF to reinvent itself. WWW Q: Is a move to the web is a good idea? The move to the web is a good idea; I think it's necessary and inevitable. I don't know what the costs are to making NCF a graphical Web-site (to users who use NCF as an access point), but I'm in favour of that if it is feasible and cost-effective. Q: What is your position on NCF as a valuable service to organizations wanting to publish on the Web? A: I'm completely in favour of this, provided that these organizations are aligned with the NCF mandate and we have the volunteer expertise to facilitate train these organizations to be self-sufficient web publishers. No commercial Web publishing should be allowed, for example. VOLUNTEERING Q: How do we recruit and keep volunteers? A: Having been involved with volunteer work on NCF, I know how hard it can be sometimes to stay motivated. I think volunteers need to be empowered to make a difference so that the results of their work can be seen and appreciated both by themselves and by the community. We need to make it clearer to the membership at large that NCF doesn't just happen by magic and "for free". It's also very important to have a clear direction and a clear organizational structure that volunteers can look to for guidance. I believe Lisa Donnelly has made great strides in that direction and should be commended for harnessing the strengths of existing volunteers. To recruit and keep volunteers, we could consider some incentive programs, such as privileges they might want on NCF but couldn't have as non-volunteer members. I for one would welcome suggestions from seasoned (tenured?) volunteers on how recruiting could best be done. Volunteer of the Year Miranda Gray asks: Q: I am concerned that NCF members don't get involved because they don't understand how NCF is different from a commercial ISP. What actions do you think NCF as a whole and board members in particular should be taking to address this problem? A: That's a tough one. At one extreme, I suppose we could make it a condition of membership that everyone do some "hard time" as a volunteer. That would surely eductate the membership about how we're not just a free ISP. I'd like to see the board encourage members who are using NCF as an ISP to migrate to a commercial ISP and make room for new members to join NCF. I think commercial ISPs could have a complementary relationship with NCF if we were to focus more on information content and less on providing access. Q: Work - how will you volunteer time and effort to raise money? How have you helped raise donations of money and equipment for NCF in the past? A: I would be happy to volunteer time and effort to implement low-cost, high-payoff fundraising ideas. For example, I think that NCF members at large could be encouraged to donnate a lot more to NCF than the meager $7/year they contribute on average. Indeed, I would contribute more myself if I were encouraged to do so more often. One simple idea would be to have "usage meter" that gives us an idea of how much of NCF resources each member consumes (disk-space, cputime, volume of e-mail, etc.). This information could be provided to members every so often so that they could judge what level of donation in time or money would be appropriate given their usage. FUNDING AND FUNDRAISING Q: How much should NCF be spending, and on what? A: I haven't studied the budget yet, but my sense is that there should be more money spent on giving quality information provision services to community organizations (e.g. local community health centres) and less on captial expenditure. We should rely more on equipment manufacturers to donate machines and modems etc. and use real money to pay for people's time to develop quality services. Q: How can you use contacts and influence to generate contributions of money, equipment or volunteer resources? A: I don't have any money-generating contacts, but as a Board member, I would have no problem going to Nortel (my employer) and other large companies in Ottawa and explaining to them what benefits would accrue if they supported NCF with generous donations. Q: Will you "lead by example" and dig into your own pocket, by donating to NCF on a regular basis? A: But of course. Whether or not I am elected to the board, I might add. Q: Have you donated to NCF in the past? A: Yes, but I can't remember how much (circa $50/year, I think). This "usage meter" tool could also keep track of your donnations for me and give me an idea of how much I am contributing. LANGUAGE Q: What about Ease of access for non-English speakers? A: I strongly favour NCF as a bilingual freenet and I believe the Francophone presence is invaluable. Access for all non-English speakers generally would probably be too expensive. I would need to be convinced that it fulfills a real need. TIME LIMIT Q: Should we remove the two-hour time limit? A: It depends what that limit is replaced with. We need to remember what the two hour limit was intended to do: free up the login bottlenecks. If a move to the WWW and remote news readers do the trick of freeing up modems then perhaps the two-hour time limit can be relaxed. Personally, I'm quite grateful to the two-hour time limit: it forces me to be more efficient with my e-mail (I'll write it at home rather than respond to it with an editor on the NCF and tie up a line), and prevents me from being glued to my terminal. PUBLIC ACCESS TERMINALS Q: Do we need more public access terminals? A: I don't know. How much are they used? Is there a demand for more public access terminals? Are there lots of people who want to use the NCF but can't because they don't have a computer and no access to public terminals. How much is it going to cost? What is it going to prevent us from doing instead? BOARD RELATIONS Q. How do you see yourself working with other members of the Board with whom you have a disagreement and vote differently from? With volunteers and staff? How do you intend to deal with conflicts when they arise? Q. How would you deal with a matter which you feel very strongly about and the rest of the Board disagrees? Q. Under what circumstances would you go outside of NCF and speak against NCF while a member of the Board of Directors? A: I believe the Board needs to resolve whatever internal conflicts it has, achieve consensus wherever possible and present a united front on all decisions it reaches. I believe consensus is possible if we all subscribe to some basic principles that define what counts as "the good of NCF". If I had stong personal differences with other Board members, I would first meet with them individually and seek to understand their position, then to express my own (can you tell I've taken Steven Covey's course on "7 habits"?). If I still had differences, I would try to bring these differences to a board meeting and seek the help of the rest of the board to resolve them. If I thought the board was doing something illegal or grossly immoral, I would resign from the board and speak out publicly. CENSORSHIP AND LIMITATIONS ON NCF Q: What limits do you think should be made on groups carried on the NCF and on postings originating from the NCF? Should the limitations be strictly based on current laws on obscenity, child pornography, court judgements, or libel, or should all newsgroups be suitable for young children to read? A: We must obey the law, obviously, and we also can't start censoring all newsgroups for material that might be unsuitable for children. We need to keep in mind what we're here to achieve. The NCF is not an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and doesn't have this mandate. We're here to enable the community to promote community causes, exhange infomation and serve. If including "alt.sex.binaries" creates an added load to our scarce resources, and doesn't contribute to achieving our goals, then there is no reason to carry it. It isn't a question of censorship (if you want it, then go to a commercial ISP): it's simply a question of priorities on how to use our resources to meet our ends. This issue will arise if the NCF enables graphical browsers (which I am in favour of, if it is not too expensive to do). In my opinion the NCF is completely justified in limiting the access users have to sites whose graphics content is not consistent with its goals. For example, if Corel or Kodak had a popular "graphics download" site, I think it would be justifiable for NCF to disallow access to it, on the same grounds as it currently dissallows the arbitrary use of telnet and ftp. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- !!! unable to read: /freenet/rootdir/menus/freenet/agm/1996/candidates/an386/an386 !!! unable to read: /freenet/rootdir/menus/freenet/agm/1996/candidates/an386/an386 !!! unable to read: /freenet/rootdir/menus/freenet/agm/1996/candidates/an386/an386 !!! unable to read: /freenet/rootdir/menus/freenet/agm/1996/candidates/an386/an386 !!! unable to read: /freenet/rootdir/menus/freenet/agm/1996/candidates/an386/an386 !!! unable to read: /freenet/rootdir/menus/freenet/agm/1996/candidates/an386/an386 Top ten reasons to vote for Andre' 1) enduring commitment to NCF community 2) excellent (bilingual) communications skills 3) considerable experience with consensus decision making 4) able and willing to listen and learn from others 5) responsible, reasonable and accountable 6) first hand experience of grass roots volunteering 7) understands the technology and issues facing NCF 8) knows when to admit mistakes and learn from them 9) isn't a single-issue candidate 10) identifies with Dilbert --------------------------------------------------------------------------- !!! unable to read: /freenet/rootdir/menus/freenet/agm/1996/candidates/an386/agm end:an386 Andre Vellino =========================================================================== EOF