To help members evaluate candidates, each candidate is asked to provide a statement (maximum of 400 words) and answers to three questions (maximum of 30 words per answer). Below are statements from all candidates. ------------------------- Jim Wright ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "3. There shall be no membership fees or dues." If you care about keeping FreeNet free, then vote for the "Wright" candidate, Jim Wright. The goals of my campaign reflect my personal views at this time. The experiences gained in the commercial world where customer satisfaction is a prime directive for survival has shaped these goals. On the other hand, I respect the opinions of the FreeNet members. This input will affect my goals. Submission to the will of the majority is a basic tenet. 1st Issue: Compulsory Donations Bylaw number 3 of FreeNet is the first line of this statement. Much debate and soul searching over this bylaw has occurred recently. The wording and intent of the bylaw are obvious to me. Attempts to go around this bylaw are disrespectful of the members. FreeNet is at a critical point in its evolution. If you have not been subjected to the present message on renewal, then let me enlighten you. The message is that FreeNet requires you to donate either your time or money or they will archive your account. I will work to untangle this mess. 2nd Issue: Customer relations I have watched from a distance as the more restrictive registration processes have driven off members. Initially it was to weed out the duplicate and false accounts. Next, it was to encourage donations. Now they demand donations. This does not create the sense of community and the easy access place of which I want to be a part. If not stopped now the future may be a much smaller playpen (Fee Net) for a group with their heads in the clouds. I will work to have the members treated the way I would want to be treated. 3rd Issue: Missed Opportunities Banner advertising on WWW sites has been a great revenue generator. You could turn it off if desired by donations of time or money. This should create less conflict over the financial issues. I will enlighten the Board as to the potential revenue that a stop on the information highway is worth. 4th Issue: Y2K I have seen some discussion. I hope that the basic tenants of Y2K planning have been carried out. Inventory, Assessment, Redemption and Contingency must be looked at. I will assist to ensure a plan is in place. --- End of statement by Jim Wright ------------------------- Matthew Darwin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [The candidate did not provide information] --- End of statement by Matthew Darwin ------------------------- Jeff Bossert ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In my opinion, the NCF is one of the finest community networks in the world. While many community networks have gone bankrupt or limit their services to a text only interface, the NCF continues to survive and offers modern, relevant services to its membership. I believe that the success of the NCF is directly attributable to the people who give their time and effort to keep it going. The key players include the many volunteers (including volunteer board members) and the staff that the NCF has employed. The continued success of the NCF will rely on the NCF's ability to attract and retain experienced, capable board members. Accordingly, I urge you to make an informed decision when casting your votes. A number of you have expressed concerns that the NCF is no longer free. I am sorry to hear that you feel this way - it never was free to operate, but we used to receive considerably more government funding, so we didn't have to ask the membership that much. Our current policy is to require a minimum donation, which can be in the form of volunteer service. This can be as simple as recommending the NCF to your friends or maintaining a web page. If you choose to donate money, we suggest a minimum of $24/year ($2/month, or the cost of 2 cups of coffee). Commercial ISP services generally start at $5/month ($60/year) and provide limited connection time. If you really can't afford to contribute in any way but would like to remain a member, please contact our executive director at: execdir@ncf.ca We strive to keep the costs of operating the FreeNet as low as possible, but we have a number of fixed costs, such as the costs of 169 telephone lines which provide access to our computer systems at Carleton University, and 3 full-time staff who are required to keep the operation going. About a year ago, we launched the NCF's Extended Access Project which provides 48 of Mitel Corporation's telephone lines for use by NCF members. This is an example of how the NCF's board and staff found a creative solution to providing 48 additional lines to the membership without incurring any additional costs! The NCF operates as a community co-operative whereby a large group of people pool their efforts to help each other. If you like the service, please support it. --- End of statement by Jeff Bossert ------------------------- Chris Hawley ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [The candidate did not provide information] --- End of statement by Chris Hawley ------------------------- Ken McKinlay ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I first joined the National Capital Freenet in its early days. It was a great place to meet people from the Ottawa area. After a couple of years I let my membership lapse. The reasons were varied, ranging from using it only once a month, to "the Internet". Two years ago, I started looking for a place on the Internet that had local information. Lo and behold, it was the NCF! A year ago, after lurking around, I decided to start becoming involved in the NCF, but I wanted to make sure it was not going to be a waste of my time. Did NCF have a future? Was it properly run? So I attended some board meetings. That is where I found out that, NCF can survive and the board, though diverse, does an excellent job. A couple of weeks ago I was asked if I wanted to be nominated and I said yes. I bring a couple of skills to the NCF board: I speak both "tech" and English and I can listen. Where I work, I am responsible for the network and UNIX systems. I deal with the end-user, outside clients, management and my peers. Being able to interpret the needs of all parties and act as an "interface" between the groups is crucial. I see a need for this at the NCF. Being able to present your needs to both the board and the technical staff in an understandable fashion is critical in keeping NCF current. The skill to listen is even more important since it acts as a bridge between diverse and divergent ideas. If I do not listen to what you want from the NCF, I cannot do my job of representing you on the board. The items I would like to address, when elected, are: 1. A clarification of the "Pay or volunteer" position; 2. Establishing NCF as an "Internet Island" for the National Capital Region; and 3. Ensuring the continuing existence of the NCF as a free service for the National Capital Region. I do not have any great or magical solutions to these and other issues. I look to you for help in finding workable solutions. I hope you will elect me to the National Capital Freenet board. I believe I have something to contribute and will do a good job in representing you, the members, on the board. --- End of statement by Ken McKinlay ------------------------- Stephen Toy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The mission of the NCF 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." I have been the Computer Services Manager at the Ottawa Public Library for the last ten years. It is my mission to use technology effectively to bring information to people. The mission of the National Capital FreeNet is quite similar to that of the public library, a mission which has become the focus of my profession. Public access stations was my main priority when I served on the NCF board in 1992 to 1995 - Stations are now available at all Ottawa Public Library locations, as well as other libraries in the region. I believe that the Volnet project is an excellent community outreach service that I have a keen interest in. The ideas of virtual domain hosting and the ability to run mailing lists are areas I am familiar with. I feel that with my previous involvement on the board and my association with the Ottawa Public Library, I would be an asset to the Freenet board and it's members. --- End of statement by Stephen Toy ------------------------- Natalie Munro ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NCF is many things to many people. In spite of past donation patterns, I think that everyone who uses NCF is a supporting member. No-one wants NCF to close down, least of all me. In the next three years, I'll be pushing for more promotion of this virtual community locally. The value of NCF isn't in question; it's a solid place to hang ones hat, and there's no better place to launch into the bigger virtual world. The NCF is not just about the Internet, it's about people. Having spent three years in Complaints, I know that the members of NCF are first-class participants in what can be a somewhat alarming bigger Internet. As a group, I think we all have alot to contribute not only to ourselves, but to the bigger whole. --- End of statement by Natalie Munro ------------------------- Phillipa Lawson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am 37 years old, and a lawyer by training. Since my call to the Bar in 1991, I have worked as a consumer advocate and counsel for the Public interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), a non-profit organization based in Ottawa. My professional work has focused on telecommunications regulation: I have represented residential consumers in all major telecom proceedings before the CRTC since 1991 when the long distance market was opened to competition, and I continue to be one of the few voices for the ordinary consumer in telecom regulatory matters. I have also represented various consumer and public interests before the Federal and Supreme Courts on matters ranging from the abandonment of railway lines to voting rights. My clients include the National Anti-Poverty Organization, the Consumers' Association of Canada, Action RJ seau Consommateur, One Voice, the Canadian Seniors, Network, Rural Dignity of Canada, and Telecommunities Canada. The single most important issue in my work at PIAC has been universal access to communications networks. With markets opened up to competition, we have been fighting an endless battle against increased rates for basic service, and the consequent difficulties this poses for low income households. At the same time, we have been working with other public interest groups, such as Canada's Coalition for Public Information and the Canadian Library Association, to ensure that the evolving Internet is not entirely consumed by commercial interests, and that a public space is reserved for community networking and non-commercial communications and activities. In early April, I will be speaking at the 1999 Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference in Washington D.C. on access issues, and how they are being addressed in Canada. Other issues which are occupying my work time these days include privacy, and in particular, the protection of personal information on the Internet. Privacy is fast becoming the most important civil liberties issue of our era -- we have allowed technology to get ahead of society. It's time to restore to the individual control over his or her personal information. I am part of an ad hoc group of privacy advocates seeking to establish a National Privacy Coalition for Canada. Outside of my professional activities, I am a competitive cross-country skier and cyclist, and an outdoor sports enthusiast. --- End of statement by Phillipa Lawson ------------------------- Sandy Campbell ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I don't have anything resembling an election campaign platform-- no "grand plan" to overhaul, renovate, and save the Freenet. I have done some reading and research, including watching the general and speaker's-corner groups, and am left believing that NCF is, by and large, well-led and well-managed. I don't know personally any of the people who have served on the board, but I believe they have done yeoman service to get us to where we are. What began as an idea just a few years ago has been built into a sophisticated community asset. Having admitted to being "pro-board," I confess that I found the newrenewal policy hard to defend, which I why I offered an amendment to by-law 3 which would NOT have made user-fees mandatory, but would have removed the prohibition. Personally, I'm not much of a surfer, nor a participant in chat groups. I like the sense of `belonging' to Freenet. It's something like being a `member' of a credit union or caisse populaire rather than the `customer' of a bank. For me, the sense of community is probably best exemplified by the quick and patient `help' that's given to those like me whose computer know-how is limited. As a non-technical `generalist,' there are a couple of interconnected areas which interest me: A renewed effort to raise Freenet's public profile in the general community, and continuing the effort to increase membership and local `content,' especially among schools and young people. My hope for Freenet: That it become rich and powerful, for the benefit of its owner-members and of the community. A brief bio: Mostly worked as writer/editor during somewhat checkered career (weekly and daily newspapers, community radio station, The Canadian Press, Maclean-Hunter, Reader's Digest; executive-director Canadian Broadcasting League; editor, Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) Bulletin.) --- End of statement by Sandy Campbell