Operations Update Tuesday, 16 May 1995 By: Lisa Donnelly, Executive Director 1. NCF Insurance Update Our insurance agent, Fran Wright, is getting inquiries into our Director's Liability from Guardian Insurance, the holders of our policy. Our contract is still valid but they are asking more questions about slander, acceptable use, etc. That is why we have yet to see the official hard copy of the Director's Liability policy. In addition, we are also continuing to arrange Equipment and Personal Liability Insurance. Due to the undefined nature of on-line communications with policy making bodies in the government, there are a variety of questions involved in securing all forms of insurance. Two of the issues Guardian is curious about are how we govern content with our Information Providers and what mechanisms are in place for handling or avoiding personal injury/slander. Risk management is part of the Treasurer's role. I will be sharing our file with Jeff Bossert, who will assist in updating the Board on progress. 2. Official Acceptable Use Policy It is crucial that our Acceptable Use Policy be finalized as quickly as possible. Our Complaints Administrator, Robert Pless, is working on refining the draft he submitted to the Board in March. Ideally we should have a version ready for Board analysis and possible approval at the June meeting. A second Board member should be assigned to work with Robert to ensure that this document gets finished in a timely manner. 3. Updating the NCF Hiring Policy Approximately two years ago, David Loan created a Board policy on Hiring. This is an important document for any organization. The staff and Board structure of the NCF has altered since then and we should revisit and refine the policy. As Executive Director, I will draft an updated version of a Board hiring policy, as well as an operation one and bring this before the Board for consideration. 4. The NCF By-law changes have been filed Our changed By-laws were sent to Industry Canada along with an updated list of our Board members and the date of our last Annual General Meeting. We are awaiting a letter of acceptance. 5. NCF's Time Limit Task Force working well The Time Limit Task Force created to handle time limit extensions and questions is working wonderfully. The current members are Brian Monkman and Natalie Munro, our Volunteer Coordinators, and two new volunteers to the NCF. Please welcome Phyllis Smith (aq619) and Simon Coakeley (br422) to our team of dedicated volunteers. Any questions or requests should be addressed to the "extensions" alias. 6. Survival Guide Update "The Official National Capital FreeNet Survival Guide" arrived on Tuesday, 2 May 1995 - just in time for the Public Meeting. Many have already been sold via the boutique. We found that there were errors in the table of contents. Prior to going to book stores, inserts were printed out and placed into the manuals on Saturday, 13 May. The books are now going to market. We have deals with the Cole's Books/Prospero's chain and with Smith Books. In addition, we are in the process of distributing to several smaller book, magazine and computer stores. Look for an on-line list of all stores which carry the Survival Guide sometime next week. 7. Menu Design Progress The Menu Design Task Force has decided on a format for restructuring the menus. It is not a large scale change but makes many improvements - especially in the way we can categorize our Information Providers. Details on the process of refinement and implementation are still being developed and we will be calling upon the Board for a test run soon. To look at the work in progress, please type "go xmenu." 8. ONIP Update Our request for NCF's next ONIP installment of $15,000 went out on 5 May 1995. We hope to see the grant money by the end of June or early July. 9. Finding replacements for volunteer Al Seaman Al Seaman has been NCF's main menu maintainer for the last two years. He has been the equivalent of a staff member for us. His departure for a full-time contract has left a sizable hole. Thanks to the many qualified and dedicated volunteers we have, there has been a strong response to the task descriptions posted in the volunteer coordinating area. We are now in the process of narrowing down our candidates and hope to have formal training begin in the next week or so. Don't forget to type "go al seaman" and post a thank you to our May Volunteer of the Month! 10. New Board Manual Inserts There are three new Board manual inserts ready for inclusion in our binders. Rebecca Last (as006), our Board manual volunteer, dropped off the following portions to me earlier this month: 1) Section 4: Unfinished Board business from 1994 2) Section 4: Motions for the Previous year In addition I have prepared an insert which details the four financial roles within NCF: the Treasurer, Accountant, Executive Director and Administrative Coordinator. 11. NCF's June Public Meeting The next NCF Public Meeting will be on Tuesday, 6 June. Miranda Gray is organizing an evening which will target people and organizations who do not have much knowledge of the system yet are interested in knowing how much work would be involved in serving as an Information Provider. This is a wonderful outreach event to the organizations of the region. Mike Anderson is assisting in publicizing this off-line as well. 12. Executive Director will be away on Holiday I will be away from the office for the following business days: Monday, 22 May through Wednesday, 31 May. A reminder notice with delegation and contact information is being sent around to all staff, Board members and volunteers. 13. Volunteer Recognition Party NCF is planning a big bash to honour all our volunteers. Please join us on Sunday, 4 June at Riley's Pub on 231 Rideau Street. The event starts at 1:30 pm and we will be making public thank-yous starting at 3:00 pm. Advance sign-up is required before Thursday, 25 May as Riley's will be providing food. To get more information and to confirm your attendance, please type "go helpers" and chose item 9. Many thanks to Andre Ouellette for getting us the space and working hard with staff and the volunteer coordinators to organize this event. We hope to see you all there for some fun, food and socializing. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lisa K. Donnelly, am412@freenet.carleton.ca Executive Director, National Capital FreeNet/Libertel de la Capitale nationale -----------------------------------------------------------------------------