Executive Director's Report May, 1998 =========================== June 09, 1998 By Christopher L. Cope (execdir@freenet.carleton.ca) Contents: 1. Funding and Public Relations Update 2. NCF Administration 3. Member Services and Future Initiatives 1. Funding Update ================= a) Donation Data - New Registrations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While a small improvement in new member registration was recorded, perhaps in part due to the membership drive, new member registration continues to lag behind Budget by about half. A higher than anticipated number of these donated and the average donation is larger than predicted, resulting in donation revenue of $3,067 for the month from new registrants which is in fact 9% higher than Budget. On an annual basis however, we have fallen behind budget by $1,489 or -9%. No. No. % Of Avg. Regist New Budget Regist Memb $ Budget Regist Donat'n Memb. (No.) Var Donate Donate Amount ($) Var Donat'n All New ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ All'97 6,923 2,295 33.2% $47,395 $72,000 -34% $20.65 $6.85 Avg'97 577 191 33.2% $ 3,950 $ 6,000 -34% $20.65 $6.85 Jan. 305 666 -54% 145 47.5% $ 3,308 $ 4,262 -22% $22.81 $10.85 Feb 254 562 -55% 132 52.0% $ 3,246 $ 3,594 -10% $24.59 $12.78 Mar. 242 538 -55% 131 54.1% $ 2,965 $ 3,441 -14% $22.63 $12.25 Apr. 239 526 -55% 117 49.0% $ 3,412 $ 3,364 1% $29.16 $14.28 May 222 442 -50% 123 55.4% $ 3,067 $ 2,826 9% $24.93 $13.82 Jun. 512 $ 3,279 Jul. 823 $ 5,268 Aug. 750 $ 4,800 Sep. 767 $ 4,908 Oct. 696 $ 4,454 Nov. 529 $ 3,387 Dec. 413 $ 2,642 ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ YTD'98 1,262 2,734 648 51.3% $15,998 $17,487 -9% $24.69 $12.68 Avg'98 252 547 -54% 130 51.3% $ 3,200 $ 3,200 -9% $24.69 $12.68 c) Donation Data - Renewals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The trend that seemed to begin in April continues, with renewals falling behind Budget by 23%. Unlike registration however, the average donation is smaller than anticipated resulting in revenue that is under Budget for the month by 54%. On a year-to-date basis, our revenue from renewals is under Budget by $63,479 or -37%. No. % Of Avg. Renwl No. Budget Renwl Renwl $ Budget Renwl Donate Renwl (No.) Var Donate Donate Amount ($) Var Donatn All Ren ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ All'97 13,235 18,000 8,611 65.1% $186,716 $202,500 -8% $21.68 $14.11 Avg'97 1,103 1,500 718 65.1% $ 15,560 $ 16,875 -8% $21.68 $14.11 Jan. 1,544 1,734 -11% 965 62.5% $23,167 $ 27,123 -15% $24.01 $13.36 Feb 1,320 1,470 -10% 869 65.8% $21,415 $ 37,467 -43% $24.64 $14.57 Mar. 1,620 1,601 -1% 899 55.5% $22,759 $ 34,426 -34% $25.32 $14.22 Apr. 1,337 1,616 -17% 938 70.2% $23,555 $ 36,535 -36% $25.11 $14.58 May 1,028 1,336 -23% 653 63.5% $15,838 $ 34,662 -54% $24.25 $11.85 Jun. 478 $ 23,953 Jul. 206 $ 8,832 Aug. 188 $ 4,551 Sep. 192 $ 4,307 Oct. 174 $ 4,233 Nov. 132 $ 3,643 Dec. 886 $ 8,656 ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ YTD'98 6,849 7.757 -12% 4,324 63.1% $106,734 $170,213 -37% $24.68 $15.58 AVG'98 1,370 1,551 -12% 865 63.1% $ 21,347 $ 33,888 -37% $24.68 $15.58 c) Membership Activity: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Membership stands at 19,332, a drop of 4.8% during the month. The number of renewing members this month at 1,028 is approximately the same as the number who have not renewed (archived) at 1,255. Exit interviews (telephone survey) will be conducted this month to attempt to ascertain typical reasons for not renewing. |Member | Current |To line| Actual |Ratio |Number Forecast Number Number Number # of % inc.| |Of New No. of Members Members Members Members -dec. |Lns :1 |Members Members Renewed Un-arch Archvd. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~|~~~~~~~| ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ May. 62,877 n/a|169 372| 372 1,831 0 0 Jun. 43,170 -31.3%|169 255| 654 654 18 20,361 Jul. 28,280 -34.5%|169 167| 651 605 103 7,919 Aug. 27,980 - 1.1%|169 166| 484 448 68 7,739 Sep. 22,996 -17.8%|169 136| 467 320 100 6,145 Oct. 21,527 - 6.4%|169 127| 314 248 76 1,870 Nov. 21,361 -0.8%|169 126| 234 529 266 61 501 Dec. 21,125 -1.1%|169 125| 193 413 728 42 421 Jan. 20,996 -0.6%|169 124| 305 666 1,544 16 495 Feb. 20,970 -0.1%|201 104| 254 562 1,320 74 343 Mar. 21,000 0.1%|201 104| 242 538 1,620 13 316 Apr. 20,317 -3.3%|201 104| 239 526 1,337 55 899 May. 19,332 -4.8%|201* 96| 222 442 1,028 43 1,255 * The number of lines is taken at 201, being our original 169 lines plus the new 32 Extended Access lines, which became operational in February. e) Member Usage Data ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Usage declined marginally this month (approx. 2%) on the main modem pool, but increased on the Extended Access service. PPP usage on the main modem pool has increased to an average of 22%. All users of the Extended Access node are PPP users, and the server is now fully utilized frequently during peak periods (busy signals are now becoming a factor). Note that in the table below, the Max. figure at 70.8% represents a percentage of all 48 ports of the Mitel server, when in fact, only 32 lines are currently available. Similarly, the average usage at 11.7% can be restated as approximately 18% No. Of No. Of | Max # Avg # Max % Avg.% | Avg. Weekly Unique | PPP PPP PPP PPP | No. Sessions Users | Users Users Usage Usage | Busy ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ | ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ | ~~~~ Sep. | 9.3% 0.7% | Oct. 80,169 | 3.3% 2.0% | Nov. 74,359 10,150 | 39 12 13.3% 6.4% | Dec. 74,816 9,655 | 39 14 20.7% 7.4% | Jan. 74,270 9,683 | 52 19 27.7% 10.1% | Feb. 71,271 9,299 | 52 19 27.7% 10.1% | Mar. 72,417 9,333 | 52 19 27.7% 10.1% | 1.2 Mar.EA | 26 5 54.2% 10.4% | Apr. 65,844 8,576 | 49 19 26.1% 10.1% | Apr.EA | 32 9 66.7% 18.8% | May 64,439 8,235 | 58 22 30.9% 11.7% | 1.1** May EA* | 34 12 70.8% 25.0% | * EA: traffic on the Extended Access Lines at Our Mitel node ** 1,500 tries during period - max 7, median 1 f) Sponsorship, Homepage Data and Information Providers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four new organizations requested organizational accounts this month, bringing our total to 26. The number of I.P.s remained static. The number of members with personal homepages dropped to 1,231 (from 1,319), but the percentage of members with homepages changed very little as the number of members also declined. Org. Org. | Line Line | New Total Free -Dec. | Home of Accts Accts | Spons Spons | IPs IPs Pages % | Page Memb ~~~~~ ~~~~~ | ~~~~~ ~~~~~ | ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ | ~~~~~ ~~~~ Apr. | 1 1 | 2 | May. 4 4| 1 2 | 4 | Jun. 0 4| 1 3 | 2 | Jul. 1 5| 1 4 | 2 | Aug. 1 6| 0 4 | 2 | Sep. 2 8| 0 4 | 1 | Oct. 3 11| 0 4 | 1 | Nov. 3 14| 0 4 | +/-300 55 |1,224 5.7% Dec. 0 14| 1 5 | 1 301 57 3.6% |1,205 5.7% Jan. 1 15| 1 6 | 28 329 56 -1.8% |1,310 6.2% Feb. 2 17| 0 6 | -7 322 67 19.6% |1,316 6.3% Mar. 1 18| 0 6 | -1 321 66 -1.5% |1,319 6.3% Apr. 4 22| 0 6 | 0 321 65 -1.5% |1,319 6.5% May 4* 26| 0 6 | 0 321 71 9.2% |1,231 6.4% * New Organizational Accounts: Business & Professional Women - Ottawa Pastel Society of Canada Ottawa Folklore Centre Home Business Association Mainstreeter (missed in last month's report) g) Government Grants ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (i) RMOC We received written notification turning down our proposal for funding from the Region for a program to assist small and emerging businesses in developing an Internet presence, and in using the Internet as a tool to enhance their sales opportunities. 36 Organizations, with proposals totaling $1,007,450 competed for a funding budget of $ 269,000. Our proposal met the project criteria (5 out of 5), but was declined on the basis that: "Competes with small private companies. The project does not demonstrate quantifiable economic benefits within RMOC." (i) Industry Canada We hope to have a proposal drafted by late summer to present to Industry Canada. h) Public Relations Update ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FreeNews - monthly is available in text format, at "go freenews" and on the web at: http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/freenews/. Ads were run in both Monitor Magazine and Ottawa Computes, and again, these ads promoted our "Member-get-a-Member" drive. Planning for the Bike rally "Harvest Ride", a jointly sponsored event with Citizens for Safe Cycling continues. The proposed date for the event is Sunday, September 20, 1998. Three different races will be held during the event (names to be confirmed): - 100K Challenge Race - 35K (did not settle this title) - 15K Family Adventure Race i) Funding Administrivia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The on-line list of donor files was updated to reflect all April donations. Thank You letters were sent to all donors. j) Outreach ~~~~~~~~ (i) Rainbow Women's Centre: Beginning Thursday June 4, 1998, two students from the Centre's "Webmaster" training program will work in the NCF office as co-op student/workers. In addition to these two, discussions about a presentation to several other affiliated groups are underway. The centre has agreed to sponsor one modem line and will make a $600 donation. (ii) Webgrrls: Sheila Alder was the guest speaker at the inaugural meeting of the Webgrrls Ottawa chapter on May 15/98. There were approximately 25 women there, some of whom were present or former members of the NCF. Sheila stressed the new features of FreeNet (graphical access, extended access lines) and the "Member-Get-A-Member" campaign, and distributed brochures and auto-install diskettes. 2. NCF Administration ====================== a) Top Five Priorities ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (1) Membership Development: - Continue Member-Get-A-Member membership drive. - Develop plans for Senior Citizen Internet Clubs (2) Revenue Development: Continue team development, plan and execute funding project(s) (3) System Upgrades and Technical/service additions - Install and test5 new services: Webchat and ftp (4) Financial: Explore ways to reduce telecommunication expense. (5) Projects: Pursue Industry Canada funding proposal b) Network Upgrades ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (1) Apache 1.2.6 was installed on freenet1. It's Running on port 8000. This webserver will serve as an alternate, to our main Webserver and will facilitate a number of new services. (2) An ftp server: ncftpd has been installed on freenet1 to replace SUN's ftpd for a test run. Using a valid NCF account and password pair, will give members direct ftp access to their `public_html' directory, rather than having to z-modem to their work directory and then move the files. Plans include adding an ability for members to be able to use this new service by using a their userid with a suffix (eg. bz787-1) to access IP directories. (3) We have installed Netscape's Enterprise Server 3.5.1 on freenet1, running on port 80. The performance of this new server will be compared to our main webserver (Netscape Enterprise 2), running on freenet 4 to provide a server with more stable performance and improved delivery speed for webpages. The new version also offers features unavailable on the older server. (4) 28,284 files relating to the first accounts to be archived have been removed from the system and backed up on CD-Rom. This results in a disk space recovery of approximately 615MB. (5) A script to transfer password files from our authentication system at Carleton to the remote radius server at Mitel has been completed. The script runs automatically at approximately 4:20 PM. daily. c) FreeNet Next Generation Project ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In preparation for the new member database management system, Oracle 7.3.3.0.0 software has been installed on freenet1. Configuration is not yet complete, but the initial set-up and testing should be ready quite soon and work on the various member and staff interface tools can then be started. 3. Member Services and Future Initiatives ========================================== a) Member-Get-A-Member Campaign May 8th, 1998 to July 5th, 1998 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The campaign is progressing with somewhat sluggish results: Updated: Jun 9 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1,000 |----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----| New members ################## <-- 364 The "member-o-meter" which appears on the login screen and above, has been adjusted to lower the target from 5,000 to 1,000 members to make progress more noticeable. To date, 364 new members have joined, representing a total donation of $3,346 or about $9.30 average donation, which is somewhat less than our current average of $12.68. b) Progress with Auto-install Diskettes for PPP Connectivity ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The auto-install diskettes are complete and are being distributed in concert with the membership drive at Myers and at the FreeNet office. The CD-Rom copies, have been delivered to all local libraries with CD-Rom lending capabilities, and ought to be available for borrowing by June 12 (after library processing). A summary of what is on the CD together with a list of which libraries have it is at: http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/ip/freenet/public-sites/ainstall c) NCF Website ~~~~~~~~~~~ The basic (top level) website is now essentially complete. The next task is build on the work which has already been done, to extend the look and feel of the skeleton site to pages linked to it. This will involve a process of converting or creating pages which approximate some of the functions and information only available in Freeport menus. With a view to stepping back a little and enjoying the summer, Pat Drummond (ad995) has resigned her position as co-ordinator of the Web-Team. Discussions are underway to recruit a replacement. A hearty thank you should be extended to Pat and of course all the members of the Web-Team, who took this project from its infancy during the Webpage contest to the very mature site which we can now be proud of. d) Web Chat ~~~~~~~~ The Web-chat service is nearly ready. The theme, text and artwork for the initial site and chat rooms is complete and the server software has been run in test mode (Richard Bethell [cj034] ran it on his work server during non-business hours. Yannick has obtained a copy that runs in a Unix O/S and will install and start it shortly. There are authentication modifications to be made or added, and Yannick has been working with Magma (Magma Communications donated the server software) to resolve these questions. We plan however, to get the service up and running before adding the requirement for NCF membership as a bit of a tease, but will include a message indicating that after a certain date (likely 6 to 8 weeks), NCF membership will be required to use the service. e) ftp ~~~ As noted above, Yannick has installed an ftp server, which will be available after testing, for members to use any ftp client on a PPP connection, to move files to and from their public_html directories directly. This service will also allow (when fully operational) Information Providers and organizations to access their directories using ftp and for multiple maintainers to have access to these organizational and OP directories. f) Web-Mail ~~~~~~~~ One of the features of the new Netscape Enterprise Server 3.5.1, is its potential capability of supporting a Web-Mail service (similar to Hot Mail) that would allow NCF members to access their mail from any WWW browser. It's too soon to confirm availability of this feature, but we are working towards a system that will allow members to access their mail from a single mail-box, whether through one of our system-located mail readers such as MR, a POP mail server, or a new web-mail server. -- *** Christopher L. Cope, Executive Director *** National Capital Freenet / Libertel de la Capitale nationale tel. (613) 520-2600 ext. 8024 -or- fax (613) 520-3524