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Libraries, Health, and Internet

gnat — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:26:20 +0000

Not the solution to the world’s problems, just my agenda this week. Mon-Wed was in Christchurch for the LIANZA conference. Wednesday night, a HISAC dinner. Thursday is a HISAC meeting, the last with the current membership. Friday is an InternetNZ council meeting.

In Wellington Today

gnat — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:37:25 +0000

There’s an InternetNZ strategy day for the council. I’m not a mad fan of strategy for strategy’s sake, but Frank March (InternetNZ President) seems pretty keen to keep it practical. We’ll be nailing down issues like: who InternetNZ represents, what types of projects we can support, how we work with other organisations, and a bunch of financial policies to keep InternetNZ from any of the financial crises that can befall poorly-run organisations (running out of money, being surprised by obligations, etc.).

InternetNZ isn’t about to run out of money, but before we start funding a new round of projects it seems wise to get the ducks in a row so that they’re funded systematically and thoughtfully rather than spontaneously and piecemeal. InternetNZ’s revenue comes from .nz domain name registrations, and also we’ll be preparing the org for fluctuations in that business.

In today’s meeting, I’ll be acting in accordance with my belief that InternetNZ should: support the S92A battle, ensure the DIA’s censorware gets the critical opposition that it needs, have regular and useful contact with aligned sister organisations, and make better use of its members. I see today as clearing the path for action on these fronts.

Wellington on a Good Day

gnat — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:57:23 +0000

“You can’t beat Wellington on a good day,” say the Wellingtonians. Today is not that good day, however, and Wellington could be beaten like a red-headed stepchild. I’m in town Thursday and Friday. My agenda:

Nine to Noon
InternetNZ New Councilor indoctrination^Wintroduction
Silverstripe catchup (I’m on their advisory board)
Evensong at St Pauls (loves me the choral music)
Meet Clare Curran
LIAC meeting all day Friday

InternetNZ: Censorware: Phone call

gnat — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:29:04 +0000

(As a new councillor for InternetNZ, I will be pitching into the issues of copyright and censorship. I’ll blog all my InternetNZ work to keep folks following along at home up with the play. I’ll be walking the line between transparency and confidentiality, so I beg your forgiveness in advance if I don’t always provide blow-by-blow who-said-what-to-whom accounts of meetings.)

Today the members of the policy advisory group (PAG — what a lovely acronym) looking into the DIA censorware had our first phone meeting. We went over arguments for and against the filter, and attempted to identify the philosophical principles on which a response to the filter could be made. I was struck by how useful David Farrar was: he’s obviously spent a lot of time talking to people about this, and was able to play Devil’s Advocate when needed.

The InternetNZ staff will boil down what we said to a brief paper outlining where we stand, which we on the PAG will read this weekend and hopefully get out to members in the coming week. We’ve asked to meet with DIA but they’re “busy” and haven’t scheduled a date yet.