ICTUS Report April 2005
P O Box 5275
WELLINGTON
Ph 04 939 2800
Mob 021 963 268
Email jhiggins@netedge.co.nz
www.ictus.org.nz
Report to InternetNZ Council As at 21st April 2005
Current Situation
I have contacted most of the ICT Industry organisations and have had expressions of support from all with the exception of one (no need to say which!). Expressions of support are all very well but unless they translate into real submissions ICTUS will not be successful.
We have had only one real submission process through the system and that was the review of the Telecommunications Act. Unfortunately the timing of the call for submissions fell right across the Christmas break and it was difficult to get anyone’s attention at that time so I would say that the review was not a good indicator of what ICTUS might achieve in the longer term.
It is my feeling that for the initiative to be successful we need to do two things for each issue addressed:
- Each issue will need developed, a challenging ‘thinkpiece’which will cover the main the primary factors embodied in the issue. The whole idea is to challenge and motivate potential submitters so we should get at least two people who are passionate about the issue, preferably with very divergent views, to write the paper.
- We will need to email the stakeholder organisations and individuals to encourage them to access the Web site and to make a submission through the site. The emails will need to be very motivating and have a follow up!
I think it would be of value to put together a ‘Guideline to Making Submissions’paper for the site. This would be mainly aimed at organisations and individuals who perhaps are not used to making submissions but if they followed the guidelines could create a quality submission. The guidelines might have sections on:
- How your organisation operates in the environment covered by the issue.
- What will be or is the impact of the issue on your organisation
- What is your view of validity of the problem/s being addressed by the issue
- What outcomes would your organisation like to see from this issue
- The case for each of those outcomes
- How to summarise your submission
There undoubtedly will be more!
Issues
I have put together a list of possible issues, in no particular order, on which submissions might be sought. Clearly these issues will need to be prioritised and discussion seeded.
- Broadband Implementation/Rollout
- ICT Tax issues
- Software Licencing
- Practitioner Registration
- Digital Strategy
- ICT Business Development Support
- Employment/Recruitment
- ICT Education
- Standards Development and Adoption
- e-Government
- Peering
- Digital Rights Management
- Trusted Computing
I have today, received from the Commerce Commission a request for submissions on their recent determination on the TelstraClear Bitstream issue. Unfortunately the deadline for submissions is the 6 th May –only two weeks away! The chances of successfully encouraging submissions with such a short timeframe are not high, let alone the time needed to process them. Perhaps we should be making a submission about submission timeframes!
Finance
The issue of financing ICTUS is still to be addressed. I am still of the opinion that we should stay with the concept of a Secretariat rather than a Membership organisation. This does leave us however with the problem of funding the operation. Philosophically, the organisation which most benefits should pay. This would seem to be MED. However there could also be other beneficiaries and, of course, the ICT industry, whoever they are, will benefit as a body from being seen by Government as united in a cause.
I have said to Peter that I will continue looking after the initiative for a couple of months until some decision on its future is made.
(signed)
