Chair's Report to Council 26/10/00
Welcome new Councillor
It gives me great pleasure to welcome Mark Harris, a new Councillor co-opted by the Council to replace Deb Struthers. Co-option requires a 75% vote of the Council, which is an indication of the value Mark is perceived as having. To take advantage of that, I have appointed him Chair of the Technical Committee immediately.
SRS Working Group final report
The final report of the SRS Working Group has been published, and it is appropriate to record thanks from me on behalf of the Council and the whole Society for the effort put in by this volunteer working group. On the assumption the Council will today vote to receive the report, the work of the Working Group is now at an end, and I am sure there will be support for a vote of thanks.
SRS Implementation Team
Now important to move to the implementation phase, which forms an important agenda item for the October Council meeting. The AGM resolution called for the appointment of an implementation manager, and we need to set up a process that provides a job description, a clear description of who this position reports to, and a time line for progress milestones. It is important that there be consultation during the implementation process with the membership, and possibly a final SGM to sign off on implementation.
Another major event during the period since the last Council meeting has been the Uniforum/ISOCNZ conference. From all reports it appears to have been a great success. Particular thanks is due to Beverley, for her pivotal role in organisation, and also to Sue, Richard, and Howard for presentations. Additional thanks go to Mark and Frank for preparing papers. We need to look hard at whether this is the way we grow our own conference, perhaps in the light of our rebranding discussions.
Media Liaison
The period has been typical for requiring me to make comment on behalf of the Association on a number of items to the press, including, most recently, discussion over the proposed Christchurch pornography site.
International Events
On the international front there is a separate report from International Affairs, but in summary, we had come to a critical phase of the ICANN relationship with CCTLDs. This is crucial to ICANN's survival, and of major impact on our own performance. It is the issue upon which I stood as Chair last December. We have, after three years of intense and costly (including personally) participation achieved a leadership position in Asia, and with the other CCTLDs. This is a forum in which New Zealand is listened to.
Council's work
I am pleased to report that following my comments to the last Council meeting, there have been signs of an increase in the work rate, as committees settle into their work. In particular, I am aware of work going on in a number of areas, in particular, legal and regulatory, impact, international, constitutional MEP, and "Answering Questions". There is more to do, and we will be reviewing our "to do" list, later in the meeting.
We are still not working, however, effectively on things we have decided to do -
- e votes on Maori diaspora report
- meeting to discuss business plan
- now no moderator of lists after very public adoption of position on this
- spec for SRS implementation manager
- appointment of new Domainz director
- branding strategy for ISOCNZ,
New CEO for Domainz
I had the opportunity during the previous month of welcoming, on Council's behalf, the appointment of Donna Hiser, as the interim CEO for Domainz. We welcome Donna to this meeting, and look forward to working with her in her new role.
Conclusion
Although much of our operation remains "frozen", by uncertainty over domains implementation, we appear to be making progress on a number of issues, and I look forward to continuing progress.
P C Dengate Thrush
Chair
ISOCNZ
© 2000 The Internet Society of New Zealand
Last updated 5 December 2000
