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Annual ReportsAnnual reports 2000-2001 Los Angeles Chapter State of the Internet
Society Los Angeles Chapter
The first public meeting leading to the formation of the Los Angeles Chapter was held at Mort's Deli in Pacific Palisades, California in June 1998. More than half of the dozen people who attended this dinner meeting were already members of ISOC. Following is the report from that first meeting: The agenda topics included: · Internet
Society Some of the discussions included: · The current
methods (including costs and capabilities) of connecting to the Internet
Many of the people who attended that first meeting remain as ISOC and ISOC-LA members, even those who have moved away from the area. The Chapter was recognized by ISOC in October 1998. The first slate of Board members and Officers were installed in November 1998. In our first two years of existence we tried several meeting models to find one that brought the most value to ISOC-LA and our members. For nearly a year we held all meetings at UCLA in the Department of Computer Science. For another year we rotated meetings between the Glendale Career College in Glendale and the American Intercontinental University in Playa del Rey. Scattered through those times we held special meetings at locations such as the iNetVersity near the Los Angeles Airport and smaller, Special Interest Group meetings at business and community centers around the area. Most meetings have been small (from 20 to 50 people). Most events have been well attended (from 80 to 300 people). The various locations seemed to attract a different set of members - almost to the point of creating sub-groups. Current Status: We started the year 2000 at the end of the International Y2K Transition - just like everyone else. However, ISOC-LA played both leadership and execution roles during the Transition by representing Internet Users and Content Developers/Providers around the world. We distributed information to other ISOC Chapters and coordinated reports from them, as well as from the general public, during the Y2K Transition event. The worldwide coordination was accomplished using a conference bridge and a number of web sites involving the U.S. President's Y2K Council, the International Y2K Coordination Council, the Asia-Pacific Internet Association, the North American Network Operator's Guild, and many other organizations responsible for the infrastructure of the Internet. Both ISOC and the U.S. President recognized the efforts of the small team we put together at ISOC-LA in support of the Y2K Transition of the Internet around the world. Our greatest reward was the realization that, given the proper motivation and resources, worldwide activities can be successful and can be coordinated within our capabilities. We are now in the process of nominating and electing new Board members and Officers for completing our transition to an organization that is woven into the fabric of our community. What this means is that ISOC-LA is working to integrate the goals and objectives of the Internet Society into the relationships between the organizations and individuals with which we interact. Examples of these include ISOC-LA taking a leading role in the Industry Relations Committee of the Digital Coast Roundtable and on the Technology Committee of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce. We have also developed and continue to nurture relationships at the executive level between ISOC-LA and the city governments in our area as well as with other professional and commercial organizations with similar interests and working in similar community spaces. Examples of these include working with the Pepperdine Law School Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Law; larta - the Southern California Technology Alliance; Association of Intenet Professionals Chapters in Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego; Virtual Interactive Community; People for Internet Responsibility; Women in Film; Women in Technology International; and many other organizations with both local and international presence in our area. The ISOC-LA membership has not grown in the past year. One of the main reasons for this situation is that the Chapter has been enduring a learning experience involving an organizational problem that resulted in our financial records being made unavailable to us by our past Treasurer. It took months to get past that problem. The problem began during the time in which we were changing credit card processing services, upgrading our web sites and servers, preparing for elections, and preparing for membership campaigns. We felt it would be counter-productive to bring a lot of new people into this situation and to report to our members that we did not have control of our financial records and activities. These learning experiences have become a part of our organizational culture. We will do a much better job in the future in many areas, including management, accounting, and communication. Now that we have recovered
our financial records, we have installed a new Treasurer and are in the
process of reviewing and organizing the records (a summary financial statement
for the year 2000 is attached) so we can get ourselves back into full
operation. One of our primary efforts for the foreseeable future is the formation and implementation of the Digital Divide Task Force both as a viable organization in our community as well as an example, which we hope to assist other ISOC Chapters and related organizations to spread throughout the world. The first step in this process is to fully develop the relationships identified above in order to foster the shared development of the Task Groups, which make up the Task Force. ISOC-LA has accomplished being identified in the leadership role for this effort and will be moving into "build mode" after the INET'2001 meetings in June 2001. The five Task Groups that will make up the components of the Digital Divide Task Force, and the information being developed for their startup activities are: a. Metrics: tracking, gathering, reporting
b. Marketing and Communications: media, promo, PR, political and community relations.
c. Accessibility: resources, recipients
d. Research: collection, assessment
e. Management: group coordination, liaison
Additional learning experiences have led us to focusing on organizing major events and projects rather than periodic programs. The dinner meeting, at which Vint Cerf was our guest speaker, this past June was one of our most successful events of the year and accomplished many goals. Our periodic programs were competing with the programs of related organizations and resulting in fragmented membership sub-groups. To support our members needs for periodic programs, we partner and sponsor selected programs and activities of our related groups. That gives us the ability to focus our people and resources on the larger events and projects. It also makes the members of these related groups more aware of the Internet Society and our special events and projects. The redesign and upgrade of our web site includes creating sections of the web site that are dedicated to classroom use in such a way that all levels of classes may have an opportunity to engage in classroom experiences that may be viewed in public. This is a function fostered by our Education Committee and supported by our Communications Committee. The opportunity to share membership with the related groups in our area create a "participation ramp" that will enable our Membership Committee to better work with prospective and current members of ISOC and ISOC-LA. This also provides the tremendous talent pool to support the Digital Divide Task Force and our other community-based activities and projects. Elevating our activities to encompass the entire community, and at the executive level, opens opportunities to enhance our leadership and extend our influence to potential organizational members for ISOC and ISOC-LA. We are looking forward to a very exciting and active year 2001 and beyond!
James Butler, Chairman
of the Board - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Total Assets: $4,345.29 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY Liabilities $0.00 Total Liabilities and Equity $4,345.29 - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - INFLOWS Total Inflows $18,790.76 OUTFLOWS Total Outflows $18,790.76 Overall Total: $0.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Note: These reports were constructed from partial bank statements, scattered receipts, online reports from our previous credit card company, and email messages between officers of ISOC-LA. A more complete picture will be created after the full reconciliation and audit of the Chapter's financial status is completed. |
