12th February, 2007

Minutes of the .au Community Domains Board Meeting

12th February, 2007
2:00pm
1 Queens Road, Melbourne

Present:  Tony Staley, Cheryl Langdon-Orr, Jo Lim, George Fong, Leonie Parkinson, Anne Morton

Apologies:  Paul Harcombe
Observers:  Killian O’Shaughnessy & Danielle Larkin (DCITA)

  1. Continuous Disclosure

There were no matters to be disclosed

2.  Confirmation of Minutes

The minutes of October 2006 meeting were confirmed.

3.  Finance Report

The board noted the January accounts.

4.  GM Report

The following issues were noted:

  • New Director

Appointment of George Fong as Director of auCD from 1st January 2007 has been lodged with ASIC.

  • auDA Grant Agreement

JL advised that Progress Report 1 was tabled at the auDA board meeting today and had been accepted.  auDA will provide the funding for 2007 by the end of February.

  • Marketing & Promotions

Events
auCD attended the official launch of Wyndham’s website on 1/12/06 and the Koonwarra Public Meeting to develop a community fire plan through their website.  auCD also exhibited at the ALGA National General Assembly 27-30/11/06.

Applications
39 applications have been received since the launch of which 10 have been approved and 5 websites are live (other than test and pilot sites).  10 applicants need to provide further documentation, 14 have cancelled and 3 have put their applications on hold as they need more time to provide documentation.  Primary reason for those who have cancelled are due to the current lack of support from their members for the initiative.

PR Activity

Summary media coverage to date was tabled.

  • Community Site in a Box (CSIAB)

1 registered applicant has indicated they will be using SiaB
2 pending and 1 postponed applicants have also indicated they will be using SiaB

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Shopfront have approached auCD about the potential of accessing SIAB for their Community Program.  The UTS Shopfront is a not for profit program which links disadvantaged and under-resourced community groups to university skills and resources.  The community initiated projects invariably require resources in website development and self-managed Content Management Systems.  UTS Shopfront, after researching potential resources, have identified auCD’s CSIAB as meeting communities’ need in terms of functionality, cost effectiveness and ease of use and is interested in referring groups to auCD for potential licensing of CSIAB.

LP advised that the UTS Shopfront will not advertise or promote auCD’s SIAB resources, but would like to refer individual community groups on an as needed basis directly to auCD.

LP also advised that some community groups referred to auCD by UTS Shopfront may be eligible for a CGDN, in which case there would be an opportunity for auCD to assist the group to apply for their CGDN in conjunction with purchasing CSIAB.

The Board noted that CSIAB was developed as a service for CGDN registrants, and it was not intended to be a stand-alone product.  However, the Board agreed that the funding generated from UTS Shopfront referred CSIAB licences could be used for the purpose of supporting other community groups in applying for both a CGDN and CSIAB. In this way, the UTS Shopfront proposal would fit within the purpose of auCD’s constitution which is to promote and encourage activities that will enhance the utility of the internet for the benefit of the Australian community.

  • Online Community Forum

Launched on 30th January 2007 and currently has 13 members.

 

  • Stakeholder Advisory Group

Next meeting scheduled for 22nd March, 2007 in Sydney.  Tourism and Business representatives are still being sought.

 

  • Constitution & Trust Deed

Amendments proposed by Maddocks to further clarify it’s not for profit status in the auCD Constitution were signed off by auDA and amendments in the .au Community in the Trust Deed were signed off by auCD

  • Marketing 2007

The 2007 Marketing Plan was tabled detailing marketing and promotional mix with the objective of increasing awareness and a focus on reaching the grass roots level. 

5. Board Correspondence

None

6. Other Business

  • Site in a Box hosting

     

LP advised that auCD had received a complaint about how hosting for the SIAB is being sub-contracted via SitePoint to an auDA accredited registrar who is a well-known and long-standing opponent of the CGDN initiative.  The Board agreed that auCD should source alternative hosting providers.  GF suggested several who understand the need for a pricing structure in line with community groups limited financial resources.

LP and GF to source alternative hosting provider.

7.  Next Meeting

The next board meeting is to be held on Monday 16th April at 2pm at the auCD office in Melbourne.