2018 Council elections

I'm standing for President for the final time because I have a sense of responsibility 'get the job done', and to my bones believe that our local internet community is better for having a lean and strong InternetNZ as a part of it.

I have been on Council since 2006. I started as a relatively fresh faced inexperienced governor keen to make a difference and keen to improve things. In 2009 I was elected as Vice President, and since 2014 have served as President. Thank you for allowing me the privilege to do that.

Looking back over the years, I have a level of satisfaction that the organisation has travelled and developed (not without its challenges) in a positive way and we're now positioned in a place to do more great things.

My part in this has been possible because of the set of councillors wisely put forward by the membership over the years, and because of the solid working relationship that myself and Vice President Joy Liddicoat have formed.

Looking ahead, I think that we need to consolidate the reforms of this year but we also need to see how InternetNZ can take a few bolder steps towards progress. Council and the organisation needs to prove that the recent changes are bearing fruit.

I think there are some possibilities around a new set of strategic initiatives around education/privacy, technology partnerships and a more dynamic approach to how we manage our financial resources/community funding.

I'm also keen on broadening our membership base a bit more than what it is. Our ability to act in a representative way in the local internet community depends to a degree on how broad our membership is. I think we could do a bit better there.

I'd like to see us more in touch with the upcoming generation of decision makers, influencers, and people with bloody good ideas. I'm keen to see how we can convert new 'fresh faced inexperienced governors' into people that can reliably guide the organisation forward in the future.

I don't want us to go backwards. I only want us to move forward. And I want to do all of this without compromising our role in being the kaitiaki of .NZ and play our part in the global network - we have to remain strong in this area.

I would like you to vote for me and allow me the opportunity to once more do that.

Thank you.

I am standing for Vice President because I love being part of InternetNZ. 

The role of Vice President is to assist the President in their duties and deputise as required. I fully support Jamie Baddeley, our current InternetNZ President. Jamie and I work together well and complement each other’s skills.

In addition to being Vice President for the last three years, I’ve served on the Council’s Audit and Risk Committee, Maori Engagement Committee and the Chief Executive Review Committee. I have supported the development of new, privacy protective, WHOIS policies as well as the second level policy review and the strengthening of our community engagement. In 2017 I believed it was time to upgrade our operating model so that we can be more innovative and better respond to the challenges that lie ahead. I was very closely involved in the organisational review, including as a member of the Council sub-committee established to support and implement this important work.

I was pleased that members and staff engaged in that process constructively and helped Council to the best possible outcomes by making strong submissions and vigorously testing the case for change. I believe we have completed this transformation in an open, constructive way, consistent with our operating principles. Our way of working has been in stark contrast to the difficulties our Australian colleagues in .au are experiencing and is, I think, a testament not only to the calibre of InternetNZ members, but also the strength of our membership model. I am proud to have been a part of those important changes and want to continue to be a part of InternetNZ in the next three years.

I want to ensure we continue to manage a world class ccTLD, to grow the capability of our members and support our staff. We have an excellent Chief Executive, Jordan Carter, I would like to continue to support him and all those in the InternetNZ and Domain Name Commission teams.

If elected for a further term I would continue to support the next phase of the organisational review and work to ensure members can see the innovation I know our new structure can deliver. The next three years will bring more challenges including privacy law reform and more debate about digital rights. I believe I can help meet those challenges: I spent the last three years working for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner including on issues of privacy, the Internet and new technologies.

I therefore seek the opportunity to serve you as Vice President and keep contributing to InternetNZ.

Kia ora!

I was first elected to the Council of InternetNZ in 2014 and served as a councillor for 3 and a half years. I have had a year hiatus and did not stand last year as I was just taking up a new role in government. I now have that new role bedded in and the support of my workplace to re-stand for election with InternetNZ.

I am an experienced commercial lawyer with a specialisation in Technology and have worked extensively with community. I have judgement when dealing with new issues that arise unexpectedly and a governance focus.

I was in favour generally of the re-organisation that InternetNZ has undertaken and would support  investigating and consulting on further rationalisation.

The initiatives InternetNZ has made to work with iwi are a good start but I recognise there is still a lot of work to be done.

I’m particularly interested in the issues of Internet access, net neutrality, privacy and security.

I’d be grateful if you could vote for me so I could help InternetNZ continue the work it has done in promoting connectedness, and building a better world through a better internet.

Ko Te Pane o Mataoho tōku maunga

Ko Te Manukanuka o Hoturoa tōku moana

Nō Malaysia ahau

Ko Tāmaki Makaurau toku rohe

Ko Te Piriti o Māngere tōku wāhi

Ko Vivian Chandra tōku ingoa

Tēnā koutou, Tēnā koutou, Tēnā koutou katoa

Seeing as this is an election statement for InternetNZ, I thought I would start by trawling through my Internet history.

I joined Internet NZ on the 13th of July 2012.

So I had a ball at #nethui and then took the plunge and paid my membership fee and became what they call a “card carrying member” (I still haven’t received my membership card, by the way).

Then the following year I was too cheap to pay the flights to Wellington, but did convince the boss at the time to send a junior colleague to spread the #nethui love. 

Then I came back in force in 2014, hosting the session (em)Powering Women & The Internet with the amazing @emilology. It resulted in a wee bit of controversy, a stern talking from Michelle A’Court from the stage and this radio interview.

I won’t bore you with much more… you can go ahead and scroll back yourself if you want https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&q=vivster81%20nethui&src=typd.

So anyway, a bit more about me. As my pepeha above says, I am from Malaysia originally (born there, came over when I was 8) but I consider Aotearoa my home now. This is where I met my husband and had my two beautiful boys (@dslchandra and @flynnchandra.

While these are all excellent reasons to consider somewhere your home, they are merely the icing on the cake that is Aotearoa for me. Having grown up here, I love everything about this place I call home.

Why should you vote for me?

I have worked in tech for my entire professional career (I’m not going to count the short stints in a butchery or a chocolate factory). I started off as a computer technician in a high school, moved onto being CTO at Amnesty International and most recently, I do my own thing helping non-profits and non-tech startups with their tech stack. I like to think of myself as the human talking to the computers on behalf of the other less-techy humans. I am super passionate about making the world a better place, it is why, I also teach self-defence and work with Ally Skills NZ as a facilitator.

I genuinely believe that this world can be an awesome and fantastic place for everyone, not just the ones privileged enough to be born in the right place at the right time. We collectively have so many resources; it’s the distribution that is the problem.

One of the things I do most of right now is work with OMGTech! which fits so well with the mission of InternetNZ, especially the most recent position paper on digital divides (https://internetnz.nz/digitaldivides). The fact that we have a digital divide in Aotearoa is nonsensical. OMGTech!, for those of you that don’t know, is the brainchild of Vaughan Rowsell (the genius behind Vend) and a few of his friends. They thought the same and wanted to do something about it. OMGTech! first worked to introduce kids to tech, and now, three years later, we have reached thousands of kids (most of them from our highest deprivation areas), and their teachers too!

Kia ora rā koutou, ko Di Daniels ahau.

My particular interest in the Internet itself and keeping it free and uncapturable is in the area of Human Rights and the Internet; Human Rights of the Internet and Human Rights on the Internet. One concern is around governments’ manipulation and collusion with providers to restrict access to certain sectors of society for political means (e.g. during North Dakota pipeline protests or on Manus Island). It appears those in most danger of this exclusion are indigenous, refugee and lower socio-economic groups.

My area of expertise is Digital Inclusion by promoting community empowerment and leadership to make digital enablement and capability meaningful for all. Since 1999 I have been working alongside underserved communities to promote capacity building through digital education and access, firstly through academic support in polytechnics and then through the 20/20 Trust as National Coordinator of the Computers in Homes programme for 14 years.

Prior to that I was a Treaty of Waitangi educator for 5 different Polytechnics for 15 years; working with students and staff in Schools of Business & Technology, Trades, Nursing, Teaching, Social Work and Counselling Degrees. I have an education background from primary to tertiary levels and a Masters in Māori Education and Certificate in Social Studies, so it is probably fair to say I view technology and the internet through this community ICT enablement lens. This background helped me in setting up the Stepping UP programme with Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential Cybergrants Committee in 2009; which still runs digital literacy through NZ libraries and community hubs.

My passion is for those communities and demographics traditionally overlooked and bypassed for opportunities the rest of us take for granted and I have spent decades building trust relationships to support their ability to use the internet to further their aspirations and realise their goals. At the same time I have been an outspoken advocate of the underserved through various forums and around numerous tables including TUANZ, Crown Fibre Holdings, the Telco’s, RSP’s, LFC’s, MBIE and InternetNZ.

I am good at start-ups so I bring a fresh look to new and old issues. I have served in governance on health, education, environmental and cultural advisory boards and was a Founder Member of the Kāpiti Women’s Centre. I enjoy finding creative solutions for addressing issues of inequity and have spent my life striving for social change.

At the end of 2016 I created the Digital Wings Programme for RemarkIT Solutions and set up The Digital Wings Trust. Digital Wings encourages corporates to donate their electronic equipment whenever they upgrade staff computers so that viable kit can be refurbished and donated to charities whilst e-waste is diverted from landfill. Preference is given to community organisations working in youth education and creating opportunities to employment. A huge part of this work centres on Digital Inclusion and Access. If community does not have access to the resources of the corporate world and vice-versa, Digital Wings acts as a bridge to connect them and create win-win-win solutions for corporate social responsibility, digital inclusion and our shared environment.

In 2018 I received TechSoup’s Lifetime Service Award for Technology Service in the Charitable Sector and the NZ Order of Merit for Services to Digital Literacy Education.

What I would bring to the InternetNZ table is an in-depth knowledge from the coalface of community digital inclusion; my ability to relate to underserved communities, support their aspirations and commit to adding opportunity in meaningful ways. I have been privileged to witness how full participation in the internet and technology space can benefit people who were digitally excluded; how Digital Inclusion changes lives and transforms communities.

Nā reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou kia ora rā koutou katoa.

I have just completed one term on the Internet NZ Council, where I also served on the Audit and Risk Committee, the CEO review committee, and the Restructuring Sub-committee.

After the restructuring, INZ is now entering a new phase as a merged organisation, and I believe the council would benefit from my past experience during this transition and transformation phase. My role would be to support the management team in focusing on creating a new strategy, on incremental change and improvement, and ensuring stability of the services we provide.

I would focus on four governance areas, if re-elected.

1. Ensuring the Registry is not compromised.
2. Professional governance, representing the membership more effectively
3. Partnering with Māori, moving forward together
4. Business Development, a review

In detail:

1. Ensuring the Registry is not compromised.

As holder of the .nz delegation, INZ has a role in running and maintaining critical NZ technology infrastructure.

The running of the registry at arms-length (as NZRS) provided the opportunity to create a world-class service that was free from external tampering.

The council must ensure that the practices and values that gave us a stable, predictable service are well understood, and baked-in to the new whole organisation.

The Audit and Risk committee (which I would like to continue on) will ensure that INZ effectively integrates the NZRS risk management practices into the new organisation, and ensures that continue to be operationalised.

2. Moving to professional governance

In reducing the size of Council we signaled to members a shift in focus to governance, where directors are more concerned with choosing the right things to do strategy), rather than with operational detail.

This transition has already begun with changes to the format of council meetings and the information we receive.

The members have an important role to play, and I welcome the work that Andrew has started in this area, so we can find a more effective ways to hear our membership.

3. Partnering with Māori

I would like to see an inter-cultural space created where Māori and Pakeha can join and find creative solutions that meet the objects of The Society. Partnership is at the core of Te Tiriti o Waitangi(The Treaty of Waitangi), and a partnership approach ensures that we honour this document in a practical and substantive manner.

This will be a on-going journey for the organisation as kaitiaki (guardian) of the internet, but one it must take.

4. Business development

Revenue from .nz - which allows the society to carry out its objects - is in good shape. We are in a better position than many other ccTLDs, but data suggests that revenue will soften over time.

The new INZ needs to do some serious strategic thinking about business development (BD).

Should be doing any BD at all? Might we need to scale back public-facing work in future, instead? Can we partner with other organisations to do more, with less effort? Do we just stick to our knitting? As mentioned above, the registry itself must not be compromised by any work in this area. I look forward to your feedback and thoughts on this tough issue.

- Richard Hulse (current INZ councilor)