2019 Council elections

InternetNZ is a high calibre organisation

Users of the NZ internet are extremely fortunate that their interests are looked after by such a capable and professional organisation as InternetNZ. I’m a recent member of InternetNZ but as a long term supporter and business user, I believe I can materially contribute to its governance. 

As an engineering manager, though not an IT expert, I’ve been a passionate user and promoter of the internet use from its earliest beginnings. It’s clear we’re still on an exciting journey to help improve people’s lives because the internet is – as one of your councillors called it – the world’s nervous system.

Why I would like to be elected

I am offering myself for election in order to use my governance skills and experience to build on InternetNZ’s goals and work to 1) reduce the digital divide, 2) increase security to improve user confidence, and 3) to improve the world’s democratic systems through wise use of the internet. As a business developer, I also know that these ambitious goals can only be achieved by ensuring InternetNZ continues to grow its revenue.

Godfrey Bridger’s experience

I have two Electronic Engineering degrees and completed a Masters of Business Administration (MBA Exec) while running a small 25 person manufacturing business early in my career. I am a former chief executive or general manager of three technology-based organisations, I have Institute of Directors training and have served as an independent director (ie excluding ones in which I have ownership) on the boards of four organisations, including NZ’s largest electricity distribution company. I’ve also provided management, marketing and public relations consultancy to many large and small organisations through my own company Bridger Beavis and Associates Ltd (BBA).

I currently act as a management consultant for Strategic Lighting Partners Ltd (SLP) which advises on smart street lighting to facilitate the ‘internet of things’ and to create smart cities and towns. (The humble lamp post is humble no more!).

Hi! My name is Kelly Buehler, and I’m keen to continue my work with the InternetNZ Council for a second full term. 

For the 11 years I’ve lived in Aotearoa I have been deeply engaged in keeping the internet open and uncapturable, participating in many events including:

• ICANN64 

• The Future with High Speed Broadband Conference

• Australian Digital Alliance (ADA) Copyright forum.

• Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations in both NZ & Australia as an independent stakeholder.

• Public ACTA

• International Association for Public Participation conference (IAP2) which provided insight on public engagement. 

I've been on the teams that helped create unconferences at GOVIS and Net Hui, and— back in the day— was part of the teams organising opposition to the Section 92A “guilt-on-accusation” Act, and ran the first Open Government Barcamp and Hackfest.

I strongly believe that internet access is a human right. Professionally, I've spent over 20 years working in strategy, innovation, technology, and governance. As a technologist, I'm excited to support the open internet and dedicate myself to our technical future. The internet must be available to everyone, and must be protected from capture, whether by corporations or by governments. I also believe that InternetNZ is one of the best organisations in the world at engaging with government for the betterment of the people.

In addition to a deep awareness of the policy issues facing InternetNZ, my qualifications include the Institute of Directors' Strategy and Governance Courses, an MBA from Victoria University, and a qualification in Enterprise Architecture. My studies, hobbies, and career have given me a powerful understanding of ICT, Public Policy and how to communicate technical ideas to non-technical thinkers. My interests focus on the intersection of government and business, as shown by my MBA thesis on IT in the public sector, and in my coursework, including policy development at the Victoria School of Government. As an activist, I’ve spent many years on public policy, how public engagement models work, and being an active member of the Open Source and larger technology communities.

Having served on several boards (including Tohatoha Commons— formerly Creative Commons NZ), I bring a strong understanding of governance and what it takes to effectively provide forward-looking direction for organisations in transition. Combining that with my experience working professionally in large organisations, I’m keenly aware of the differences between governance and management, and where those boundaries are.

The past three years have seen an intense amount of activity in the InternetNZ Council, including the restructure of the entire organization. As the lead of the Organisational Review Working Group, I worked closely with a team of consultants to look at the way the three organisations (InternetNZ, DNC, RSNZ) worked, and made the key recommendations as to how those organisations should be reorganised to be stronger, faster, and more flexible.

On the Grants Committee, I read hundreds of applications and helped make decisions on grants. We have turned more of the grant-making process over to the staff to allow Council to focus on governance. And, as a member of the .nz Policy Committee, I’m helping review and update their current policies. I’ve also helped with early discussions on a financing plan.

I’m always increasing my knowledge of InternetNZ, our members, and the business through direct engagement. In addition to attending an ICANN meeting, I’ve also actively attended many Net Hui, member meetups, governance strategy meetings, special speaker and panel events, and NZRIF get-togethers. I work hard to help members feel engaged and consulted, as this is at the very core of what InternetNZ stands for. I put a lot of focus on knowing what members care about. I devote attention to ensuring InternetNZ does its best by our members as we move forward in building a better, more accessible, more open technical future.

The next three years are going to be just as intense as InternetNZ moves forward into its new shape, InternetNZ drives a truly impressive amount of input to world-level internet policy and governance. It’s my belief that in bringing my IT understanding, passion for policy, and skill in applying the tools of governance to the InternetNZ council, I've become a pivotal collaborator in a team that can make a positive difference to the future of NZ, as well as to internet freedom and accessibility worldwide.

This stuff really does excite me! It matters.

Please vote for me. I’m eager to continue doing the hard yards to adapt InternetNZ to the future needs of New Zealandand deliver the best, most-open, least-capturable internet possible.

Thanks for your consideration and your vote!

Kua raranga tahi tātou he whāriki ipurangi mo āpopo.

Ko Tararua te pae maunga.

Ko Te Whanganui-a-Tara rāua Wairarapa ōku moana.

Ko Punahou tōku roto.

Ko Waiohine tōku awa.

Ko Kurahaupō rāua ko Tākitimu ōku waka.

Ko Muaūpoko rātou Ko Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Ko Rangitāne ōku iwi.

Ko Ngāti Tamarangi rāua Ko Ngāti Moe ōku hāpu.

Ko Kohuturoa rātou Ko Pāpāwai Ko Hurunui-o-rangi ōku marae.

Ko Matiaha rātou Ko Hemi, Ko Ngātuere, Ko Taueki ōku whānau ingoa.

Ko Amber Craig au.

I have had the privilege of being an InternetNZ Councillor for the past six years and would like to return for another term. InternetNZ has had a huge amount of change over my past three-year term. It has been both exciting but also a challenge as Chair of the Audit & Risk committee to ensure we as a team managed our risks during this time.

I personally have been focused on Indigenous Internet and the impact decisions international forums have on the right of indigenous culture. I believe InternetNZ has a responsibility, as a trusted organisation with a seat at a lot of tables, to help bring our Indigenous whānau to the table and give them a platform. If we’re serious about being a bi-cultural organisation then I believe this focus needs to happen.

My work on the Māori Engagement Committee has been part of a wider Committee team effort. Although we have been very quiet externally we have focused on internal behaviours. We cannot expect to engage with diverse Māori communities without first having an understanding of Māori culture and being comfortable with Te Reo. This has seen us stepback and place our senior management teams on Tiriti o Waitangi training and provide waiata training. Something that I have been personally very supportive of and have personally dropped into the office, to help tautoko staff. I would also love to return to this committee to continue the work we have kicked off.

I have also got a renewed passion for rural connectivity having moved back home to a remote area in the Wairarapa. Our marae and communities, when talked to about Internet Connectivity, do not see the benefit. However, when told the story of how it might help, just enabled by technology, they are absolutely keen to sign up to the kaupapa. The next phase of rural broadband is unlikely to reach these areas or is too expensive so how do we ensure we bring everyone on the journey to have access to connectivity.

It’s been a challenging past three years with InternetNZ. However, I’ve been privileged to get support from my peers to step up into opportunities. I like to challenge staff and my colleagues to ensure that we as Councillors still maintain our Governance view and don’t dive into operational work. I think we have a great team and I continue to work towards challenging ourselves to be a better world through a better Internet.

As Manu Castells wrote a decade ago – the Internet has become a fabric of our lives.  It follows that those who are unable to effectively leverage the Internet are socio-economically disadvantaged. My aspiration to help promote the notion of digital inclusion in New Zealand led me to  establish the Center for Inclusive Digital Enterprise (CeIDE) along with a group of like-minded collaborators to share and learn.

A recent Mckinsey Global Institute Discussion Paper (May 2019) concludes that “the development and adoption of advanced technologies … has the potential … to improve well-being … through healthier life and longevity and more leisure”. I stand for an InternetNZ that is proactive in promoting the positive potential of Internet-based platforms, services and applications in order to reduce disruption and the potentially destabilizing effects on  society arising from their adoption. Alongside, the recently announced Digital Inclusion Blueprint, this is entirely consistent with the global “tech for good” initiatives being jointly driven by governments, industry and user communities.  InternetNZ has a clear role to play in these activities.

As a member of the Council, as part of the roles and functions spelt out in the Constitution, I hope to contribute to such ideas and discussion by engaging stakeholders (such as communities and the Digital Economy and Digital Inclusion Advisory Group) to advocate and develop shared visions of Use-Cases that could be transformational in the lives of the “have-less”.

Ravi currently works at the Information Systems Group of the University of Canterbury Business School. He received received his higher education in Canada including a PhD in Management Sciences from the University of Waterloo.  He had spent 10 years in industry as a consultant with IBM Global Services and Deutsche Telekom Asia.  His teaching, consulting and research interests are in digital strategies focused on digital transformations using design thinking and soft systems methodology. He is a Chartered Engineer (UK) and lives in Christchurch with his family.

Kia ora. The internet is one of the major circulatory systems of today’s societies - infrastructure we depend on, but too seldom apply long-term, strategic thinking to. It runs through almost everything we do, and every day becomes more important to how we live and work.

Its potential is enormous, both for good and for bad, and now more than ever we need organisations like InternetNZ to help us hold the line, and push towards good.

I’m honoured to to have put my name forward for election as a Council member.

aimee: #openX

My background and interests are varied, and always widening. As a voracious infovore - and social / environmental good nerd - I work in and advocate for open data, open government, civic technology, open source, service design, placemaking, tech (for good), social good and sustainability, strategy, entrepreneurship, foresight / futurecasting and innovation. 

At present, issues around data (including shared and open data, and data collaboratives), machine learning and AI, the internet, open smart cities, trust, governance, ethics and impact are foremost in my mind. 

We’re at a turning point. We could use these technologies to help us reach towards our potential, mitigate the effects of climate change and stop or reverse the damage we’ve done to our planet (and ourselves). Or - as we see in stories every day - we could do the opposite. I’m committed to doing whatever I can for that positive future, and I believe openness will be vital to that.

I’ve worked for a number of NZ’s most respected scientific, government and non-profit organisations. I’m founder of web agency Syntropics and co-founder of design consultancy GovWorks NZ. I’ve also worked on, founded or led a number of community events, from NetHui to GovHack NZ to NerdNite Wellington and Startup Weekend.

You can find some of my writing at https://medium.com/quicksand and https://medium.com/proceeding-by-inquiry.

InternetNZ: ever better

InternetNZ stands as New Zealand’s preeminent internet organisation, through its excellent policy, research and community work, not to mention its work on .nz.

It’s also long been one of my most beloved and respected organisations, and I’ve hugely enjoyed being a part of it and its work. 

InternetNZ brings a strong sense of social conscience, as well as pragmatism, to its laudable mission to advance an open and uncapturable internet in New Zealand, and help make a better world through a better internet.

I’d love to see InternetNZ not only continue its current great work, but continue to thrive and grow. This could include reaching into new policy areas like smart cities and next-gen communication, visualisation and immersive technologies.

It could also include furthering its existing work in areas like privacy and security: two of the largest internet issues of our time.

Further, I believe we could do more directly in and for our communities - urban and rural - from supporting civic technology initiatives to education and training programmes to infrastructure and connectivity itself. We could play a strong role - as the organisation wanting to help make a better world through a better internet - in helping to pilot and prototype what that looks like.

And we should continue to reach out to our existing membership, to ensure we’re meeting their needs - especially those groups which may be underrepresented - while actively working to grow that membership, and a space for diverse and inclusive backgrounds and views.

If you elect me to Council, I will work to achieve these goals.

What I can bring

• My passion for, and knowledge of, the openX spaces - open data, open government, open source, etc (and civic technology!).
• Context - I work at the intersections of the technical and non-technical, government and non-government, and keep a close eye on technological and sociocultural issues, and how they intersect. These, and my varied background, give me an ability to see wider issues and patterns.
• Great love for kōrero - I believe we all have much to learn from each other, and its only through real, open, honest and deep discussion that we can find optimal outcomes.