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Letter from the President

by Aki Namioka
CPSR President

CPSR News Volume 15, Number 2: Spring 1997

Dear CPSR Supporter:

This has been another exciting quarter for CPSR and I am eager to share the news with you. At the beginning of March we completed our search for a new Executive Director, and I am pleased to announce that Duff Axsom has joined CPSR as of April 7 (see the announcement on page 16). His experience in the non-profit world has already proven to be a valuable asset to the organization. Duff can be reached at duff@cpsr.org, and I hope you will join me in welcoming him to CPSR. With Duff's arrival, we also saw the departure of Duane Fickeisen, the Interim Director since July 1996. His tenure at CPSR, though only 9 months long, was a success in its goal of guiding CPSR through a time of transition. Duane's efforts made it much easier for Duff to step into a leadership position.

At the beginning of March, the "Community Space and Cyberspace" conference (DIAC '97) conference was convened in Seattle, Washington. The two-day conference was a tremendous success, with nearly 400 people attending. I would like to thank Doug Schuler for organizing and chairing the conference. In addition, his fundraising efforts made this conference a financial success as well. I encourage you to visit the DIAC conference website to participate in the resource bank (www.scn.org/tech/diac-97), and view the papers and write-ups. Part of the thrill of this conference was the diverse backgrounds of the people who participated. Carolyn Lukensmeyer, from America Speaks, reminded us of the power that can result from forging relationships with other organizations while working on common goals.

And speaking of joint efforts, on March 24, CPSR joined NetAction, the Utilities Consumer Action Network, and the Community Technology Centers in filing comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about "Usage of the Public Switched Network by Information Service and Internet Access Providers." The comments cautioned the Commission to be wary of proposals from the Regional Bell Operating Companies that would raise telephone rates for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and/or consumers of ISP services. These sentiments were echoed in comments to the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) that CPSR/Seattle filed on April 15. I would like to thank Craig Johnson for working on the FCC conmments on behalf of CPSR and for helping with the WUTC comments as well.

Looking ahead this summer, the next CPSR Board meeting will be on June 14-15 in the Palo Alto area. In conjunction with this meeting we will have a CPSR social to introduce Duff to the Bay Area CPSR members. Please contact the national office for more details, at 415-322-3778.

Aki Namioka
aki@cpsr.org

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