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Meeting talk:2012 AGM/Candidates/Kerry Raymond

Questions

Hi Kerry, I see you have yet to post a statement given that it is now after 1800 AEDT and the voting opens tomorrow I have a few Questions?

  1. What skills can you bring to the committee?
  2. Was there actions of the current committees that caused you concerns?
  3. what activities do think WMAU should be focusing on in the coming year?
  4. without naming or identifying the candidate is there any one who you concerns about working with to further the goals of WMAU?


Thanks Gideon Gnangarra 19:58, 15 November 2012 (EST)

Thanks for your questions, Gideon.

1. Skills. Please see my statement above (which was not available when the question was written).

2. I would like to be elected on my own merits, rather than by being critical of others. However, the changing of the funding basis for the chapter and conflict of interest issues in this and other chapters have caused me some concern. I fear if we don't get our house in "squeaky clean" order, we are at risk of losing funding leaving us unable to pursue our mission in relation to open knowledge for and about Australia.

3. I think we need to work on finding scalable ways to tackle projects drawing on a large base of volunteers (not necessarily those who are WMAU members). We seem to find ourselves flying the "usual suspects" all over the country because we can't draw effectively on local volunteers. I also think we need to have processes in relation to proposals that either decide to go ahead and do it or definitely decide not to; a lot of proposals seem to linger around and get tinkered with but never reach a conclusion. I think we also need to communicate better with the WMAU membership and the broader "friends of WMAU" (as we might call them). For example, I learned of some of big dollar value items in the 2013 plan only by reading the funding request to WMF, such things should not come as a surprise. This should not be interpreted as a criticism of the current committee; it takes a lot of time and effort to run things well and our committee members do not have huge amounts of spare time (after work and family commitments are attended to). I know there is a plan to employ someone. I sort-of agree with the need for more human horsepower than volunteers can provide, but first I think we need to work out what exactly we need the person to do as the list in the funding proposal seems very extensive for what appears to be a very poor salary (even if some of the commentators thought otherwise!). I say this having a lot of experience at employing people for research and administrative roles over the years.

4. I have had to work with many people not of my choosing over the years in international standardisation and large collaborative projects. As a result, I have chosen to do a lot of professional development with titles like "Dealing with Difficult People", "Emotional Intelligence", "Leading through Change" etc. If emotions are running high, I try to stay focused on the substantive issues and ignore the barbs. There is a saying "you can't always control what you think but you can control what you say"; I try to remember this (but hey I am only human too). Kerry Raymond 21:49, 15 November 2012 (EST)

Thank you Kerry for answering, I did expect you would have covered the questions once you posted your statement. Gnangarra 00:54, 16 November 2012 (EST)

Questions from Tony1

Kerry, it's good to see you as a candidate. Are you interested in women's issues, and do you have any ideas about how the chapter might promote the participation of women in both the chapter and on the foundation's sites? Tony1 17:38, 16 November 2012 (EST)