Graeme Beckett - Candidate

Contributions and skills

I provide services as a computer consultant along with webmastering, design and Web hosting. I've also spent time offering Internet and Web design courses. Additionally I've been a member and a volunteer assisting with the National Capital FreeNet for over 10 years. I've also been a member of the NCF's Board of Directors for 6 years. During my time on the NCF's Board I spent a year as NCF's President and served on several committee's. In the year 2001 I performed the duties of the Executive Director for several months while we were between personnel. During my time as a volunteer I offered services for several years as the NCF's Help-Desk Coordinator and assisted with the Documentation Team and Technical teams.

I receive a lot of feedback and ideas, both good and bad that is very pertinent to the smooth running of the NCF. The Board of Directors sets the focus of the Executive Director and the board ensures the goals are met. To continue to succeed the NCF needs to provide reliable access to mail, the web, our dial-up and high speed services.

What do you think are the most important functions of NCF for its members?

The National Capital FreeNet provides a community based means to access the Internet and provide email. Being a non-profit the NCF can keep our costs low and our members help out other members and community based groups who would be unable to afford Internet service elsewhere. During my last term we Introduced the NCF's high speed DSL service and we concluded our unique Internet Desktop service. Our high speed DSL is proving to be popular with current and new members.

Why do you want to be an NCF director?

Over the years the NCF has moved too slowly to upgrade our technical services and our online community based services. During my time as a Board member the NCF has made significant improvements to our services. We now offer 56k dialup access with virtually no busy signals. Our high speed DSL service was introduced just a few months ago. Now I would like to see the NCF provide additional high speed services that would be more affordable to a greater number of members. We also need to provide additional forums for enhanced community interaction both within the NCF and for the entire National Capital Region. I also see a need for providing some form of assistance for members in security issues such as viruses, worms and spyware.

Graeme Beckett