Electronic Communications Coordinator Report
David Green, R3 ECC

This year has been an exciting one to participate as the ECC
coordinator for the Region.  The Communications Committee made a
decision to try to be very team oriented with various people
responsible for leading particular sub-topics but able to draw on the
whole team for expertise, energy, and collaboration.

The electronic services used by IEEE volunteers includes E-mail,
mailing lists, Newsgroups, Web services, IRC, aliases and as well as
experimental capabilities like richer conferencing environments and
collaboration services.  Region 3 has used all of these and received
various recognition within IEEE for this effort.  We have also tried
to share this experience with IEEE leading to the establishment of
several of these services as IEEE services (IRC, Newsgroups).

One of the efforts that is incomplete at this point, is the fight
against SPAM-ers who use our e-mail lists.  Proper configuration of
e-mail lists help but there are conflicts between usability for the
volunteer and blocking all SPAM through this mechanism.  I have been
working with an IEEE staff team to deploy SPAM blocking software as a
filter on the IEEE alias (and mailing list) system.  There should be
more to report by the end of the year.

I believe the major achievement of our team in the last two years is
the development of the e-conf capability (both IRC and newsgroups) for
doing the business of IEEE.  This approach provides a mechanism that
is cost-effective, allows broad participation, and works when
practiced.  I think we have seen several groups (such as the SPC,
E-Conf, ExCom, Conference Committee, two Councils) use this tool
effectively.  There are still challenges to more fully use this as a
mechanism to move from the "the lone chair" model (between
face-to-face meetings) to a" committee that meets" model.  If there
are impediments to broader adoption, please communicate them to me (or
someone else on the team) so that we might work to overcome them.

Thanks to Bill Ratcliff (E-Conf and Communication Committee Chair) for
his leadership and Dick Riddle for both the mandate and his continued
support and involvement.  Thanks to everyone who participated on
the e-conference committee and its numerous meetings -- it was a
pleasure to work with you. Finally, a big thank you to Brian Swail who
continues to maintain the Region 3 Section lists.