Starting January 2010, REANNZ will trial a new way of communicating with Members - regular, open forums with Donald Clark and others from the REANNZ team via video conference.

The low-down on the Member forums from Donald

Dear KAREN Community

I've been talking recently to a range of KAREN Members about what we can do better at REANNZ.  A consistent message is that we haven't yet perfected our communications with the community - particularly around our forward plans.

You enjoy our publication, hyphen, and case studies, and many of you follow our email updates (that are also available via RSS news feeds and twitter). The Member Engagement team (Vicki, Bill, Emma and Dave) are getting out and about lots more - both under our own auspices and supporting you in your events and activities. I'm also excited that the team have nearly completed engagement plans for all the core Members that will help us support you better in building value from KAREN.

However, there is a tremendous amount going on: video conferencing services, tenders for the national and international services, future architecture development, Services Working Group, National Education Network developments, network extensions to connect ITPs and telescopes, and developing REANNZ's financial structure.

Sometimes, it's easier to talk about things in real-time: we can get your reaction and input to better guide us; and you get the chance to quiz us directly.

Starting from January 2010, we will be trialling a Member Open Forum.  At 12 noon on the last business Friday of every month, I and some of the REANNZ team will host a virtual session on the VC bridge to which any and all Members are invited. We'll give a brief update on the month's major developments and then open the floor to questions, comment and discussion.

I encourage you to try and join the first one: we'd like to hear from all facets of the community - researchers, educators, network specialists, IT operations, managers and executives.

We'll send VC details in January.

Thanks for your continuing efforts to embed KAREN as essential infrastructure for New Zealand.  KAREN is YOUR network - and we'll continue to do all we can to ensure it supports your unconstrained ambitions.

Best, Donald