During a significant number of conversations with Computing and ICT teachers around the country over the last year we’ve been asked to provide a means for schools, students and Computing teachers to “connect” with the wider ICT profession.

We’ve responded by forming a Working Group and launching a Pilot Programme called “ICT-Connect”. The purpose of the programme is to front up to schools with passionate and energetic ICT professionals to talk about the many exciting and dynamic opportunities available through, with and in the ICT profession in New Zealand.

We have a group of dedicated ICT professionals, teachers and industry folk in the process of putting this programme together and we’re now at the stage of asking schools and teachers to indicate an interest in taking part in this programme. There is no obligation – we just need to know there is a demand, and that teachers are keen to engage their students with the wider ICT industry and profession.

Hence please click here for an invitation to register an interest in taking part in this programme. There are no fees or costs involved and absolutely no obligation – simply an indication that you’d be interested. We’ll then send more information in due course.

We aim to run the initial pilot in three locations around New Zealand. If you’re keen on potentially taking part, please flick an email through to interest@nzcs.org.nz.

Thanks, and we look forward to hearing from you.

As some of you may know, I'm attending the "Digital Technologies Professional Learning Symposium" in Auckland today and tomorrow and will be blogging a little from here.

For those not in the education space, it's the "Secondary Education ICT Conference", and is attended by mainly teachers, plus a bunch of industry, tertiary and other folk who are interested in this area.

Firstly, huge kudos to the Ministry of Education for organising this. I understand it's the first time they've done one of these for Computing teachers (although other organisations such as NACCQ have in the past), and it's hopefully partly indicative of the shift in mindset for Computing/ICT education which we are trying to bring about.

It also really highlights the need for a Computing Subject Association for Computing/ICT teachers. For those that don't know, most other subject areas have a Subject Association which looks at professional development of teachers, curriculum issues, etc (take a look at what the Maths Teachers Association does). But not ours. This is part of the reason ICT education is in the pickle it's in.

Anyway, some really interesting presentations today.

A number of people have contacted me today about Microsoft's announcement this morning of a new ICT vendor group, hence I thought it would be beneficial to put out a note to members and others regarding how we see this new group working with NZCS.

Firstly, a little history. Up until a couple of years ago New Zealand had a Vendor Association called "ITANZ" - the IT Association of New Zealand. Unfortunately this went the way of other vendor-based organisations in the past and is now defunct, leaving a gap in vendor representation which this new group is looking to fill.

The purpose of a Vendor Association is considerably different to that of a Professional Body such as NZCS. A vendor association works to provide a collaboration mechanism for businesses to work together in the interests of the industry - increasing export potential and business growth amongst ICT vendors in much the same way as, for example, the NZ Software Association works to improve export potential and growth amongst software companies in New Zealand.

NZCS, the Professional Body of the ICT Sector, has an entirely different focus. We focus on supporting and growing the profession - the body of individual ICT Professionals. We're focused on implementing standards and benchmarks for New Zealand's ICT Professional community so our professionals can gain the same recognition as their counterparts around the world, and work hard to help our members achieve these standards. We're concerned with unclogging the education and skills pipeline, Mentoring, and generally facilitating the professional ICT community in New Zealand (and globally through our alignment with the professional bodies in most other countries).

We've been working with those involved in putting together the new vendor group and will work very closely with them once established in much the same way as we work with other industry groups (such as the Software Association) and the previous vendor association (ITANZ). Those putting together this new group have also stated a strong commitment to working with us in areas of mutual benefit.

There will obviously be areas of mutual interest, however both types of representative bodies play a very important role. Whilst aligned, ICT vendors and ICT professionals do have a different focus. NZCS is looking forward to the re-establishment of a vendor group and to working side-by-side with them for the betterment of the sector as a whole.

Hopefully this note helps explain where NZCS and the new vendor group fit within the wider landscape, but don't hesitate to contact me if you need further information.

Newsline is the official newsletter of the NZCS.

In This Edition:

From the CEO: Politics and ICT
International ICT Competencies and Professionalism
WCC 2008 Declaration
8 New Audio Podcasts Released
Deputy President Election
CMMI Course Discount - NZCS Members save $750 if booked before Wednesday
ACIS2008 Information Systems Conference - Christchurch, Dec 3-5
NZCS Members save $75 a year on Computerworld

Please Click Here to read this month's Newsline.

As we head into the last week of the Election campaign I thought it'd be a great time to search out some of the ICT policies of the main political parties, so set forth trawling through the various websites to find where each party stood on the issues that really matter in ICT - after all, surely they would have all embraced ICT and clearly laid out their policies in this area on their websites?

I must admit that, for the most part, I was a little underwhelmed by what we found.

Given that the economic growth of a country relies so heavily on its ability to leverage ICT and digital opportunities, I expected to find comprehensive ICT policies as well as Computing and ICT entwined in educational policies. From an educational standpoint, what I found was that most parties had glossed over the issues and at most, included vague statements about computers in schools, devoid of any hard figures or specific areas of change. Going by the policy statements, it seems that most parties don't understand that ICT is more than just Broadband - especially in an educational context.

PRESS RELEASE – NZ Computer Society Inc. (NZCS)
2 November 2008
For Immediate Release

The New Zealand Computer Society (NZCS) today congratulated the NZ National Party on the high prioritisation given to Computing and ICT in their Schools Policy.

The policy document, released today, includes provision for $500M of additional capital spending in schools, with ICT infrastructure listed as one of the priorities, as well as a commitment to new Computing (and Business) Achievement Standards.

“This now means that both major parties support the provision of Computing Achievement Standards, which is very significant”, NZCS Chief Executive Paul Matthews said today.

Earlier this year NZCS released a report reviewing the current state of ICT-related NCEA Achievement Standards in schools. The highly detailed report, reviewed by a team of 13 senior ICT academics and professionals, found that none of the standards were suitable and recommended they be urgently reviewed and replaced.

The Ministry of Education responded by announcing an intention to review the existing standards and create a full set of ‘Digital Technologies Achievement Standards’ over the next 2 years, and Education Minister Hon Chris Carter has supported this.

However Matthews said “the fact that one of the major parties have now recognised how important this significant area of concern is, to the extent of listing it in their core Schools Policy Document, is extremely encouraging”.

“ICT is widely regarded as underpinning a country’s economic development, and it’s essential that New Zealand and New Zealanders aren’t disadvantaged internationally due to deficiencies in the ICT infrastructure, curriculum or assessments at school level”, Matthews said.

“Unfortunately New Zealand is significantly behind many other developed countries in this area, and the fact that both major parties have indicated they will address this is significant”, Matthews said.

“NZCS looks forward to working with the government to urgently address these very important issues, regardless of the result on November 8th”, Matthews concluded.

ENDS


More Information

NZCS Achievement Standards Report:
http://www.nzcs.org.nz/news/uploads/PDFs/200805NCEAReport.pdf

National Party Schools Policy (context only):
http://national.org.nz/files/2008/schools_policy.pdf

Labour Party Education Policy (context only):
http://www.labour08.co.nz/policies/Education/School+and+Pre-School

Fresh from a trip to the UK and around Europe, NZCS President Don Robertson made a presentation yesterday to the Wellington Branch of NZCS outlining the current research and moves in the field of International ICT Professionalism and Competencies.

This set out the current international thinking in this area which will form the foundation of the NZCS Certification and Competency Framework Programme, currently being put together to ensure kiwi ICT professionals gain the same international (and local) recognition and support as our counterparts in other countries.

The event was well attended and there was very high interest in this topic, especially given the work happening in New Zealand in this area.

You can download the slides for this presentation here (PDF, 1.7MB) or listen to the audio recording here.

Once you've viewed it we'd love to hear what you thought of it. Please head on over to the NZCS Forums to discuss and leave a comment.

NZCS are happy to announce the creation of the full-time position of Professional Programme Coordinator, with applications now open.

This person will help coordinate and accelerate the NZCS Professional Programme including the implementation of an ICT Competency Framework in NZ (including certification of ICT professionals), as well as other projects such as helping formalise the model for ICT tertiary degree accreditation in NZ and Australia, implementation of the revised nationwide mentoring programme, etc.

This is an exciting and rewarding position and is suitable for someone passionate about making a real difference to the ICT sector in New Zealand.

Click Here for more information and a job description. Applications close Friday 10th of October 2008.

PRESS RELEASE – NZ Computer Society Inc. (NZCS)
22 September 2008
For Immediate Release

The New Zealand Computer Society (NZCS) today announced the establishment of a Working Group to create and pilot ICT-Connect, the NZCS Professionals in Schools Programme.

The Working Group, convened by ICT advocate and past Digital Strategy Programme Manager Janet Mazenier, will pilot the ICT-Connect programme, reinstating a very successful previous NZCS initiative which sees ICT professionals present to schools and students about the diversity and engaging nature of a career in ICT.

“It’s absolutely pivotal that we get the message through to kids when they’re still deciding on their future direction”, NZCS Chief Executive Paul Matthews said today. “Our profession is exciting, challenging, flexible and well paid, yet still there are many kids out there that don’t even know what ICT is. ICT suffers from an image problem, and it’s time we address this with the next generation once and for all” he said.

Working Group Convenor Janet Mazenier echoed these comments. “ICT professionals know how engaging and exciting ICT is, however we’ve got to get this message through to the next generation if we’re serious about dealing with the ICT skills shortage in the longer-term. This programme will act as an essential bridge between schools, school students, and the wider ICT community”, Mazenier said.

The pilot programme, dubbed ICT-Connect, will operate in up to three centres across New Zealand and alongside other related regional initiatives. The programme will coordinate small groups of passionate ICT professionals across these regions to “adopt a school”, help these schools and teachers by providing inspirational presentations about the true nature of ICT, and, where asked, assist teachers with course planning.

“One key objective of the programme is to provide teaching professionals with a more robust connection to the wider ICT community”, Matthews said today. “Our computing and ICT teachers do a phenomenally important job with little support, and it’s time for the wider ICT sector to engage, get involved, and help computing teachers make a difference” he said.

The NZCS is initiating the programme after many requests from Computing teachers around the country as well as ICT professionals really keen to help, and intends to launch the programme nationwide if the pilot is successful.

“A wider long-term objective is to help deal with the negative stereotypical perceptions of ICT, which is a major contributor to the ICT skills shortage” Matthews said.

“There are a lot of people throughout the sector having lots of meetings and doing a lot of talking about the skills shortage, however, yet again, NZCS are the ones getting on and actually doing something about it, through this and a huge range of other initiatives” Matthews concluded.

The Working Group will be made up of leading figures from the ICT industry, government and the education sector and the group members will be announced in early October.

ENDS


About the NZ Computer Society

NZCS is the professional body of ICT professionals in New Zealand, and works with industry, academia, Government and the wider community to achieve its mission of increasing the standards and professionalism of the NZ ICT industry via a range of initiatives.

The Society’s membership includes a large number of ICT professionals, as well as corporate partnership with New Zealand’s leading organisations – both ICT companies and other organisations who are serious about the development of their ICT staff.

NZCS generally steers clear of criticising laws, however in the case of Section 92a of the new Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Bill we, like most others in the sector, have to make an exception.

In fact the problem is so large the entire ICT and Telecomms sector is now up in arms about it. So much so that an unprecedented joint Press Release has just been put out by the NZCS, Telecommunications Carriers' Forum, InternetNZ, the ISP Association, TUANZ, and Women in Technology about the new law (or for those that like acronyms, NZCS, TCF, INZ, ISPANZ, TUANZ and WIT!).

Section 92a states:

(1) An Internet service provider must adopt and reasonably implement a policy that provides for termination, in appropriate circumstances, of the account with that Internet service provider of a repeat infringer.

(2) In subsection (1), repeat infringer means a person who repeatedly infringes the copyright in a work by using 1 or more of the Internet services of the Internet service provider to do a restricted act without the consent of the copyright owner.

Now let's get one thing clear. Copyright owners absolutely have the right to protect their intellectual property, and NZCS and others are not for one second saying otherwise. To state it clearly: Copyright violation is a major problem, and we support moves to reduce it.

However to trample all over the rights of computer and internet users, and to place ISPs in the position of potentially having to be the policeman, judge, jury and executioner in what are often vague and unclear situations is completely unreasonable.

This is actually eerily similar to a situation where a power company would be forced to have a policy stating that they must cut the power off to a house, business, school or library (yes, they're included) if someone on the property used that electricity to do something illegal. I can't imagine that situation receiving a good reception, so why is this any different?

The answer is, it's not. These days Internet connectivity is essential. The Internet is used for banking, access to government services, shopping, communicating, and a host of other services and is regarded by many as an essential service.

And what's "reasonable"? What's "appropriate"? Who gets to decide what a "repeat infringer" is? Is this someone who has just been accused of copyright breach (because let's face it, there's quite a history of false accusations in this area) or is it someone who's been convicted? And if the latter, isn't the legal process the proper place to deal with this, rather than lumping it on service providers?

And what's to stop someone who finds themselves "terminated" then just signing with one of the multitudes of other ISPs in NZ, thereby rendering the section pretty much useless anyway?

The Act was well intentioned, however it's simply bad law. We implore the Government to halt this implementation of this section for the moment (it's not too late), and let's look at a more workable and reasonable solution after the election.

[UPDATE: Ernie at TUANZ has also commented here]