ENA UPDATE
by Lisa Kimball


The most important thing that has happened in ENA since the last issue of NETWEAVER is our *very* successful conference in D.C.!

We exchanged incredible amounts of information and experience in a group which included people from many different countries, many different networks, and many different networking backgrounds. We talked about global networking, telecommunications policy, managing computer conferencing, educational applications, networking in government, electronic enterprise, user support, marketing, regional and local networks, organizations with network structures, and the current and future state-of-the-art of conferencing technology. We also heard speakers using conferencing in a wide range of business applications. Excerpts from Mike Greenly's coverage of these sessions are included in this issue of NETWEAVER. In addition, we are planning to publish a compendium of the conference both online and in print form.

This conference also gave ENA members a chance to adopt a structure for the organization. We decided that we wanted to reflect the way we were already working as much as possible. We wanted to achieve a structure which could provide a way for decisions to be made quickly and *also* a way for people to initiate activity without going through a cumbersome process. We needed a structure which met the requirements of the IRS and the environment in which we want to have influence. We also wanted to be able to reflect our intersystem nature, be *inclusive* of new participants, and allow flexibility. AND we wanted to take advantage of the medium of computer conferencing as much as possible.

Challenging task!

We chose the RING as the image most reflective of the idea of a circular organization which could steer ENA on its course. We developed the concept that there would be SEATS on this RING which represented each major activity of ENA. These would not be held by individuals but would be the shared responsibility of
the people working together on the activity represented by the SEAT. The RING will have the authority to generate a smaller group empowered to take quick action (the BOARD) and appoint officers as needed to comply with incorporation requirements.

The RING conference will be open for anyone to read and will reside on our HOST system (UNISON) where business will be conducted. The results of this activity will be reported via our intersystem porting work.

ENA activities will be generated by clusters of individuals who have an idea and want to participate. Any three or more people can form a CLUSTER at any time and propose that they have a SEAT on the RING. Those already in the RING will make all decisions about adding and subtracting SEATS from the RING. In this way, we can maintain a flexible and organic structure and distribute the decision making about ENA activity widely. Once the RING is formed, it will be self-organizing.

We have already identified many activities for which there are clusters of people willing to work. Many of these are reflected in our conference program topics and, of course, some are related to the administrative needs of ENA. NETWEAVER readers who want to join an existing cluster or form one of their own can contact the porter who brought you this issue for additional information. It may take us some time to work out the "kinks" in this process. But ENA's new structure is already a tribute to the ability of groups to develop ideas online. The members of ENA's Interim Organization team worked online for months to create a structure which met our needs. When it came time for our f-t-f meeting, we could build on what they presented to us and move forward rather than starting from scratch.

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You'll notice articles by several writers new to NETWEAVER this month. We're always looking for material about interesting applications, individual viewpoints, and all aspects of using computer conferencing technology. Let us know what you'd like to read about and feel free to submit ideas and articles to NETWEAVER any time!