Sustainability &
Climate Change
Sponsor:   Kids Safe-at-Sport Network   [KSAS-Au]

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New Economic Models for the Digital Economy and the Index of Australia's Wellbeing
2014 appears to be the year many Governments world-wide are moving to the
Digital Economy to "boost productivity, global competitiveness and social well-being"

The Australian Government appears to be in the vanguard of this economic change with a number of initiatives including the eHealth Reforms Program, the National Broadband Network [NBN] and the 8 Digital Economy Goals as part of the update 28 Nov 2013 "National Digital Economy Strategy"

Australian Local Goverment Agencies are playing their part by inviting local businesses to participate in developing local Digital Economy Strategies eg Stathfield Council after Australia Day 2014

Regional Development Australia is also assisting local businesses to participate in the Digital Economy as this article dated 01 Nov 2013 about "Northern Rivers Digital Economy Strategy" indicates

In the meantime members of the Sustainability Action Network [SAN] have been reviewing the "12 Models of Wellbeing" many of which were developed by grants from the United Nations Development Program [UNDP]

The most recent in the Herald Age/Lateral Economic [HALE] Index of Australia's Wellbeing

This model was extensively reviewed over a 16-week period by a team comprising an Economics lecturer, a Lawyer and a CIT Management Consultant

The issues will be published for feedback on the "eHealth Training Services Consortium [EHTSC]" website establishing

Junior Sports teams, Sustainability and Climate Change
Over the past 12 months OIC members have been re-developing non-time critical applications like the
"Junior Sport Information System [JSIS]" and the "Kids Safe-at-Sport Network [KSAS-Au]" with the Complex address version of the Australian Online Forms Standard AS4590.

These Parents Initiatives have been supported very recently by the Australian Rugby Union [ARU] publication on 29 Feb 2008 of its detailed Child Protection Policy for each State

As NSW is currently the only Government in the world that has a mandatory Carbon Credits system, many of the parents involved with KSAS-Au are aware that Carbon Credits will be levied for the new floodlights and watering system for local Council pitches.

This is now likely to become a National Policy

In fact Australia, as the driest continent, NSW and Sydney lead the world on many Sustainability issues including Greenhouse Gas Reduction [GGR]

Sydney was the promoter of the Earth Hour initiative in Mar 2007 - this is the additional new Sydney Logo on the right by Tim BLAIR

This grew from 1 city in 2007 to over 300 cities world-wide in 2008 !

In addition Mosman in the SHOROC (Shore Regional Organisation of Councils) Region has, according to the Mayor, the largest Carbon Footprint of any Council in Australia !

Mosman Council has established "the Climate Challenge" which the OIC is supporting by a number of Parent Initiatives such as a feasibility project based on the Tel-Aviv Pedal-powered Rock Concert

Over the next 12 months the OIC will be raising awareness of the importance of using the Complex Address version of AS4590 when Climate Change groups develop web-sites to record Climate Change issues like Carbon Credits, Volunteer Credits and Water-saving Credits

Free Trade Agreements and eCommerce Standards
On 04 Apr 2007 the OIC became aware of a network of more than 90 Community Organisations
AFTINET concerned with the social implications of Free Trade Agreements [FTAs].

A Review of the material on the AFTINET website indicates that the AFTINET members are not aware of the eCommerce technical issues of the Free Trade Agreements particularly Chapter 15: Government Procurement and Chapter 16: Electronic Commerce

As a combined team of OASIS, ebXML Australia and OIC members confirmed on 22 Dec 2006 that the complex address version of the Australian eCommerce Standard AS4590 would resolve the conflicts with AS4590 and UN/CEFACT (aka EDIFACT), this information will be shared with AFTINET members.

In addition as OIC members are developing applications based on the complex address version of AS4590 as the Name & Address format for Information Economy Transactions this will be made available to AFTINET members.

The first Community applications based on the complex address version of AS4590 are the Junior Sports Information System [JSIS] and the Kids Safe-at-Sport Network [KSAS-Au]

This applications will be the cornerstones of the Local Information Economy applications discussed with the Hon Jennifer RANKINE MP SA Minister for Consumer Affairs

The Webinar on Fri 27 Apr 2007 will review the synergies between AFTINET and the OIC Technical Expertises with eCommerce, Free Trade Agreements and Local Information Economy Network transactions

Name & Address format for Information Economy Transactions
On 03 Dec 2006 the OIC received an
important letter explaining the Electronic Transaction Act and the Information Economy from the South Australian Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister Minister for the Status of Women and the Minister for Volunteers.
The speed of the transition to the Information Economy has taken great strides in 2007 with February and March providing a dramatic increase in Local Government tenders.
There were 119 Local Government tenders published in Week 10 alone !
One of those tenders was by Bankstown Council for a Standard Name and Address format for 6 key Corporate Applications that the Council uses.
While the Australian eCommerce Standard AS4590 has identified the XML format for a physical and postal Name and Address format it has not considered email, mobile or web XML structures
A Standard Name and Address format that facilitates multiple emails, mobileS and web details has been developed by several of the members of the AS4590 review Committee.
This structure is now submitted to this forum for review on Wed 28 Mar as the Standard Name and Address format for Local Information Economy Transactions.
If you would like to participate in converting applications to the Information Economy Structure please register here.

Developing Applications using Complex Address for AS4590
While the OIC eInitiative of a single address eCommerce Standard receives accolades from EDIFACT proponents overseas the
Australian Information Industry Association [AIIA] does not have the resources to review the issues.
This is a great pity because many of the AIIA Board Members are also sponsors of the AWB BizDex Architecture which won the 32 Victorian Council Consortium Tender.
Fortunately there are enough IT Professionals that have understood the technical issues to join the OIC to promote a single address AS4590.
This single address format will reduce the cost and complexity for the support of eCommerce Applications as well as providing impressive performance benefits for end-users
As a number of Councils have issued tenders for Contract Management Systems these IT Professionals have formed an Electronic Contracts Management Development Group [ETIM] to respond to Local Government Tenders seeking Electronic Contract Management Systems
Current members of the Development Group include a member of the the OASIS LegalXML eContracts Committee and significantly Centrelink has joined the OIC for the AS 4590 Issue
If you would like to participate in the AS4590 Application Development Group please register here.

Building the Right Platform for the Information Economy
In Sep 2001 John GRANT 'Chief General Manager Government Online' of the National Office for the Information Economy [NOIE] gave a presentation to the
OIC about the Government Strategy for On-line Service Delivery.
The Policy Objectives included Government Leadership in the Information Economy
The following month Patrick CALLIONI 'Chief General Manager Information Economy' of the National Office for the Information Economy [NOIE] gave a presentation to the OIC about the importance of On-line Service delivery for the Information Economy.
Five years later it is appropriate to review why the Information Economy with eCommerce as the underpinning framework has failed to meet the Targets predicted particularly with Local Government
Part of the delay and problems with major eCommerce sites like the Customs Tradegate and the Australian Ports eCommerce Debacles could be blamed on the confusion with the National and International eCommerce Standards
Fortunately in Dec 2006 a group of CIT Consultants who had been involved with the OASIS XML 2006 Conference and the European Telecities projects speedily reached a resolution for the confusion with the eCommerce Standards.
This Resolution has been forward to Senator Helen COONAN the Minister of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts for her Department to consider.
However another factor affecting the efficiency of eCommerce appears to be that the foundation architecture
It appears that the Architecture using Information Aggregators provides considerable Operational problems and inefficiencies because of the difficulty with tracking process reference numbers between the different computer systems of the "Value Added Network Services"
Please Register HERE by 17:00 Fri 19 Jan 2006 to receive the papers on these issues

Review suitability AS 4590 Local Government requirements
The Seminar to review the proposed Local Government eRoadshow has been rescheduled for Thu 07 Dec 2007 to allow time to review
the XML Address format of the Australian eCommerce Standard AS 4590.
A number of XML experts both in Australia and overseas including Duane NICKULL Vice-Chair UN/CEFACT Asia-Pacific have been invited to participate in an eCommittee to review the current XML Address format of AS 4590.
Please review the timetable proposed to Standards Australia and Philip ARGY President of the Australian Computer Society
The objectives of the review include determining whether the current XML format is clear enough to enable any software developer to provide a truely interchangeable format particularly for Australian Local Government Agencies to adopt.
The communications on this issue since the OASIS XML Conference on Fri 27 Oct 2006 can be reviewed here.

Local Government XML eRoadshow 2007
The OASIS Open Standards Conference brought together some of the most experienced XML Proponents in the World to discuss progress with XML Applications
A number of the discussions after the seminars and over lunch reviewed the slow acceptance of XML particularly by Government Agencies charged with the duty for providing effective Public On-line Services
The OIC Local Government & XML Special Interest Group has submitted a
proposal to OASIS OPEN STANDARDS that it supports an Australian eInitiative to accelerate the adoption of XML.
The proposal to OASIS includes:
1 a 2007 12-month awareness/education program of Local Government XML Applications
2 a win-win Business Model for Australian Local Government Agencies to implement XML Applications
3 Local Support resources to assist Councils to meet their Economic Development, Recreation, Waste Management and Tourism Strategies.
The Seminar on Thu 30 Nov 2006 will review this eInitiative to assist Local Government to provide effective On-line Services

OASIS XML Open Source Conference
The OASIS Open Standards Conference on Oct 25-27 has many of the finest speakers on eCommerce from Australia and the US
This
paper has been prepared for comment and to stimulate questions at the Conference
The Schedule-at-a-glance reveals some outstanding examples of where Open Standards and XML are changing the way Information is interchanged in both Business and Family applications
OASIS - The Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards - is a not-for-profit unincorporated organisation that has been advancing eBusiness Standards since 1993 and can draw on a wide range of talents to explain how information and telecommunications are merging.
Most if not all the US Computer and Information Technology manufacturers are members of OASIS
The OIC has been fortunate that a number of the US OASIS and WC3 Committee members spoke at the XML & eCommerce seminars in 2000
On Mon 09 Oct 2006 it was announced that, "In the wake of the Tsunami disaster of 2004 and multiple natural catastrophes in 2005, standards development organizations have stepped up work on public warning in concert with organizations dealing with disaster management, prevention, and relief," OASIS will join with the International Telecommunications Union [ITU] to advance "ICT Standards for Public Warnings"
The OIC in will be reviewing how XML and Open Standards will really assist Local Government to meet the increasingly complex demands for Local Recreation, Tourism, Economic Development and Waste Management Strategies
The OIC is pleased to advise that it has negotiated special fees including a $ 450 one day only fee for the interested Public and Local Government Agencies to assist them understand the benefits of XML for Economic Development Strategies for Rate-Payers

Three "Cracking Value" EIT Conferences
September has been the busiest month for Government tenders for the last 3 years
This September has also seen the Information Technology Industry working together to raise awareness of the tremendous benefits that Electronic Information Technologies [EIT] can provide businesses and consumers.
IDC has organised 2 Conferences and OASIS has arranged an Open Standards conference where the OIC is outlining how TIMS is a XLM Standard for Government Tenders.
The two IDC one-day Conferences are:
1: "The Mobile Enterprise (links to papers)" with speakers from Panasonic, Palm, Avaya, Optus, Blackberry, Hutchison and Lucent Technologies
This was a stimulating event with case studies illustrating the impact of email, standard forms, workflow and mobile technologies to provide a wide range of enhanced customer services with greatly reduce input errors and communication costs
2: "The Power of Service Oriented Architecture [SOA]" on Tue 10 Oct with speakers from Intel, IBM, Citrix, Foundry Networks, Avaya, Egenera and VMware looks to be an equally important experience and information forum
The OASIS Conference is a scintillating 3-day conference with 24 speakers on how XML, Open Systems and Service Oriented Architecture WILL provide the long anticipated Returns of Investment for IT development.

Local Government - The New Business Opportunities
There has been a dramatic change in Local Government tenders in the new Financial Year as Government moves to stimulate the Economy possibly as a result of an AusIndustry Initiative
In the past month a number of Councils have published tenders for Economic Development Strategies, Recreation Strategies and Environment Strategies particularly with Water
Here is a selection of
13 Victorian Council Business Consultancy Tenders out of a total of 41 Tenders published by Victorian Councils on Sat 02 Sep 2006.
The Initiative launched by AusIndustry in Jul 2005 was called the "Regulation Reduction Incentive Fund - RRIF" with $ 50 Million to encourage Councils to apply for grants for applications that demonstrate "sustainable reductions in compliance costs, improved opportunities for small and home-based businesses, and the potential for application nationally"
Some Councils formed State Consortiums like the Victorian EasyBiz 32 Council Consortium to apply for a $ 6.2 Million grant to develop an Electronic Hub to provide "sustainable reductions in compliance costs" although it does not appear to offer improved opportunities for small and home based businesses.
Other Councils also developed stand alone Cost Reduction applications. Here is a selection of 29 Applications under development by different Councils
The Seminar on Thu 28 Sep 2006will review how the OIC Member developed SME Sports Support Initiative can assist Australian Councils meet all 3 Objectives of the AusIndustry Funding Programme.
The OIC is seeking members in all States to join OIC Local Government Special Interest Group [LZIG] to support Local SMES and Councils with their Economic Development Strategies

Local Government Management Plans - 3 yr, 5 yr and 20 yr
In many Councils Small & Medium-size Business [SMBs] and Small & Medium-size Enterprises [SMEs] (not-for-profit) comprise more than 95% of the Local Business population and are the major Employers and Rate-payers.
In 2001 the Federal Government Department of Employment, Workplace Relations & Small Business [DEWRSB] commissioned members of the OIC
Local Government Special Interest Group [LZIG] to conduct a series of eSurveys with 172 NSW Local Councils on "The relevance of XML in the adoption of On-Line Service Delivery by Local Government Agencies".
Since then XML has enabled eBusiness, eBanking, Workforce Mobility and Home Mobility to change the way that Local Government can provide Community Services to an increasing population of Home Workers
This Webinar on Thu 24 Aug 2006 will review how the Local Government Management Plans and a common Council Application framework will assist Local Councils to reduce the costs of IT Application development

Local Governance - Building Capacity for Decentralisation
In 1994 The World Bank established the Municipal Development Program [MDP] in Sub-Saharan Africa to acknowledge the fact that "effective local government is critical to improving access to social and infrastructure services and to mobilizing local resources" [Ref:
Building Capacity for Decentralisation and Local Governance]
In Australia, AusAID is the Government Agency that assists the World Bank to promote Local Governance issues through tenders similar to "The Philippines Local Governance Development Program [LGDP]" which requires a Managing Contractor by 10 Jul 2006.
In addition the Prime Minister's Department is promoting APEC 2007 and is well supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade which has issued several recent APEC tenders to support Australia hosting APEC 2007
These tenders include APEC - Youth Education Program and APEC - Public Relations & Communications to "raise public awareness and deepen understanding of policy issues related to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum".
The Rio Tinto Future Fund is one company in Australia that has assisted one Local Council with the development a Volunteer Management Scheme
The Webinar on Thu 27 Jul 2006 will include a review of how Youth Sport Activities can be a key aspect for effective Local Government participation.

New Economics in Local Government
Local Government in Australia was based for 70 years on the 1919 Local Government Act. Between 1989 - 1999 all the Australian State & Territory Governments passed new Local Government legislation.
In addition in the
Australian Accounting Standards Board [AASB] issued 3 new accounting standards (frequently referred to as "The - Trilogy") to be used by Local Government called AAS 1, AAS 36, AAS 37
Part of the new Local Government legislation included a commitment to "providing new community services via the Internet"
Each Council now produces a 5-year Management Plan with a chart of User-pays services on its web-site. However the Management Plans do not include details of where the Expenditure will be incurred.
The Economics departments of many Australian Universities have been invited to comment on the Research by John CHRISTIAN into "Local Government in NZ" and a review of the new Business Models developed by many Councils.
The Seminar on Thu 22 Jun 2006 will review the new Local Government User-Pays Economics and the implications to rate-payers and Small & Medium size Enterprises [SMEs].

Translations for APEC Business - Government Tenders
There have been a number of
key Federal and State Government tenders issued in April as Australian Government Agencies stimulate the build up of translation skills by publishing a number of tenders that will be applicable to many APEC members.
The seminar on Thu 25 May 2006 will review a number of these tenders and how OIC TZIG and XZIG members can work together to provide the back-end eCommerce applications for financial functions including event registration and order processing
Please review these Product/Service membership options if you would like your website/documentation/marketing material translated at OIC membership rates and promote your product/service in the Asia-Pacific region
Please review these Translation membership options if you would like to receive the twice weekly tender service and provide translation services

Translations for APEC Business - 18 Different Languages
As the major APEC Conference in 2007 is in Australia a number of Tourism websites, Local Government websites and SME Business websites may want to provide translations of their events and attractions as well as products and services.
Following a submission by OIC members to the New Zealand Tourism tender for a Korean translation of its website, the OIC is very pleased to confirm that the Translation Special Interest Group [TZIG] has been revived with monthly eSeminars to explain the issues involved with translations and Website localisation.
Translation is an Intellectual Property Asset that could involve more than a website and could include Advertising Material, Organisation Literature, Contracts & Legal Documents, Data Sheets & Technical Papers, Equipment Manuals & Specification Sheets, Hardware Product Manuals & Maintenance Manuals, Manufacturing Procedures, Online help, cuecards & wizards as well as Websites.
Professional localisation requires two core technologies, Terminology Management and Translation Memory, to eliminate tedious and error-prone translation tasks
There is a special 50% membership fee for new members who would like to join TZIG and translate their own web-site.
This special membership is for applications received by 17:00 Thu 16 Mar 2006.
In addition there is a special 50% membership fee for new members who would would like to provide translation services.
The Translation membership is for applications received by 17:00 Fri 31 Mar 2006.

The significance of Date & Time zone standards for Trade
There are a number of International electronic Standards that have been develop for International Trade including
UN/EDIFACT - ISO 9735 and Date & Time - ISO 8601
Although both these Standards for eCommerce were published in 1987 neither has been implemented to obtain critical mass from Business users ie Small & Medium size Enterprises [SMEs]. In the meantime eMail has become the accepted communication medium for both local, National and International Trade communications - ref December issue Image & Data Manager "Gambling with Record-keeping Compliance" eg US Sarbanes-Oxley Act and proposed Aus Corporate Law Economic Reform Program [CLERP].
However during Jan 2006 it appears that a number of people involved with the "Time & Date - ISO 8601" standard found that it could not cater for Time-zones. This Thread can be reviewed on proposed ISO 8601/ebXML Work Group.
Due to the importance of Government Tenders and eCommerce in the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement [Aus-USA FTA], it has been proposed to apply for a joint Aus/US Government grant to quickly remediate this issue and facilitate International Trade.
The Education Seminar on Thu 24 Jan 2006 will review the plan for a joint-venture project team to resolve the Time-zone issue by Christmas 2006.

New Economic Theories for the Information Age
There are a number of interesting new Economic Theories for the Information Age.
The Education
Seminar on Tue 20 Jan 2006 will invite speakers to outline some of the new concepts - this seminar has been rescheduled for Thu 22 Jun 2006 due to the proposed Time-zone project for International Trade.
One example is the paper on a European site www.wt21.com - Food for Thought.

Getting Contracts right for International Trade
Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation will be greatly bolstered by the tremendous advantage that the Internet provides with Electronic Contracts.
As Australian Customs struggles with its
new ECommerce System and the NSW Government moves towards a Judicial Inquiry into the Cross-City Tunnel Payment Scandal while the Federal Government braces for the UN Report on Australian Wheat sales to Iraq, it is timely to consider how Standard Electronic Contracts could reduce the complexity for effective management and monitoring of Public Contracts.
The Seminar on Thu 24 Nov 2005 will review whether the OTMG Tender Information Management Service [TIMS] may be a suitable platform for electronic Federal, State and Local Government Contracts which may be incorporated as part of Free Trade Agreements eg Aus-USA FTA.

APEC 2007 - Getting Prepared for the Business Opportunities
The
Seminar on Thu 27 Oct 2005 is reviewing the Business Opportunities for Australian Small and Medium-size Enterprises [SMEs]and how to get prepared for the Events. The Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation [APEC] has 21 Members economies that account for more than 40% of the World's population (2.6 billion people), approximately 57% of world GDP (US$19, 254 billion) and about 47% of world trade.
In 2007 Australia is hosting the APEC Programme of Events.

Volunteering - It is Time to value as an Asset !
Special
membership fee for Not-For-Profit Organisations who register to receive eSeminar Papers
24 Aug 2005: The Australian Computer Society [ACS] has joined Professions Australia for matching Volunteers with requirements. These 24 Professional Associations are adding real value for the Community hence IT IS time to place a value on Volunteer work !
This seminar has re-scheduled for Thu 22 Sep 2005 to research further information for Australian Volunteer Organisations.
On 06 Jun 2005 an article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald "Bored members hate meetings". The article identified 5 major concerns from a survey of 352 Volunteering Organisations conducted by a Melbourne based Not-for-Profit Organisation called Ourcommunity.com.au.
Around the same time a similar organisation to the OIC in Silicon Valley called the Silicon Valley Webguild started to emphasise that Volunteers area very important resource for the Webguild to be able to operate its Special Interest Groups.
In addition there have been a number of grants/funds published on the OTMG Tender Information Management Service [TIMS] for Volunteer initiatives.

Intellectual Property - what is the Value ?
On 07 Jun 2005
Graeme PHILIPSON a leading Australian IT Researcher published an article in the Sydney Morning Herald "Free Trade, the new con trick"
That article focused on how the Aus-USA FTA will impact on Intellectual Property [IP]. Graeme's comments included "we have a system that enables the strong to edge out the weak, and that ultimately stifles creativity rather than fosters it".
A number of speakers have been invited to submit their views on "IP - what is the value and how do you protect your IP ?".
As 26 people have already registered interest in this seminar, it will probably be conducted as an eSeminar to enable interested parties to access the speakers papers once they have been received.
In addition, as several e-mails have been received from Software Developers concerned with the difficulties of protecting Intellectual Property, a prototype of an IP Record Registration process has been developed for consideration by interested parties.

Australian Prime Minister's tender for Panels for APEC 2007
The Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation [APEC] has 21 Members economies that account for more than 1/3 of the World's population (2.6 billion people), approximately 60% of world GDP (US$19, 254 billion) and about 47% of world trade.
In 2007 Australia is hosting the APEC Programme of Events.
The 2007 programme will encompass a wide range of ministerial, officials?and business meetings and events across Australia that culminate in meetings of APEC economy leaders (AELM), scheduled to be held in Sydney, New South Wales in September 2007.
Several of the preceding meetings and events are held in the week leading up to the AELM and are collectively referred to as the APEC Leaders?Week.
On 13 May 2005 in preparation for APEC 2007 the Department of the Prime Minister issued a
tender for a Taskforce of 26 Legal Panels and 3 Probity Panels for "Good Governance in Public Service"
As this tender has a submission date for Fri 07 Jun 2005, organisations that submit applications for these Panels will be invited to speak at the Seminar on Thu 23 Jun to explain their understanding of the contribution they can make to the Prime Minister's APEC 2007 Taskforce.

Aus SPAM Act 2003 & eMarketing Code of Practice
The
Seminar on 26 May 2005 will review the recently published eMarketing Code of Practice
On 16 March 2005 the Australian Communications Authority [ACA] published the eMarketing Code of Practice to support the Australian SPAM Act 2003.
This eMarketing Code of Practice was developed very quickly by a number of diligent Cross Industry Associations that recognised that Australian Business had to learn how use e-mail to market effectively.
If you have product, expertise or Intellectual Property [IP] you may also want to consider the export market to maximise your Return on Investment of time and resources
Austrade is currently running a number of Free Trade Agreement [FTA] Seminars for the Aus-USA-FTA, Singapore-Australia FTA and the Thailand-Australia FTA to provide an understanding of the potential market.
E-Marketing will be of great assistance to you once you have evaluated the issues and identified the eMarketing process that best suits your product/service, style of operation and budget.
Your business association may be prepared to assist you with understanding how to implement the eMarketing code, the eBusiness Standards involved with eCommerce and web-based applications to market and promote your products and services locally, nationally and internationally.

International Trade & Innovative Australian products/services
The growing Trade deficits in recent months (Oct 2004 - Feb 2005) have not been very encouraging.
According to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry [ACCI] in 2003 "1,200,000 Small Businesses in Australia account for 96% of the total number of all Australian Businesses" (Ref
Speech by Peter HENDRY Chief Executive ACCI Aug 2003 at University NSW)
How will Australian Small Businesses compete with US Counterparts ?
The US SPAM Act enables US companies to e-mail new potential business opportunities while the Australian SPAM Act requires SMEs to receive confirmation from a US company that it will accept an e-mail soliciting business - a level playing field ??
The eGallery Services Education Seminar on Thu 24 Mar 2005 will review the 2 Government Acts for attendees to decide whether in the light of the Aus-USA Free Trade Agreement this is indeed a "Level Playing Field" to balance International Trade.
Apply here if you would like to improve your electronic trading prospects

SME eGallery Services [EGS]
The OIC is pleased to advise that the SME eGallery Services has been opened.
The eGallery Service is being developed to:
1 - raise awareness of Members and Members of affiliated Associations products and services
2 - acknowledge SMEs prepared to contribute products and services to the Tsunami Relief Initiatives
3 - assist facilitate trade opportunities
Register here if you would like to be part of the SME eGallery Services

Proposed Australian Electronic Industries Tsunami Relief Alliance [AEITRA]
OIC members have proposed an Australian Electronic Industries Alliance to provide long term relief and support for those affected by the Asia-Pacific Tsunami on Sun 26 Dec 2004.
The initial proposal and arrangements can be reviewed on the newly formed
Community Initiatives Interest Group
Four of the major Australian Electronic Information Technology Organisations have been invited to form this proposed Alliance.
A lunch/dinner with corporate tables offering products and services for auction has been proposed.
Duane NICKULL Vice-Chair UN/CEFACT has accepted an invitation to speak during the first week in April.
***Postponed 29 Mar 2005 due to concerns that Tsunami Relief funds are not reaching the end-recipients - On Wed 28 Jun 2006 the ABC reported that only Au$ 70,000,000 out of the Au$ 1,000,000,000 had been distributed***
Duane has been the speaker at over 25 Government and XML Conferences though-out the world since 2000
The proceeds will be channeled through to the devastated region as short-term relief.
The medium and long-term relief to help rebuild the infrastructure will be provided by the products and services offered for auction.
Australian schools and Universities will be invited to submit proposals to the proposed Australian Tsunami Relief Alliance.

Trade Agreements Special Interest Group [FZIG]
The FZIG Seminar on Thu 27 Jan 2005 will review:
1 - 6 key tenders influencing Trade Agreements out of 2,868 tenders published on TIMS during 2004
2 - OIC Plans for 2005 - Seminars, e-Gallery Services for SMEs interested in joining Tender Consortia
3 - OIC Submission for ITOL Round 13 due Fri 28 Jan 2005
At the meeting of the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation [APEC] on Fri 19 Nov in Santiago Chile it was announced that the APEC Ministers agreed on a set of best-practice principles for Free Trade Agreements.
OIC FZIG will endeavour to provide updates on those "Best-Practice Principles" and their impact on Australian legislation and business practice
The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business [UN/CEFACT] plays a very important role in determining Electronic Trade Standards.
The FZIG Seminar on Thu 28 Oct 2004 reviewed the " Constitution" of UN/ CEFACT to develop the e-Commerce Standards for Free Trade Agreements.
The next FZIG Seminar on Wed 19 Jan 2005 will review key tenders in 2004 that revealed changes in Government Policies and outline the plans to enable OIC Members capitalise on the changes in Government Policies during 2005.
Register for Early-Bird Fees by 17:00 Mon 17 Jan 2005

Open Source & Linux Special Interest Group [OZIG]
The Open Source Community has been very vocal about how the terms of Aus-USA-FTA will have a major impact on the Intellectual Property [IP] issues for Australian Software Developers in the Open Source & Linux field.
On 20 May Senator Kate LUNDY Australian Labour Party Shadow Minister for Information Technology, gave an illuminating presentation on the draft FTA to the OZIG members.
On 18 May Trade Minister VAILE signed the Free Trade Agreement with the USA
On 06 March 2004 the Australian Government signed a draft Free Trade Agreement [FTA] with the United States of America. There are 2 Public Inquiries into the draft FTA.
One is the Senate Select Committee's inquiry. The other is Joint Standing Committee on Treaties [JSCOT].

XML & E-Commerce Special Interest Group [XZIG]
On 11 May 2004 there was a Submission on the draft FTA to Joint Standing Committee on Treaties [JSCOT] by the Management Committee of the XML & E-commerce Special Interest Group.
On 30 Apr 2004 the XML& E-commerce Special Interest Group Management Committee sent its submission to the Senate Inquiry Committee.
These documents supported previous submissions on Electronic Commerce issues to the Australian Federal Treasury on the E-Business Best Practice Model in 2003 and the Australian Federal Treasury Public Consultations on E-Commerce in 1999

OIC Mission
To stimulate and encourage the research, development and use of Electronic Information Technologies (EIT) and associated systems to automate business processes.
This will be carried out through a consortium of members involving representatives of large, medium and small organisations assisted by Information Technologists.

The OIC Background
The OIC was formed in 1994 for management from all spheres to meet, to learn and to act on the benefits these new technologies and electronic business processes offer.
The Formation Management Committee recognised that there is an on-going almost altruistic contribution that has to be made to ensure that potential members appreciate the value of co-operating to benefit from sharing experiences and resources.
To assist with this process, the OIC is establishing an electronic Intranet for members to utilise Electronic Information applications including electronic network records, electronic project management and electronic time recording for intellectual property royalties.
Many members of the OIC are aware that current legal frameworks do not cater for a number of aspects of the Networked Society.
It is important to ensure that legislation on these issues does not lag too far behind developments.

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