SI MONTHLY NEWS June 2006 News
From SI Exco News
SERVAS INTERNATIONAL
Posts and names of elected persons
President Gary Sealey - Canada
General segretary Pramod Kumar - India
Treasurer Ömer Özkan - Turkey
Vice President Mary Jane Mikuriya - USA
Peace Secretary Nandasena Amarasinghe, Sri Lanka
Host List Coordinator Anna Flammini - Italy
Conflict Resolution committee Luigi Uslenghi - Italy Julie Dotsch - Canada Chris Slader - Britain
Development Fund Committee Laura Ragucci - Argentina Judy Shotten - Sheldon Weeks - Botswana Michael Johnson - Canada Sercan Duygan - Turkey
Audit Committee Miroslav Wasilevski, Poland Rita Torsvik, Norway Florentio Gomez L.V.Subramanian - India
ICT, Information and Comunication Team Uwe Federer - Italy Ömer Öskan - Turkey
Job Descriptions and Statutes Committee Eda Guzeldemir, Turkey Pramod Kumar - India Diana Sweet, Surinam Chris Jones - Canada
Nominations Committee Michael Johnson - Canada Evren Özkan - Turkey
Archivist Grant Barnes - USA
InternationalYouth Coordinator (YP) Pablo Chufeni YP, Argentina Mentor of Int. Youth Coord. Laura Ragucci, Argentina
Youth Project Coordinator Ann Greenhough - Britain
SINews editor Jane Giffould - Britain
Servas Global Changes and Challenges
Many of us in Servas are now using new Internet
systems to connect with each other, at no charge, or
very little cost. International committees are now so
dependent on email and free calls over the internet,
that postal mail is almost no longer used. Expensive
meetings are mostly replaced by teleconferencing.
For instance the SI Executive Committee completed
its regular free teleconference using GIZMO
(www.gizmo.com). Nandee, the Peace Sec, had no
access to a computer, so we joined him, using
VoipStunt, another nearly-free service. Quite often
we use Skype, a free telephone service, especially
when five or less. Skype has a convenient quick
messenger and chat-line. When poor connections or
regional accents challenge us, we type a short
sentence to clarify.
All of these services were invented less than two
years ago. Servas International has already saved
thousands of Swiss Francs by using them. Rapid
communications often yield quick responses.
We also use collaborative software. We can jointly
edit a single file. For instance, when a Servas world
team works together to contact national secretaries
each team member can update the file on-line
overnight, to spare the others from duplicate work.
Aren't all these services are available globally?
No. Or at least I don't think so. The Servas Website
displays a log. It shows the location of computer
servers accessing the website. Today, when I
checked the last hundred people who accessed
www.Servas.org on June 28 and June 29 it showed:
• 69 were from North America (Canada 10)
• 4 from Australia and United Kingdom
• 3 from Italy and Sweden
• 2 - France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Poland
• 1 each from Russia, Spain, Latvia, Netherlands, Finland, Brazil, Mexico
This does not mean that Servas inter-personal connections cannot flourish in other regions, but the main instrument we use for Servas coordination globally has a distinct North and West "tilt". We are at the Dawn of a new Distant Vote system. But, clearly we cannot rely on the Internet exclusively. We have to encourage face-to-face meetings and find ways to connect South to North, East to West and all between. Travelers make such connections, maybe they make more active use of Internet than residents. Perhaps Travelers are an under-used Servas information resource?
Gary Sealey, President, Servas International
