In light of many recent threads, it's obvious that there is an abundance of passion for this sport (so much so there's occasionally a bit of hair pulling & name calling). So many discussions about the direction its taking, who's involved, classes, costs, what ever it may be. & don't get me wrong, there are people on this site, where as I may not agree with them (or understand their reasoning for opinion) I would actually want them on the board of what ever level of the sport making decisions on my behalf as they are that passionate about this sport. That's who I want representing me
So this said, comments were made in a thread on how to better communicate things upward to the AKA from Joe Karter. This involved having a poll or forum where a question would be asked & people can vote. An idea could be that every licence holder gets one vote for each topic. with our new smart card system it could be implemented in a relatively effective way.
Systems like this are in use now. There's a political group in Australia called Senate Online. They post questions & you choose which outcome they should vote for in parliament (this as a pose to Labour or Liberals making policy which is voted on by a representative) the Senate guys vote for the highest polling vote on that issue from the site.
Another example is a English soccer team vote on who should coach for the year & each game, who should play which positions on the field.
So your thoughts on how to communicate on your issues & thoughts? Is the current club voting system not valid or OK? is it skewed by member numbers? not enough active or engaged members? Have another system in mind? keep in mind this isn't asking how you would restructure the sport or government of, more how we would take say, good ideas from this site (or a poll, post, whatever) & communicate them upward
So this said, comments were made in a thread on how to better communicate things upward to the AKA from Joe Karter. This involved having a poll or forum where a question would be asked & people can vote. An idea could be that every licence holder gets one vote for each topic. with our new smart card system it could be implemented in a relatively effective way.
Systems like this are in use now. There's a political group in Australia called Senate Online. They post questions & you choose which outcome they should vote for in parliament (this as a pose to Labour or Liberals making policy which is voted on by a representative) the Senate guys vote for the highest polling vote on that issue from the site.
Another example is a English soccer team vote on who should coach for the year & each game, who should play which positions on the field.
So your thoughts on how to communicate on your issues & thoughts? Is the current club voting system not valid or OK? is it skewed by member numbers? not enough active or engaged members? Have another system in mind? keep in mind this isn't asking how you would restructure the sport or government of, more how we would take say, good ideas from this site (or a poll, post, whatever) & communicate them upward
Comments8
Dave, I believe this should be the way of the future, today.
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In this day and age it is not unreasonable to expect most of the karting population to have access to a computer, either at home, school or in the community. Even at the track!
The Smartcard system surely could be extended to enable a secure voting module, as you say one licence one vote. I seem to recall asking this in one of the (many) timing system threads, hoping that somebody from the very busy development team would be able to answer.
If I may introduce an insect in the salve, I see a need for the data to be collected by an independent body and the result communicated to the Executive level.
Hi Dave,
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I believe the low turn out at grass roots club level meeting is the real cause of the problems this sport has. Why the low turn out can be debated as there are many reasons, but one general reason is they average member feels his views don't get considered properly due to "personalities" in the system be club level state/nat, in other words their views are counted so why bother? this has led to the lack of faith there is in the system and the belief its there to only serve the power hungry vested interests etc.
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If we can get a serious avenue where the grass roots karter can have a say on issues where they don't have to expose themselves to these petty attacks at club/state/nat level we have a chance of getting a better idea of what karters want. This is why I had hoped governance would work in that it cut out a level of government and gave better access to clubs to the decision making table. If ppl knew their views were being considered they would get more involved.
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With todays technology there is no reason as to why we cannot use it to source karters views, a secure method is possible to ensure only eligible ppl can vote etc. the question will be will the result be BINDING, that is the NKC must act? or will it be a avenue or guide for the decison makers only?? plus it will depend on the question asked and we all know a question can be asked many ways and some questions are not simple yes/no answers. However done correctly it can be a very good guide for those making the decision. I know I would use the info gained from this if I was on the board.
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The drama will be getting the current mob to start the ball rolling, given the timing system is still costing us money to fix, $10k a month so far, what costs would be involed in going this route? and if the result of the poll is to be binding will require a major constitutional change and its taken YEARS for governance to be implemented and its still not there yet!!
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But this use of technology can be done at club level even state level, some states have already a postal vote procedure in place. each club could send via e-mail their agendas or ideas and seek feedback the success of this will be if the members see actual results from this method, and if there IS results it could very well work.
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If done correctly it will address a major problem we have on the political front.
dge on December 15, 2010 at 11:48
If anything was worth looking at this would have to be it.
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Good call
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Yes Steve, but you could only use that as a gatekeeper. Otherwise there would be the possibility of linking votes to names and that would scare ppl off, even if it was only a remote possibility. There are many software packages that already exist, that are used for secure, encrypted, online voting. Most are very expensive, but there is also some OpenGL stuff around that seems to be quite good.
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I think all would agree that a system that can totally ignore SKC/NKC time wasters and seat warmers would be a great step forward and online voting would achieve this. But as Paul said, it would then come down to the selection of voting topics and the wording of them, both of which would certainly be compromised if the current clowns have any involvement whatsoever.
So, yet again, it's a great idea of a way to solve a big problem, but it's an attempt to solve the wrong problem. Replace the clowns with people that know how to run a national competitive, technical sport and they would probably have a good system up and running before the ink had dried on their contracts.
steve jarrett said:
we have cms licenceing we have a secure system with user name and password
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its just a web interface that needs to be created just one months worth of cms development lol
Sadly, Mr O'Neil, you are correct in what you say.
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Once again a great piece of software is compromised. Is anyone game enough to put a total price on the cms software to date?
my thoughts would be now $1.2m and growing and no plans to stop it. Dennis Neagle said:
Sadly, Mr O'Neil, you are correct in what you say.
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Once again a great piece of software is compromised. Is anyone game enough to put a total price on the cms software to date?
If it was to be a binding rule, that the result would be binding on the NKC to act then it would require a very secure methodd of voting which MAYBE expensive???? But as I said earlier if it was to be binding would require a massive change in the constitution.
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If it was a non binding vote, it would not require any constitution change but a simple "direction" via a motion to detail the results and why they disregarded or took on the result? thus those at the table will have to justify going against the karters wishes and given they are elected ppl will risk being booted if they did disregard the karter's thoughts.
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It can even be done at club level on club issues, and could be a good place to trial it?
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Steve O'Neil said:
Yes Steve, but you could only use that as a gatekeeper. Otherwise there would be the possibility of linking votes to names and that would scare ppl off, even if it was only a remote possibility. There are many software packages that already exist, that are used for secure, encrypted, online voting. Most are very expensive, but there is also some OpenGL stuff around that seems to be quite good.
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I think all would agree that a system that can totally ignore SKC/NKC time wasters and seat warmers would be a great step forward and online voting would achieve this. But as Paul said, it would then come down to the selection of voting topics and the wording of them, both of which would certainly be compromised if the current clowns have any involvement whatsoever.
So, yet again, it's a great idea of a way to solve a big problem, but it's an attempt to solve the wrong problem. Replace the clowns with people that know how to run a national competitive, technical sport and they would probably have a good system up and running before the ink had dried on their contracts.
steve jarrett said:
we have cms licenceing we have a secure system with user name and password
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its just a web interface that needs to be created just one months worth of cms development lol
Dale, 12 months ago, I was well into a business plan for a Kart Retail and Engineering business. However, as soon as I started market analysis and a SWOT evaluation of the industry, I ended up scrapping the idea totally. Indeed, a friend who I consulted commented that it reminded him of losing millions of dollars when his business interests in PNG collapsed, due to government incompetence, corruption and nepotism. It's troubling when one of the captains of big business in Australia likens the AKA to a corrupt government.
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As already stated, online voting is a great idea, but will not solve the problem.
Dale Verrall said:
I would rate the issue you've raised as the #1 concern I have as a kart retailer/business owner.
There is many negative points i could raise but Ive decided that I need to look for the positives and enjoy the sport thats been part of my life for 30yrs.
If anyone has the answer and needs help I can assure you there is a large number of karting industry owners who will help where possible.