The
Rotary Club of Oakleigh gratefully acknowledges the diligence of Past
President (1960-61), Charter Member (1958) and "Club
Historian" Allen James, who faithfully recorded the history of our
Club - from Charter through to 1995 - when Past President Ian James
(1993-94) continued this important role. Without the
attention to detail of these two fine Rotarians, much of our history and
the many achievements of our club would have been consigned to the fond
memories of a few. Thanks to the efforts of Allen and Ian,
along with Rotarian Ross Wilmoth (who captured many of the recent
photographs) and others who have provided historical photographs for
inclusion in this website, the Rotary Club of Oakleigh is proud to
display its history and achievements for all to enjoy.
Our
website was first published on the "world wide web" in August
2003. In March 2004 at the Rotary International District
9810 Conference in Hobart, Tasmania our Club was awarded the "Best
Club Website" trophy, donated by PDG Brian Foley and Helen in 2002.
Rotary
International District 9810
- Best Club Website -
The History Behind The Award
...a
message from PDG Brian Foley
"Congratulations
to the Rotary Club of Oakleigh on winning the best club website for this
year. I have looked at your site and it certainly is good
and lived up to the standards that I hoped clubs would achieve when I
wrote the criteria and when Helen and I agreed that we should donate
the trophy.
Helen & PDG Brian Foley.
Their vision encourages the use of modern communication methods within
Rotary and delivers the Rotary message to the world.
Now
for some background as you requested. I have been a
regular user of electronic communications for both business and private
purposes since it first became generally available in the mid to late
1990s and saw the potential for Rotary. We started to use
email fairly widely in Rotary around 1998, particularly for
international and nationwide communications, and the systems have
evolved since then. Some other districts and clubs outside District
9810 also started to become very electronic around this time and it was
inevitable that we should follow. However the standards of
use, protocols were quite variable in the early days.
In
my year as District Governor (2001-2002), Rotary International commenced
major enhancement of its IT systems including things such as data
systems, application forms, interactive website and general
communications that have greatly improved the speed and quality of
information transfer around the world. I was keen that we
should apply this type of technology in District 9810 as soon as possible.
That year we introduced the generic email system for all clubs and key
district officers in District 9810 and it has since been further developed.
We have had a district website (of sorts) since about 2000, although it
had limited capacity for development, and so I started the process that has lead to
the terrific present district site. About a dozen clubs also
had some form of website at that time and again the standards and
usefulness varied. As we have district awards for a range of
Rotary activities, I saw it as appropriate that a trophy be established
to encourage clubs to use modern communications to the maximum extent.
I still see this is one of the major challenges for Rotary in the 21st
Century to demonstrate that it is a modern and progressive organisation.
We must do this to communicate properly with the current generation of
business people and the community generally. I announced
that the website trophy would be available, commencing in 2002-03, when
making other district awards at the 2002 district changeover.
The
main aims of awarding the trophy therefore are to encourage proper use of
modern IT, to set criteria and standards that are appropriate to Rotary and
the users (who are not generally IT specialists) and to acknowledge
achievement in this regard. Although it is not meant to be a
cut-throat competition, I hope that as many clubs as possible strive to win
it. In fact I would like to see a different club win it each
year! Although it is called the website award, it is intended to
cover IT communications generally. Who knows what is around the
corner? In 10 years time, websites might be relegated to the
same category as "snail mail" is now."
Brian
Foley
14 March 2004
Rotary International
District 9810
Best Club Website Trophy
Donated by
PDG Brian Foley & Helen
