Late again!! ... and Why PART A?
I will soon run out of valid (or at least interesting) reasons for getting WEB out beyond the promised end-of-the-month deadline. This time, I wanted to hold back until the conclusion of the Special Emergency Directors' Meeting held on March 30 and 31, where some important operational decisions were taken and major developments occurred in WAOE's efforts to achieve affiliation with other online education organisations. See Special Items.
The significance of the outcomes of this meeting of the Board of Directors means that reports of the decisions taken, and the background to them, tend to dominate this issue of WEB.
And Why PART A?
I will be out of town from April 3 until April 12 on consultations in
six areas across the centre and north Australia with Indignenous community
leaders, tour operators, training providers, cultural centre managers,
and other key persons to identify ways and means of ensuring that the
components of national tourism training which call for researching, interpreting
or presenting aspects of Indigenous society and beliefs are culturally
appropriate, accurately and sensitively reflect the individuality of local
customs and rituals, and have the endorsement and support of community
elders.
(I thought you might like to know the kind of thing I try to do when I'm not fully engaged with WAOE!)
So, given my imminent departure to carry out this project, and given also my deliberate delay to pull this issue together until the close of the Special Directors' Meeting, it was a diabolical blow to lose my Internet connection entirely for several hours this afternoon. Although things are now back to normal, with absolutely no explanation in sight for why they went wrong in the first place - alas, technology! - I simply do not have the time to complete and check the Coming Events, New Links, Web Ideas and Issues, and News Items sections. I will put out a Part B around mid-April.
David Wyatt, WAOE Membership Officer and WEB Editor