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The Retirees' Newsletter
The Retirees' Association,(Faculty, Librarian, Administrator), University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada
Vol. VII , No. 5, December, 1997
OUR RETIREES' ASSOCIATION AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB
By Bob Chandler
THERE ARE TWO FEATURES found on the Association's web server: First is the electronic edition of our Newsletter. As soon as the editor completes an issue of The Newsletter he gives the diskette to the webster who converts it from WordPerfect files to HTML files and puts it on the WWW.
"HTML" is the HyperText Markup Language, which "tags" text so that it will appear in proper format on the WWW.
THUS THE ELECTRONIC EDITION is often available to web browsers around the world before the post office delivers it by regular "snail" mail. The web address (called "URL", for Universal Resource Locator) of our electronic edition is:
http://www.uwindsor.ca/newsstnd/uwflra/news.htm
("http" = hypertext transport protocol. Together with a colon and two slashes, it begins every web page address)
OUR HOME PAGE contains a description of our organization, a list of Executive members with their e-mail addresses, and a growing list of hypertext "links" to other web sites likely to be of interest to members: travel and health information, for example; and addresses that allow you to send a fax to any federal M.P., Ontario M.P.P. or any foreign diplomatic mission in Canada via e-mail.
THERE IS ALSO A LINK to the complete list of our current members, with e-mail addresses of those who have them. You need simply click on any e-mail address to send a message. Suggestions for other addresses you feel would be of interest to the membership are most welcome. The Webster intends to make our home page a convenient spot from which to explore retirees' interests via World Wide Web. Bob's address is bobgc@uwindsor.ca Our home page is:
http://www.uwindsor.ca/newsstnd/uwflra/
(Bob Chandler is our Webster usually called "Webmaster" but "Webster" is a more inclusive word. He retired from the School of Social Work. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Association)
THOUGHTS ON GOVERNMENT SOCIAL COSTS AND PRIVATE VOLUNTEERING
Condensed from a letter to The Newsletter, from Walter Romanow (See above, page 6)
AS PRESSURES INCREASE on all government budgets, social services are being reduced across the country, and governments are formally indicating that volunteers might very well pick up the slack. As an indication of its seriousness, Ottawa even set up recently, through the office of the Governor General, a "Volunteer Awards" program.
THE TREND RAISES SOME QUESTIONS. One of these is this: are there social services that governments ought not to relinquish in the expectation that voluntary organizations will assume such responsibilities?
A recent article in Public Administration Review (May/June 1996) holds that in this matter we should "Proceed with Caution", and that "it is essential to our clear grasp of relative roles that, on matters involving the general welfare, it is representative government to which we must turn".
LIKEWISE, The Ottawa Citizen (22 Feb 96), argues that relying upon charities to step into the breach "is a spurious alternative, at best a distraction from the real
issue, at worst a pernicious subversion of the public services to which Canadians are entitled".
A COLLATERAL MATTER HAS ARISEN... As one of my colleagues recently told me, "I may give $100 to the Red Cross, and I get an income tax receipt. But, if I put in several hundred hours of work for the organization, I may get a handshake in thanks".
You asked in a recent issue of the Retirees' Newsletter, for ideas on what sort of issues retirees' associations like ours might focus upon. One thing might be to function, from time to time, as an informal "think tank" on public issues such as these.
THESE TWO THEMES could use some thoughtful discussion by a retirees' association such as Windsor's. First, are there public services that ought not to be surrendered by governments to voluntary organizations? And second, what should be Canadian society's position concerning the current demand for income tax credit for volunteerism? Just a thought in response to your, "So let's hear it with ideas!"
Walt Romanow was Department Head in Communication Studies, and later Dean of Social Science.