"ROTI & ICUFR are fellowship organizations . . . formed for fun and casual friendship of fellow Rotarians . . . they are focused on making Rotarians better Rotarians by using PC's and the Internet to teach people who don't know how to make websites, and use the Internet to do it." That's a fair assessment of the two Fellowships. Interestingly, the ICUFR's Rotary mail list rotary@taranto.com has recently tightened up a little in an effort to keep most topics focussed on Rotary or computer related issues. A litle levity and fun is fine but it is once again providing a valuable forum where folks can share views and seek advice. Whilst not specifically a fund-raising or project based group - that would move them towards being a Rotary Action Group - there is a move in the ICUFR to encourage members to collaberate either individually or club-to-club on projects of mutual interest. Two UK clubs and a US based Rotary Fellowship combined to support a Caribbean Club in recent months. Fellowships have the flexibility to take up whatever is of interest to their members. RAGs on the other hand are dedicated to their defined cause. Each can enhance the 'Spirit of Rotary' for their members.

Yes, "pitching in" when and where need is the "Rotarian way", I think the same could be said of any Rotary "sub-group" whether it is the Fellowship of Bird Watchers or the Wheel Chair Foundation, or Inner Wheel or Rotaract. Pitching in when the opportunity for services arise. I maybe wrong, but I don't think supporting a fellow Rotarian after a serious accident is in the mission statement of orginal letter application sent to RI for ROTI or ICUFR. Below is a copy of the orginal Statement of Purpose that was submitted to the RI when the fellowship was applied for: The International Fellowship of Rotarians United to Bridge the Digital Divide is formed to offer all like-minded Rotarians around the world the opportunity of service and fellowship in the interest of making an effort to bridge the digital divide that exists between various communities and nations around the world. This fellowship will work towards providing tools and infrastructure available for all humans, regardless of race, color, sex, religion, to have the opportunity take advantage of the wealth of information and resources that are available in digital form, including but not limited to such things as the Internet, digital telecommunications, digital photography, digital music, digital publishing, digital medical imaging, digital mapping, the global positioning system. By subscribing to the philosophy behind the proverb, “Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and eats for a lifetime”, this fellowship believes that by giving all humans equal access to the information provided by the digital world, we can achieve great strides towards helping solve global problems such as children at risk, poverty and hunger, the environment, illiteracy, and violence. CONTINUED....in next comment..

That is the width of the focus that the Rotary Action Group will be focused on if it eventually becomes a reality. The purpose of the group is not to "compete" with any other groups or individual Rotary Clubs. It is merely an opportunity for like-minded people around the world who believe the Digital Divide should be bridged and are willing to help when and where they can. Just as one of the hardest parts of treating alcoholism is getting the alcoholic to recognize that a problem exists, so it is with the Digital Divide and getting the world to recognize that there is a Digital Divide. Digaria is part of that process of educating the world that there is a Digital Divide, and giving people both within the world of Rotary and outside of the world of Rotary the opportunity to contribute to the solution. As a by-product of that process it is quite possible that Rotary might pick up a few new members at a rate faster than the old ones are dying off. And it might help retain the the interest of some of the younger members. I believe one of the main reasons the worldwide membership number is stagnent and actually in decline when compared with overall global population growth (and when you take into account the fact that women were only allowed to join in the 80's) is because the lives of a typical 30 to 40 year old is not the same as when folks in their 60's and 70's now. Demands on time professionally and personally have changed dramatically over the years. Applying digital technology in a positive way could be one of the things that not only keeps Rotary from a declining, but actually propelling it to new heights and numbers of membership that were previously thought of as unattainable. Obviously when the four orginal founders of Rotary, who were in the 30's and 40's sat down 100 years ago and concieved Rotary, they had no idea that Rotary would reach over a million. Is it not possible that 100 years from now Rotarians could look back on the days when there were only 1 million members, and think, "geees, I bet those guys and gals had no idea membership would eventually hit 50 million people like it is today!"

Furthering the cause of the MetroNet6 project based on the New Internet is yet another focus of Digaria, which is extremely timely in light of the events that recently unfolded in New Orleans. An example of MetroNet6 is as follows. In a U.S. city or town the State Police, Fireman, Hospital 911 Personnel, Local Police, and any other required Local Authorities would have Handheld Devices that would have their own Metropolitan Network (MetroNet6) for Voice, Video, Graphics, Intelligence, Medical, and other forms of data through multimedia communications 24x7x365. This MetroNet6 would be connected over the Internet to the National Homeland Security Office securely for communications updates. The MetroNet6 would support both wireless and wireline technology as the physical medium for communications and the integration of wireless and wireline so either can be used on the MetroNet6. The MetroNet6 would support the ability for a command center to be established in an Ad Hoc manner to communicate with the MetroNet6 Homeland Security force and National Homeland Security Office using wireless or wireline communications. In addition, the MetroNet6 should be able to add additional Ad Hoc Sub-Networks in as required such as the National Guard, Air Command, or other U.S. Agencies that must connect to the MetroNet6 during a 911 disaster.

This is a reply I made to a similar question a few weeks ago: ROTI & ICUFR are fellowship organizations. They are formed for fun and casual friendship of fellow Rotarians. I belong to both of them, and in my opinion, they are focused on making Rotarians better Rotarians by using PC's and the Internet...to teach people who don't know how to make websites, and use the Internet how to do it. The International Fellowship of Digital Technology Rotarians is in the process of being structured to be one of the new Rotary Action Groups. It is focused on humanitarian projects that use the latest in digital technology and works to Bridge the Digital Divide, and introduce the New Internet to the world. The International Fellowship of Digital Technology Rotarians is focused on making the world a better place by using advances in digital technologies...photography, imaging, the Internet, digital sound and video, etc. It realizes that technologies like PC's and email and conventional, static, websites are pretty much "out-of-date" technologies, much like fax machines and pagers. Digaria, a project of the Digital Rotarians Fellowship, is a blogworking magazine that brings people together. Digaria is open to the public, and accessable to ALL people. Rotarians and Non Rotarians alike. Hopefully some of the Non Rotarians will decide to become Rotarians once they experience some of the wonderful things that Rotary has to offer and does around the world, and hopefully existing members will be engaged and entertained and want to stay involved in Rotary longer. In addition to other things, Digaria is in the process of hosting the Rotary Centers for International Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution Fellows Alumni Assocation website to bring all of the 8 centers around the world closer together.