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Statute - Comments after Prague 2007

Italian proposals Jan. 2006

Final proposal 27/03/03

Synopsis of Proposals

Proposals for a new Statute

Considerations on the Statute

Constitution Roma 2003


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CONSIDERATIONS ON THE INTERSTENO STATUTE

Prepared by the Intersteno President - Fausto Ramondelli - February 2002

 

Preliminary remarks


The 44th INERSTENO Congress in July 2003 is intended to follow the process begun during the Central Committee meetings held in Palermo in September 2000, for the impulse given also by the Italian National Group.

The reform of INTERSTENO cannot avoid passing through the proceedings fixed in the statute rules, namely Rule 16, that for amendments of statutes a quorum of two thirds of the expressed votes is requested, in an extraordinary assembly convoked by the board (President, five Vice-Presidents, and the Secretary General), valid with the presence of three fourths of the national groups.
The reform of a Body with a history such as that of INTERSTENO cannot be achieved episodically. It’s necessary to base the reform proposals upon some ideas and only after drawing the details of the amendments. The intent of this document is to put forward a base for the discussion, first of all for the Central Committee members in view of the meeting that will be held in September 2002. In that seating it will be possible to define a global proposal of statute modification to be approved by the extraordinary assembly to be convoked in the Rome Congress.

Aims of INTERSTENO

First of all it’s necessary to make more adequate the aims list of the Organization, being aware that for several years the means at disposal for the treatment of communication are achieving relevant improvements, especially from a technological profile; it would be restrictive to limit the interest of our Federation to typewriting and shorthand, two matters that represent the historical and cultural heritage and the intellectual basis for the reporting profession. There is the concrete risk that technology passes by following its ineluctable path, leaving us behind asking ourselves why our totality has become so reduced. The incredible development of the Internet, helped by the empowering of computers, the massive impact of communications on society, the progressive digitization of events (audio, video, images), the spreading request of information, and the globalization of social life propose a concept of “reporting” much more extended compared with the past. The professional of communication treatment is nowadays asked to use his/her capabilities together with the means at one’s disposal for making available events in various forms and to various users all over the world. Reporting to the Internet, captioning for the hearing impaired, Webcasting audio and video clips, speech recognition, audio-video-text synchronization, and videoconferencing are only a few examples demonstrating how enlarged the market is where the reporter (latu sensu) can be the leading actor.

Therefore it’s a must for INTERSTENO to offer the cultural and scientific environment where professionals of reporting from all over the world find stimulus and adequate answers.  Needed is a special effort for involving young people interested in the reporting profession (i.e., developing educational and labor projects) and, noting reporting companies that have sprung up in the past ten years, being aware that the need for reporting will not fail to appear also in countries where so far there is scarce demand.

INTERSTENO structure

The structure of INTERSTENO in national groups shows limits under the profile of effectiveness and representation; limits that should be afforded with courage and trust. The majority of national groups reflect the history of local associations eventually peopled, that in any case are not able to represent the variegated world of people potentially concerned with the Body activity. Intellectual honesty leads us to recognize that in many cases national associations throughout various difficulties cannot fully take to INTERSTENO scientific and technological achievements related to reporting activities, and sometimes they become an impeding brake (restraint) or an obstacle against professional and cultural phenomena that indeed exist in many countries but remain strangers to our Organization.

Therefore it’s necessary to enlarge the possibility of individual membership to INTERSTENO by the means of a transformation toward the form of international association where local associations, students, professionals, teachers, and institutions take part irrespective of any national relation. The Association should aim to offer to each member the right reason to adhere and to pay a fee: information, sharing scientific and educational projects, international contests, enlarging working opportunities, professional socialization and camaraderie, and access to forums and virtual assistance nets.

A new structure requests also a modification of officials' functions. The need for providing the Organization with a more stable and effective leading panel has been stressed many times, in order to guarantee the continuity in management of activities and to give an upgraded satisfaction to members' expectations. The role of President, so far strictly limited to the organization of the Congress, should transform into a leading activity and rely upon associates’ trust by means of a more or less tight form of election. The Secretary General, who is the only stable official according to the current statute, should be accompanied by other executive members (budget keeper, vice-presidents, etc.) in order to help him in activities management. Representation of the geographical areas can be achieved with proper solutions, even without a strict form of organization by national groups.

The aim of a real scientific and cultural contribution through the production of updated information in order to satisfy the needs of members suggests constituting a technical-scientific board whose aim is to coordinate the studying activities and to finalize the research projects.

Congresses and other public events

Congresses should remain a point of reference for the INTERSTENO activities, but it's necessary to trend away from the concept, no longer bearable, of "Congresses of the hosting country" implying exaggerated financial risks and not satisfying the general expectations of participating members. As the Rome Congress is intended to demonstrate, it's possible to organize shorter Congress meetings, abandoning old organizational patterns justified only with tradition but lacking relevant scientific and cultural meaning. Rather it is necessary to make sure that the information flow is kept constant by means of the massive use of Internet potentialities and possibly a periodical magazine. If there will be the conditions, more meetings will be convoked concerning specific themes, while the Congress will remain the occasion for associative life and for the finalization of studies, projects, and inquiries concerning scientific and cultural profiles.

International contests

World championships continue to be an important reason for interest for new generations and they highlight the fact that technological improvements are not unlinked to a parallel growth of human capabilities. Therefore it's necessary to keep up to date with the contests' rules and with the prompt introduction of new competitions in order to reflect the continuing progress. Unfortunately, the long proceedings that so far have regulated the definition of competitions' rules have guaranteed the participation of all the national responsible individuals even regarding the details of each single aspect but have obstacled the effectiveness and the promptness of decisions which perhaps represent an even more important value. It's time to set free the executive board agenda from discussion about absolutely secondary details of competition which can easily be left in charge to Jury Presidents and other cooperators deemed useful, even as the Central Committee or other representative boards can always ask to verify and evaluate.

Plus, competition rules should be adequate for each edition to the organizational needs, which can be different according to the hosting country and to the time limits. From this point of view, it will be possible to organize also virtual competitions, as the Congress of Rome is intended to do.

It's also effective to go beyond the traditional division of juries (typewriting and shorthand) which is limiting in view of the questions involved with the evolution of techniques and technologies and implying a wasting of resources (human, first of all). Think of the possibility (not forbidden in the current rules) of participating in the “typewriting” contest using a shorthand machine or even speech-recognition software.  (What is typewriting?  What is shorthand?  What is hard-copy reproduction?  What other verbatim information-processing techniques might there be?)  Think of how many dictators, time checkers, correctors, and so on are called for in the typewriting and shorthand competitions.  Although all these people have been working very hard for the main part of the Congress, it's not yet been possible to arrange a live competition with results highlighted on a screen accessible to the public and press!

In the same logic, the production of united rules where the main requirements for all the competitions are dealt with is deemed necessary.  For each edition rules can be specified according to the technical advancement and to the organizational questions.

Conclusions

The INTERSTENO President, supported by the President of the Organizing Committee of the 44th Congress and by the whole Italian National Group, puts this document to the attention of the Central Committee members in order to obtain comments and suggestions. In the meeting of Madrid (September 2002), a formal proposal for the modification of the statute will be presented.

Fausto Ramondelli


 



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