I thought I’d try something a little different. I’m running for the Board of CIRA. You know: CIRA. The National organization responsible for managing the dot-ca top-level domain name. “CIRA’s Board of Directors has a unique role to play in setting policy and strategy to help CIRA continue to be a leading-edge organization that strives for excellence as a registry and supports Canadians in building their presence in the global digital economy.”

Though I’m not entirely sure what my chances are, the math tells me that the roughly eight people per available spots (I’ve seen the list) puts me in the low teens, percentage-wise — if, of course, the contest was entirely random… which it is not. This is where you (might) come in.

Right now, the election is in the pre-support phase. This basically means that the first-round list has been set (and I’m on it) and they are finalizing the paperwork for the end-run eligibility of everyone involved. My paperwork is in. And starting in about a week — next Thursday, August 25th, to be precise — the “Show of Support” phase begins.

I need twenty votes to get into the next round.

That means, simply, I need to find twenty people, CIRA members — anyone who owns a dot-ca domain name and has registered with CIRA, so there are lots of you out there — to log into their account sometime in the two weeks included in this span, and vote for me.

Twenty votes gets me to the next round. It’s like one of those reality television shows, but winning actually means something: I’ll have the pleasure of volunteering for this organization.

So, here’s the thing: Starting next week I’ll be campaigning. I’ll be on social media prodding everyone I know who might own a dot-ca to log in and vote. I’ll be posting things about my (for lack of a better word) platform. And I’ll be begging for your patience and favour. Bear with me. And if by some luck and hard work I do happen to move forward, not only will I have a great opportunity, but I’m sure it will make for some interesting posts on this blog.

If not, it will have always been worth the attempt.