Would you like to know who is the new IT-Responsible of the Comité Directeur? Here you are: Derk Snijders, Computer Science Dutch student with previous experience as IT assistant of the Chair Team during Agora Chisinau. The former Treasurer of AEGEE-Enschede is busy working on the replacement of the current intranet, MyAEGEE, and is also ready to give his contribution to the Agora in his country.

The AEGEEan: Could you introduce yourself?
Derk: Hey! I am Derk Snijders, 23 years old, from AEGEE-Enschede. I am currently studying Computer Science (well, the government thinks I do [he smiles, ed.]), being at the beginning of my Master’s. I am two meters tall, which is what got me the nickname “Tall Dutch Guy” at EPM Zagreb. Zagreb was my third European event with AEGEE; I have been to Bergamo and Chisinau as well. Last year, I was a Board member (Treasurer) of “Stichting Sociëteit Asterion”, AEGEE-Enschede’s own pub, on top of having created lots of committee’s on our local level. My hobbies are gaming, working on my own programming projects and trolling other people. I am currently pretty much binge watching the entire series of Star Trek and my favourite movie is probably Frozen. I think those are enough private secrets of mine, if you want to know more you will have to trade them for some of your own!

Why did you decide to join the CD as IT Assistant?
It took me quite a while actually to really make this decision. I was at the end of my pub board year and was contemplating what to do next. I was not really looking forward to going back to full-time studying, so this seemed like an appealing alternative. Having heard of the possibility I initially laughed at it “as if I would do that”. Then, I started realising the advantages: getting some experience working on an international IT project as a project manager is not so bad. On top of that, I would spend some time in Brussels, which I expected (and it still do!) to be sort of a long holiday. And finally, doing this would mean I support my organisation and get to work with lots of awesome people! The negatives? Not so many actually, so it happened.

Did you have any previous IT experience?

I would say, yes, I do. I have completed my bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at the University of Twente, I had multiple private projects, creating apps, games, websites and other fun stuff. On top of that, I was IT responsible in my pub board and also for the last Agora. In Chisinau I was part of the Chair Team, taking up the IT part of it. This already got me to get to know some of the people involved in AEGEE as well as providing me with some very valuable and funny moments!

Which are your tasks in the CD?

Lia Tuska likes me to call her “my master and commander”, yet that does not really describe my tasks that well because, in the end, I am the one in control of the internet. I have been walking around the house (and street) with my laptop scanning the WiFi signal strengths, explained Ctrl+V to someone and installed rollercoaster on a broken PC. On top of that, I have been putting most of my time in working on the replacement of the current intranet, MyAEGEE. Within this project, now I have the title of “project manager”, where I am supposed to lead the project team in the right direction. This includes writing lots of documentation, talking with people, prioritising issues and making sure everyone knows what to do. In general, I also communicate all kinds of IT subjects to the CD. Finally, you could say I have a new pen pal friend- Philipp! We email a lot and he is providing me with lots of information and small tasks to fix in the house.

What would you like to do as IT Assistant?

Hmm, good question. I think I am pretty happy with my tasks so far! I have a clear challenge with MyAEGEE and, while it is sometimes a bit frustrating -the others do not really understand what I am doing- this does provide me with a lot of freedom (and responsibility), which I have been really liking so far. At the end of my assistance, it would be really cool to have successfully launched MyAEGEE, something which is a very daunting task, as many have come and tried before me.

What is the most unforgettable experience in your role in the CD?

Again, tough question. My first reaction was “Réka’s culinary specialities”, but on second thought, I would say the overall experience of living in a house like this. Every day we are in the office, some have Skype calls and other are just frantically typing on their keyboard, some are even giving a tour of the house to a newly arrived team. All this multi-disciplinarity and interculturality makes it an incredible experience. And everyone is just really nice to each other as well. Amazing how quickly I became friends with some people here, actually.

Do you think you will make some changes in AEGEE-Europe website?
This was actually also in the job description! Yet I have not spent so much time on this. I have set up a testing ground and we will soon start experimenting with designs and implementations of a new website. So who knows? [he smiles, ed.]

Have you applied for the recent open call for IT assistant of the Chair Team of Agora Enschede or did you focus just on the CD position?

Actually, no. I would have liked another time as Chair IT, though not applying for this had little to do with my CD position.

How will you contribute to the next Agora?

Ha, an easy question! I am part of the core team of the organisers.  I am the secretary there, responsible for incoming and visa, and last but not least, IT responsible! I make sure that all the minutes are in the right place,  any questions we receive are answered and our website is built. Additionally, I was the previous Chair IT, therefore I am transferring my knowledge to Jani, the Chair IT at Enschede, and I am pretty much the IT contact of CD now. You could say I am responsible for a lot of technical aspects of the Agora [he laughs, ed.]. All of this was the reason why I did not apply for the Chair IT position during this Agora, that would be too much IT at once [he smiles, ed.].

Can you tell us something about the Hackathon in Bruxelles with Lia Tuska? 

Not that much actually, I was not there. I really did want to go but had other obligations I had to execute. The interesting part of this is that it did eventually make me apply for the CD assistance! I got in contact with CD about the hackathon. Through that, I got informed about this opportunity and eventually was convinced to send in an application by the very insistent and persuasive Réka.

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari

He describes himself as a stoic, stubborn and attractive person and he is the creator and developer of the Online Membership System (OMS) which will replace the old Intranet. Fabrizio Bellicano is our Member of the Month for February and in this article he explained to us how the Online Membership works and how it can change AEGEE in the long term. So this is how we got to know him better, through his continuous work for the new Intranet and his perspective as an IT person both in AEGEE and outside of it.

The AEGEEan: To begin with, tell us three words that best describe you and why.

Fabrizio: Stoic, stubborn and.. uh, sexy, yeah, so we have three S.

How did the concept of OMS (Online Membership System) come to life? 

Oh, there’s so much to say, I’ll try to be short and simplifying stuff..

AEGEE (i.e. the Comité Directeur) used to have a product called “Lotus”, back in the times when the computer applications weren’t networked: they received paper documents, and recreated the information inside Lotus to be handled by the CD.

In order to expand the functionality, a new system with online capabilities was designed: the Online Membership System. Due to the usual problem that we are also facing now (i.e. lack of HR) it was outsourced (allegedly to a company “friend” of the President at the time…). Specifications, however, were bad; in other words, we asked for a product in a generic way, and we got a product that generally works. Some parts are worse, some parts are ok. Clearly suboptimal, especially if you think that a loooot of money were spent to get that. Anyhow, that’s the current intranet.

What I am doing is a total revamp of the intranet, borrowing some parts from the concept of “OMS”, yet what I am doing is definitely not “the OMS” – the first code name for my project was “Calaf” (his name, and he ends up by singing “I will win”) except only me and Paul Smits keep calling it like this. The most important part of the revamp was the use of “marketable skills”, in other words, the technologies I am using for this project have been picked with two criteria in mind: 1) they are modern and easy to pick (a new person is able to get started soon); 2) they are in high demand in the job market. I hoped that this would foster IT students of AEGEE to jump in and help out, but I was too optimistic. I guess we’re not so full of volunteers after all… As it always happens, the more people take part in something, the less it’s being done (everybody thinking “somebody else will take care of it”.. simple social science).

What is the purpose of the OMS and how can AEGEE benefit from it?

Since the network is only one, it is stupid to make every local reinventing the wheel to make a system that works. The first purpose of the new system is to relieve IT resources on the local: think about shared website space managed by AEGEE-Europe, instead of paying hosting space, domain name, and perhaps mail server or other additional services.

How AEGEE can benefit is simple: the second problem the system wants to tackle is information management. Currently we have no clear way to obtain information about.. well, anything. Just as an example, I got asked once by the board of AEGEE-Amsterdam how to know where their members applied/to which events they participated (they have something like prizes for the most traveller or something similar). The point is clear: how is it possible that I have no data telling me what is going on in my own antenna?

The third benefit is, once all data is harmonised and we have a strategy on how/what/where to store data, it comes naturally that the interchange of such info is eased. Think you don’t need to submit members list anymore – a snapshot from the database of your members (hosted on AEGEE-Europe’s servers, as mentioned) will suffice.

What would you say is the biggest problem in AEGEE at the moment and how do you think it can be solved?

The biggest problem in AEGEE is that we’re not self-sustainable. We have such big ideas about saving refugees or opening locals in some places, that we are not realising this is blinding us. We are constantly spamming the word AWESOME, yet locals are closing slowly one by one. Why? It’s simple: intranet. Wow, you’ve spent two days in trying to bring your friend in AEGEE, you told her/him about SU, about NWM, about Agora, s/he gives in and joins AEGEE! S/he goes on intranet.aegee.org and registers. First impression: we are still in the ‘90s with that look & feel – user experience anyone? Second impression: wow, I registered, now I didn’t receive any email. Yet I can’t retry because it says that my email is already registered. Ok, we’re done here, goodbye and see you never.

AEGEE-Kyïv told me they lost a handful of members because of that – their problem is even worse, the page they received on registration is completely blank (the server errors). AEGEE-Siena is losing members in this period of SU applications. Many others are facing the same problem, yet just imagine closing those two antennae. And another one. And another one. We are slowly decaying – do you think we are still 13,000?

Oh, now that I mention numbers, last fun fact about intranet members: there are 60,000 (sixty thousands) members in the database, because when people forget their passwords they simply re-register….

ITC (Information Technology Committee) is right now very silent. Do you have any idea as how it can be brought to life again? 

 ITC is a body like any other, it needs HR, PR, FR. Some IT skills would be favourable, yet not necessary. I was very happy when this year (actually last year) the candidates were not just “nerds”. I don’t know what happened to them though.

How do you see AEGEE in five years’ time?

It just depends on the next two years, if we are placing our bets on internal development or not – and this involves IT, as I said, but also literally developing our members. The academy, LTCs – whatever it is, we have to instruct our members of what AEGEE can offer. Also, we should start thinking of more flexibility so that we can respond in time to events, instead of waiting six months every time just to change the CIA… we’re getting too much bureaucracy.

What do you plan to do next in AEGEE?

I just look forward to the Agora, and then I applied to the SU “Nordic smile” by AEGEE-Riga, AEGEE-Tallinn and AEGEE-Helsinki.

More on the long term, I plan to chill and have fun, contributing slowly but steady, and not rushing anymore (risking a burnout).

Written by Gabriela Geană, AEGEE-București

Every day, as AEGEE members, we use the technology, services and applications that are available to us, ranging from browsing a website to get information about a certain Working Group, through sending emails from our aegee.org account, to asking for support when we cannot login to the Intranet. We rely on AEGEE’s IT services to provide the necessary infrastructure for our work but we barely get a chance to take a glimpse behind the scenes, and get to know those people whose invaluable work makes all of this possible. Presenting you Wim van Ravesteijn, Dilyan Palauzov and Christian Bussar, the following paragraphs will show you how working in the IT field of AEGEE can be more than a passing task, and become a source for personal development, enriching one’s life.

The AEGEEan: What are your responsibilities in AEGEE when it comes to IT matters?

Wim van Ravesteijn has been active in the ITC (formerly ITWG) for over 10 years.

Wim: “I’m responsible for the webserver Zeus, hosting almost all websites in AEGEE, as well as the Head Office servers. For Zeus, it means maintaining the server, creating new accounts, assisting users with problems, and writing some tooling to make the life of the users easier. For the Head Office, it mainly means maintaining the servers. Next to that, for 10 years already by now, I take care of the Agora and EBM applications.“

Dilyan: “In AEGEE, we use @aegee.org email addresses and mailing lists with @lists.aegee.org and I ensure that these email services are constantly up, running, and improving. This means maintaining the mail server, dealing with spam, and doing the best to deliver the emails sent to the @aegee.org addresses to the real destination mailboxes. Apart from the everyday task of creating email aliases, there are some long term ideas, like integrating the creation of the mail aliases with the intranet databases, updating software, migrating from one software to another, or installing new software for new services.”

Christian: “My task is the user support of the AEGEE Intranet, which keeps the account data of every registered AEGEE member and their position within the organisation. You need to access your account for all event applications and this is why the most demanding time is during the application period for statutory events and of course the Summer Universities. The general task is explaining people how to recover their passwords or generating interim passwords for them. The challenge of user support is being available almost every day, because naturally you don’t want to keep people waiting for longer than 24 hours.”

The AEGEEan: Most of you have been involved in this type of work for a very long time, even up to 10 years. What has kept you motivated all this time?

Wim: “Maintaining your own webserver is the dream of every IT student. You can always build your home server, but without lots of users, this is not much fun. AEGEE provides the environment to provide a reliable service to lots of people. It gives you experiences that you cannot learn from books. Finding the right balance between security and user experience is the most complicated part, but by doing it for many years, you know where is the right balance.”

One of the aims of Dilyan Palauzov is to constantly develop the email systems of AEGEE.

Dilyan: “On the one hand, there is the technical challenge, and the experience I get in this field.  If you want to work in the area of IT, you need to learn a huge amount of theory, and when you apply for a job, you can list what you have learnt. AEGEE gives you the possibility both to learn theoretically and to put this in practice, for the benefit of both yourself and the organisation. On the other hand, my motivation also comes from a sense of responsibility, as I have always had the feeling, that if I do not do my work right, the rest of AEGEE will not be able to exchange emails and they will not be able to work productively.”

The AEGEEan: What are the next steps for you in these positions? Are you looking for people to get involved in your work?

Dilyan: “I’ve been in this position for too long, and I am looking for somebody to take over this challenge. Three months ago there was an open call for new members, and currently the mail team consists of Christophe, Clemens, Mateusz, Olimpia, Richard and me. The teammates do great work in answering the daily mails, but I wish there were some people to develop new software, or just make changes in the service, besides keeping the current service level. To join the mail team, experience is not at all necessary, as it can be gained along the way. What is important is the motivation and willingness to do things the right way, polished, with an attention to details. So if someone would like to learn to set up servers and email software, and is ready to ensure that the mail server is going to work non-stop, I would be glad if he or she supported me.”

Christian: “My personal situation has changed recently because I am now working full time which gives me a lot less free time than before, when I was a student. This means I don’t know exactly if it is possible for me to carry on this position for much longer. User support for the Intranet it is a quite easy task to fulfil, and you don’t need much insight into IT, just have to be able to handle an easy web form with drop down menus and check boxes. Furthermore, it is not fully about giving away positions, in fact we’re calling ourselves the myAEGEE Team, but are missing actually some faces beside me, so the first step might be to get some more people involved to share the workload, especially during the Summer University application period.”

Wim: “The next step for me in AEGEE is retirement. Well, I said that some years ago already. My involvement in AEGEE is little right now. I’ve joined Les Anciens already some years ago, that was when I left my position in the board of AEGEE-Academy. That was basically the last involvement from my side in AEGEE, except for the IT work.”

The AEGEEan: In AEGEE you work in the IT field, but what do you do in your everyday life?

Wim: “Over three years ago, I started working in an IT company in Deventer, The Netherlands. I started as Java developer, which is still what I do most of the time. In addition to that, I also take care of maintaining our internal servers, planning new development and second line user support. We develop web applications that are used for primary healthcare in The Netherlands. So, basically I do the same as I’ve done in AEGEE (servers and web development), only now I get paid for it.”

Christian Bussar is currently pursuing a PhD degree at the University of Aachen.

Christian: “You can separate my life into four phases, which are working on my job, doing sports, doing AEGEE related things and sleep. Since I’ve just started my job a few weeks ago, I am still trying to adjust my schedule a bit here and there, but I have regular office hours doing my PhD at the University of Aachen. In my free time I enjoy doing a lot of sports like kung-fu, swimming and fitness gymnastics, which I do usually every second day, if possible.”

Dilyan: “I recently moved to Nürnberg, where I develop software. I like travelling, cycling, walking around, reading books about IT and articles related to emails, or listening to the radio.”

The AEGEEan: Is there anything else that you would like to share about your experiences in AEGEE?

Wim: “I joined AEGEE in 2000. During all those years, I’ve travelled a lot, seen lots of places and made lots of friends all over Europe. I’ve learnt to cooperate with people from different backgrounds. Many people you meet several times, but you always want more. Unfortunately, many friends live too far away to meet often, but whenever there is a possibility, I try to meet people when I travel somewhere. AEGEE has thought me so many lessons. And though it took a lot time away from studying, it also gave me lot of practical experiences next to all the theory from my studies. It definitely helps me now in my daily work. Without AEGEE, my life would be totally different now.”

Dilyan: “When I look back after some years of work, I realize how much the work in AEGEE has developed me both on the social and the technical aspect. It is hard to foresee how a person doing voluntary work will develop him or herself by this work, but being unpaid allows you to determine for yourself what is important and lets you work on making it real, just because of your inspiration and independent of commercial interests.”

Christian: “Even though I only found out about AEGEE late in my studies, it made my whole life somehow connected and looking to shape the future of Europe, and this is quite amazing, I think. Thank you for everything, AEGEE!”

As these stories show, there are a lot of opportunities for AEGEE members to find the field of IT that they would like to get to know better and develop their skills. As Dilyan puts it, “The scope of the work is very broad, and you shouldn’t be afraid to break something in the beginning, as breaking stuff is part of the learning process.” If you would like to find out more about their work, or better yet, get involved in it, do not hesitate to contact Wim (wim@aegee.org), Dilyan (mail@aegee.org) or Christian (myaegee@aegee.org).

Written by Zsófia Komáromi, AEGEE-Budapest