TIDA is on the move. The Toronto Internet Developers Association is home to professional internet developers in Toronto. To be considered for membership, individuals are required to submit evidence that they have completed a body of internet development work. As a result, all TIDA members have working internet development experience.

TIDA has been distinguished by having a discussion list that is one of the best places for Toronto internet developers to ask, and answer, questions about the internet. Typically, answers to questions will be posted, within hours, by people with relevant practical experience. For its first few years, TIDA was mostly its discussion list. There were no dues, and a few stalward volunteers kept TIDA going.

TIDA turned a new leaf in the summer of 1998. It began to collect dues ($25 per year), and now has a ten person Board of Directors. It is in the process of being established as a Canadian non-profit corporation. It offers a special insurance package for its members. It is working actively with George Brown College to provide an improved internet development program. It is working with other Toronto internet organizations to put on the first annual Toronto Internet Holiday party in December 1998. And a regular series of TIDA monthly events will begin in January 1999.

The goal for TIDA is to deliver a valued and professional collection of services for internet developers working in the Greater Toronto Area. Being accepted as a member of TIDA already means that you have completed a body of internet development work. That informal requirement will be strengthened and made more explicit. TIDA has also taken the first steps towards a Code of Professional Conduct. It is our intent that when the public deals with TIDA members, they will have an increased sense of confidence in their professional conduct. After approval by the members, the TIDA Code of Professional Conduct will become a membership requirement.

The TIDA web site, at http://www.tida.com, is already a good way for the public to find professional internet developers, and to find firms in GTA that employ professional internet developers. We are in the process of refining the internal database of members' skills. The public will be given controlled access to this skills database (members will determine how much and what they want to tell the public). The TIDA web services available only to TIDA members will be expanded and extended. Our web site will be an increasingly vital resource for internet developers.

TIDA and the TIDA Board of Directors are open to all suggestions for how to best deliver valued services to professional internet developers. TIDA also recognizes that it has a responsibility to provide valued service to the internet development field and to the public's concerns about internet development. TIDA would welcome suggestions for how it can best discharge these broader responsibilities. TIDA intends to be THE home for professional internet developers, and for professional internet development, in the Greater Toronto Area. We invite and encourage participation of professional internet developers.