It’s late summer already, and I’m still thinking about this year’s conference in Minneapolis: Marshall Keyes; Leif Utne; the skits presented at the 20th Anniversary celebration; the outstanding programs and discussions. Members of both the Conference Planning and Program Planning committees deserve all the credit for putting together another terrific conference. Of course, even the best programs would fall flat without active audience participation, and thanks go out to all of the conference attendees for the energy and enthusiasm you shared.
I've had so much good feedback about both the program and facilities, and we now have data that support those informal reviews. The Evaluation and Assessment Committee has been hard at work compiling your comments and ratings, and the early returns indicate that the conference was an overwhelming success. E & A has already produced a "quick and dirty" report, which will be used by both CPC and PPC in their early planning for next year’s conference. (We really do read and analyze the evaluations and take them very seriously in our planning.)
NASIG AND TECHNOLOGY
Over the years, technology has become an integral part of just about every NASIG working group. In recent years, we’ve seen the development on online registration, online volunteer forms, enhancements to the membership database, and the distribution of the NASIG Newsletter in digital form only. In many organizations, tasks such as these are assigned to in-house professionals, or they are outsourced to consultants. As an organization of volunteers, we typically form a committee or some other working group as the need arises, and typically, the task is accomplished with a digital tool of some sort. We are now at the point where we need a thorough examination and evaluation of how NASIG uses technology, and also, how our various working groups are organized around technology. Are we using tools that are scalable and will be able to migrate forward? Are we using the best applications for the job? Should some of our working groups evolve and be re-charged with a new focus?
Last year, Steve Savage spearheaded a much-needed financial plan, which will put us on sound footing for the longer term. This year, I want to begin the process of developing a comprehensive technology plan for NASIG. I have asked Step Schmitt to study these and other issues related to NASIG’s technical requirements. In a trial project, Step will function this year as NASIG’s Chief Technology Officer, an ad hoc position that will report directly to me. Depending on how the technical evaluation proceeds, we may eventually formalize the CTO position, soliciting applications from the membership, much as we do for the Newsletter and conference Proceedings editor positions. We are very fortunate to have someone with Step’s expertise take on this critical role, and I am confident that the outcome will be a vastly improved technical infrastructure for NASIG.
Here’s more news on the technology front: Anna Creech, the intrepid co-chair of the Electronic Communications Committee, has enhanced the "What’s New" section of the NASIG website with RSS (really simple syndication) news feeds. For those of you who have yet to explore the blogosphere (I am a total newbie), this means you can get updates the minute something is posted to the NASIG site. I've started using one of the free online services to subscribe to a number of blogs (to find a service, just google "rss readers"). These services make it easier for me to stay current with the websites I've come to rely on for professional news and developments, and now I can add NASIG to my list of feeds (along with (http://blog.xrefer.com/,
http://keptup.typepad.com/academic, and others). Along with NASIG-L and the NASIG Newsletter, the RSS feed provides one more stream for keeping abreast of NASIG happenings.
That’s all for now. Stay cool and stay tuned to NASIG by going to
www.nasig.org/news then clicking on the orange XML box!
