BOARD OF PUBLICATIONS
Meeting Minutes
April 6, 2009
The ACB Board of Publications met via teleconference on April 6, 2009 at approximately 9:05pm (EDT). Members present were: Paul Edwards, Jenine Stanley, Marcia Dresser, Judy Jackson and Ken Stewart. Ex oficio members present were: Barry Levine; absent, Ron Milliman. ACB Staff and volunteers present were: Sharon Lovering and Larry Turnbull.
Agenda:
Ken moved to approve the amended agenda as proposed. The motion was seconded and approved.
Minutes:
Judy moved approval of the amended February 20 and March 2 minutes. The motion was seconded and approved.
ACB Radio:
Paul reported that the ACB Budget Committee and subsequently the ACB board, chose not to renew the contract for the Director of ACB Radio. Chrissy Cochran will be leaving this position at the end of her current contract in May. A three person management team, Paul Edwards, Marlaina Leiberg and Larry Turnbull, has been named to handle the operations of Acb Radio for the future until such time as the ACB Board makes other arrangements. Larry will serve as acting Program Director when the team assumes its responsibilities in May. The team has already met once and will meet again prior to their change in status. Larry is developing an overall project plan for discussion among the team. Aspects include the need to appoint a new program director for ACB Radio World and Mainstream streams. Paul stated that he will report at each BOP meeting on the activities of the management team and wants the BOP to be aware of and involved in, when appropriate, any decision making regarding Acb Radio.
Ken posed questions about how many programmers are leaving Acb Radio due to this controversy and how will listenership be effected. Paul and Larry noted that for the Mainstream stream, most programmers will stay. A number have left ACB Radio World stream but Larry is auditioning new programmers to fill those spots. Ken also enquired about Geoff Shang. Paul reported that Geoff has announced he will leave his volunteer commitments with ACB Radio but continue his paid employment maintaining the servers. Larry noted that should this change in any way, Acb President Mitch Pomerantz has some backup assistance available.
Ken moved that the BOP extend a vote of confidence to the ACB President and ACB Radio Management team and their work thus far and in future. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
The various Acb Radio lists have experienced a rash of inappropriate messages that are clearly in violation of ACB email list rules with no action taken to stop such activity by the list moderator, the current Director of ACB Radio. The BOP found this lack of action highly disturbing. Marcia moved that Paul contact Melanie Brunson on behalf of the BOP to transfer moderation duties for these lists to the incoming management team, specifically the incoming ACB Radio Program Director, immediately. The motion was seconded and approved.
Braille forum:
Paul reported that he and Melanie Brunson had worked on a series of goals for Braille forum editor, Sharon Lovering, and will be holding monthly meetings to discuss them. Sharon will be investigating classes and other opportunities for her to learn about advances in publishing and other productivity issues.
Paul noted that he will be working on similar goals and meeting structure for Earlene Hughes, the ACB Web Master.
Jenine moved that the BOP approve the plan for goals and monthly meetings between Paul, Melanie and Sharon. The motion was seconded and approved.
Sharon reported that the May issue of the Braille Forum is finished and ready to go to press. It and the June issue will contain a great deal of convention information.
Awards:
Since final score sheets had not been received by everyone yet, Sharon will have the award winners available at the May meeting. The BOP expressed excitement at the number and variety of entries in both the Ned E. Freeman and Hollis K. Liggett awards this year.
Convention Issues:
The BOP Workshop, “Virtualizing Your Affiliate: Using the Internet to Communicate”, will take place on Thursday, July 9 from 3:00 pm to 4:00pm. The Presenters will discuss using Skype, TC Conference and streaming to increase participation in affiliate activities. Jenine will contact Carla Ruschival regarding this workshop, the Sunday, July 5 BOP meeting, 10:00am to Noon, and the Thursday, July 9 Candidates Forum, 7:00pm to 9:00pm.
The convention newspaper will be called the Orlando Orbiter. The BOP discussed various versions of the newspaper. Marcia will talk with Carla Ruschival about the feasibility of the telephone version. It was also suggested to produce a DAISY version. Barry will discuss with Earlene Hughes the feasibility of gathering email addresses for a distribution list which he will administer for those who wish to receive the newspaper via email.
Ken brought up the issue of a disparity between when convention registration forms are mailed in hard copy and when the electronic registration is available. Marcia said she would include this issue in her discussion with Carla Ruschival. Paul noted that there is a rule stating that the electronic registration cannot be made available until the hard copy forms have been mailed and that anything beyond this was not in the scope of the BOP’s responsibilities.
Jenine asked about how the convention program will be handled to prevent confusion and differing iterations. Paul stated that a series of steps have been built into the process of creating the program to assure that there will be a uniform final product. He will communicate with Lane Waters and Carla Ruschival once again on the importance of this process.
Ken moved that the BOP support the creation of a volunteer “Press Corps” to assist Sharon during convention and to be available for other special assignments. Duties would be developed by Sharon and the BOP and members would be publicly acknowledged for their participation. The motion was seconded and approved. Paul encouraged Ken to develop a proposal with more specifics and present it at the next meeting.
BOPEEP:
In a review of the Braille forum in all of its formats, Ken noted that the large print edition has a glossy cover which is not optimal for people with low vision. Sharon noted that this cover is used because the surface better binds the ink. Paul asked Sharon to investigate a matt finish for the cover.
IRMA:
Ken raised the issue of the Individually Recognizable Mail Attribute or IRMA proposal he had developed to assist people in readily identifying ACB correspondence. Paul noted that he has raised this issue in terms of changing envelopes or label designs but due to lack of specific suggestions, no movement has occurred. Ken noted that possibly adding an 18-point line of type simply reading ACB might help. Paul said this idea was along the lines of what was needed to cause change and tasked Ken to come up with more specific suggestions for future discussion.
Jenine also asked about the conversion of the Acb logo into an easily used electronic graphic. Paul said he had not been able to make much headway with this. Jenine will ask Michael Fulghum of the Tennessee Council of the Blind, who has volunteered to assist with web redesign and has converted their logo into an attractive graphic, to work on the Acb logo.
ACB Board Meeting Summaries:
The BOP discussed the summaries of Acb Board meetings to appear in the Braille Forum. Paul noted that the summary of the November meeting was lost in transmittal but is complete and will be sent again to Sharon for publication. He is finishing the mid year meeting summary for publication in the June issue. Sharon will decide based on space when to run the November summary.
Next Meeting:
The next meeting of the BOP will take place via teleconference on May 11 beginning at 9:00pm (EDT).
Paul moved to adjourn the meeting at approximately 11:45pm (EDT). The motion was seconded and approved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jenine Stanley, Recording Secretary