Board of Publications Meeting Minutes for April 3, 2018

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Ron Brooks at 9:05 p.m. on April 3, 2018.

Members present: Ron Brooks, Chair; Deb Lewis; Donna Brown; Susan Glass. Paul Edwards was absent.

ACB employees and contractors present: Sharon Lovering; Larry Turnbull.

Ex officio members present: Kim Charlson, ACB president; David Trott,

ACB treasurer; Bob Hachey, listserv manager.

Guests: Ralph Smitherman; Ken Stewart; Janet Dickelman.

Ron reviewed the agenda.

Motion:Deb moved and Donna seconded adoption of the agenda. Motion passed.

Motion:Donna moved and Susan seconded adoption of the March 6, 2018 minutes. Motion passed.

There were no comments.

There are a number of submission candidates for the Freeman Award, including one submitted by an affiliate. As of April 2, there were no nominees for the Liggett or Henley awards so Ron and Sharon extended the closing date to the 5th. There is now one nomination for the Henley Award. Deb proposed that maybe next year the BOP should review affiliate newsletters for the Liggett Award and nominate them ourselves or approach particular states with encouragement to step forward. Ron noted that the criteria for Liggett nomination is very hard to meet and we might consider simplifying the process. Ron also thought that for this year we should approach affiliates who previously submitted a nomination but were not chosen. For example, Missouri has a good newsletter but Pennsylvania was selected that year. Sharon will send out the Freeman nominees. BOP members need to make their first, second and third choices for these prior to the May meeting.

The discussion focused on streamlining the convention program size particularly for braille and large print versions. The program will be offered in large print, braille, NLS cartridge, downloadable podcast, email, ACB Link, Audio Now, and NFB-Newsline. Last year’s program was 178 large print pages and this year will be about 303 pages using the new large print guidelines. Janet reviewed the table of contents in detail. The following modifications were proposed: The level of detail in the Photography and medical sections could be streamlined, and wording in general might be shortened while still making the important points for each section. The section on Affiliate Caucuses will be removed because it is duplicated in affiliate programs. An explanation at the front of the calendar along with giving each document a unique name might help people use the documents better. Reorganizing the content so that the calendar, info about the café, and exhibits could be placed together was suggested since people would use this information throughout the day. A concern was raised regarding printing program descriptions multiple times when an event is jointly sponsored, and it was proposed that joint events might be described in their first occurrence and referenced in subsequent occurrences. There was also concern regarding the amount of space to document all of the program presenters, and Janet is encouraging program chairs to limit these descriptions. She explained that there are program limits provided to affiliates but information often comes in agenda form and we currently do print all of this. Kim explained that the convention program is an official document for archive purposes. There was discussion regarding whether this form of document archive was the most useful format for convention attendees and perhaps there should be two presentations, one for archival purposes and one for distribution, but there was not consensus on this. Janet will send out the TOC and the entire program to stimulate further discussion. It was agreed that further feedback for this year’s program will be submitted within two weeks, and that discussion will continue for next year with the understanding that most changes are difficult to implement this year. Kim will ask affiliate presidents about the feasibility of listing events once, and referencing them throughout the program as a possibility for next year.

Ron asked for feedback on the current allocation of space in the ACB Braille Forum and E-Forum, emailed earlier. The emphasis is heavily weighted on convention content. That content is important, but the magazines may not be the most efficient and timely mechanism for all of it. There was agreement that greater balance should be achieved among larger categories such as advocacy, lifestyle, and relevant issues. Email lists might be the best way to provide up-to-date, relevant information while the magazines might be better suited to longer lasting content that can be archived and used over time. If content is removed, we need to ensure that there is an effective mechanism for distributing it other than the magazines. It was observed that some content which is posted on email or social media is then printed weeks later in the magazines. Any format changes would occur in August or later and would include a brief survey for reader feedback. Ron asked that everyone think about what they would propose for content if they were the editor; we will continue the discussion at the May meeting.

Deb reported that the working group was unable to meet due to schedule issues and would report next month.

 

 

Braille Distributed: 671; Returned: 2; Return Rate: 0.3%; Received: 669 LP Distributed: 2,601; Returned: 26; Return Rate: 1%; Received: 2,575 Cartridge Distributed: 892 Electronic Distributed: 6,196; Returned: 2; Return Rate: 0.0%; Received: 6,194

Electronic Distributed: 6,338 (up 2.29% since last month) I’ve just wrapped up the May issue. I have loads of convention-related articles for this issue. Our affiliates are going to be busy this year, judging by Affiliate News. I also have an interesting letter to the editor, complaining about the diversity article in the February E-Forum. But, for the first time in a while, there isn’t a High Tech Swap Shop column. I am finished with the annual membership updates for now. Certification is due Friday, March 30th. Dues are due April 27th. The online database will open up again for changes, additions, deletions, etc. on May 1st, and close again on May 31st. Thanks to the new database features, it was the fastest reconciliation ever. I am also working on the list of nominees for the Freeman, Henley and Liggett awards. I will send that out next week by Thursday at the latest. The communications tasks document for convention backup is almost completed.

ACB Radio Mainstream: 2,172 ACB Radio Café: 415 ACB Radio Treasure Trove: 2,365 ACB Radio Interactive: 1,145 ACB Radio World News and Information: 720 ACB Radio Live Event: 15 listeners, Bay State Council of the Blind convention; 25 listeners, California Council of the Blind convention Phone: 9,232 calls. Web hits: 22,133 for February. ACBRI on demand visits: 6,302 Downloads: Main Menu, 650; Speaking Out for the Blind, 45; ACB Braille and E-Forum, 733; ACB Reports, 532; Legendary Insights, 855 We picked up 80 subscribers for the ACB Braille Forum and E Forum podcast. We picked up 40 subscribers for ACB Reports. We picked up 90 subscribers to the Main Menu podcast. We picked up 30 subscribers for Legendary Insights. We had 3675 tuning hours reported by Stream Licensing for ACBRadio Interactive. We had 2,631 tuning hours for ACBRadio Café. We had 237 calls to the ACB Braille/E Forum hotline. Larry’s most significant project has been conversion to SharePoint for all Office documents in DC and MN. The beta testing for the Android version of ACB Link should begin soon. Larry will set up a beta list and Nancy Becker will establish a Google Play account for downloading the app. Larry will be making a presentation about using ACB Link during the IAC meeting at the convention.

March 2018 ACB-L Membership: 322; Posts: 149 ACB-Chat Membership: 139; Posts: 41 Big spike in number of posts on ACB-Chat. Topics included the state of our economy, liberal vs. conservative ideology, political correctness, etc.

There were no other committee reports, and there was no other business.

The next meeting is scheduled for May 1, 2018 at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Donna moved and Deb seconded adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 10:48 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Deb Lewis, Secretary