Board of Publications Meeting Minutes November 10, 2020

Deb called the meeting to order at 9 p.m. Eastern. Penny called the roll. All BOP members were present, as well as ACB staff members and representatives; Dan Spoone, ACB president; and several guests.

Deb read the agenda, and it was adopted unanimously, following a motion from Paul and a second from Penny.

Minutes from the October BOP meeting were adopted unanimously, without additions or corrections, following a motion from Paul, and a second from Susan.

Sandra Sermons told the BOP that the International Relations Committee would like to contribute content to the August ACB Braille Forum under the theme of international cultures. Paul asked, and Sandra agreed, to supply an outline of their proposed content to the BOP in February or March. Paul moved and Susan seconded a motion to allocate the August ACB Braille Forum to the International Relations Committee. The motion was adopted unanimously.

Deb noted that the BOP would welcome themed contributions from other ACB affiliates and committees. Paul volunteered to contribute content from the Braille Revival League, and Deb and others pointed out that the January issue represents a perfect opportunity for contributions from BRL. Paul said that he could write an article and submit it to Sharon in the coming week.

The BOP anticipated spending the bulk of time at this meeting discussing this topic, and that is what happened.

Deb pointed out that the BOP’s proposed changes with respect to ACB e-mail lists would be on the ACB Board’s meeting agenda for the coming weekend. The Board needs to approve only the changes in composition of the ACB Leadership list because the Board had expanded Leadership list membership a few years ago.

Our discussion was structured around a document which summarized preliminary work which had been done by members of the Public Awareness Steering Committee and ACB staff to define e-mail list guidelines and proposed changes.

After much discussion, the BOP agreed on the following descriptions of proposed changes to ACB’s e-mail lists:

The purpose of this email list is to encourage sharing of resources, information, and events sponsored by ACB and its affiliates; other events impacting the blind community; and discussion of blindness-related topics. This list is a safe space for ACB members and others in the community to connect and share information. 

The purpose of the ACB Leadership List is to provide a forum wherein leaders of ACB can share information/resources and discuss ACB/affiliate leadership topics. Membership includes: ACB Officers and Board, Board of Publications, committee chairs, ACB staff and contractors, and up to three leaders from each of ACB’s state and special-interest affiliates

This is a community and all participating in it are expected to treat one another with respect and grace. Differences of opinion are welcome, but all viewpoints must be respected. All ACB lists reflect our core values – integrity and honesty, respect, collaboration, flexibility, and initiative consistent with the spirit embodied in our code of conduct. 

ACB and Blindness-Related Topics Only

Discussions should be related to ACB, its affiliates, its members, and concerns of the blind and visually impaired community.

Promotions or fundraisers for ACB or its affiliates may be shared. Outside advertising and sales, including content in message headers and footers, is not permitted.

We ask that people refrain from routinely forwarding posts from non-ACB email lists and instead encourage individuals to share list subscription information, up to once per month, so people who would like to receive this information can get it directly.

Send concerns and comments to administrators for review. Information on how to contact the list administrators will be part of all message footers.

List administrators will issue warnings, moderated status, suspension, or removal of individuals from lists, to ensure these guidelines are upheld.

Please note that the description posted above was compiled during the BOP meeting as consensus was achieved on each item. Subsequently, Zelda edited the document to improve formatting in advance of presenting it to the ACB Board.

Paul moved and Zelda seconded his motion stating that the Board of Publications approves the guidelines and changes in ACB’s e-mail lists (as outlined above). The motion carried unanimously.

The BOP agreed that, pending the board’s agreement with the changes proposed (above), the next action the BOP would need to take would be to recruit list moderators. Paul volunteered to write the language that would constitute our appeal for members who wish to moderate our lists. The BOP planned to discuss and approve this language via e-mail unless discussion were to become lengthy, in which case we could call a short in-person meeting of the BOP. Then the plan would be to distribute the appeal for moderators widely in advance of making the actual changes in ACB lists, tentatively proposed for around December 15. 

The plan was for Deb and Katie and Kelly to describe the proposed changes at the ACB Board meeting scheduled for November 14.

Deb said that she had mostly been working on preparation of proposed changes in ACB’s e-mail lists, as discussed above. She noted that the BOP will need to promote these changes widely, encouraging members who are currently on Leadership to join and participate on ACB-Conversation.

She said that we have developed our Braille Forum themes through April, and we will need to work at our January meeting on coming up with themes for issues scheduled for subsequent months.

Sharon had submitted the report posted below via the BOP e-mail discussion list, in advance of the meeting.

October 2020

Issue type: Electronic
Page count: 96
Email distributed: 4,949
Email bounces: 296
(mostly either vacation/out of office or suspended accounts)
Unsubscribes: 1
Spams: 0
Email received: 4,653
Return rate: 6%

November 2020

Issue type: hard copy
Page count: 80
Large print distributed: 2,311
Braille distributed: 651
Cartridge distributed: 573
Email distributed: 4,955

December 2020

Issue type: Electronic
Page count: 96

Deadlines for the Next Issues

January 2021 (Braille Forum): November 23rd
February 2021 (E-Forum): December 21st
March 2021(Braille Forum): January 25th
April 2021 (E-Forum): February 15th (due to leadership meetings)

November’s Table of Contents

In Memoriam: Charles H. “Charlie” Crawford, Aug. 28, 1947-Sept. 11, 2020
Readers’ Remembrances of Charlie Crawford
President’s Message: Core Values Are the Foundation of Our Organization, by Dan Spoone
Plans for 2021 ACB Convention Under Way, by Janet Dickelman
Revision to DKM First-Timers’ Guidelines, by Kenneth Semien Sr.
MMS, Past, Present and Future, by Jean Mann
How to Include Everyone in Your Affiliate, compiled by Ardis Bazyn
Honesty, Integrity and Respect: A Question of Quality, by Arturo Espinoza
Lies Are Always Bad? That’s Not True, by Larry P. Johnson
Affiliate News
Summary of 2020 Resolutions
Notice of Proposed Settlement of Class Action and Fairness Hearing
Here and There, edited by Cynthia G. Hawkins

December 2020 Table of Contents

President’s Message: Happy Holidays! What We Are Thankful For This Year, by Dan Spoone
Celebrating 10 Years of the CVAA
Senator Markey Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary of 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act
We’re Going Virtual Again, by Janet Dickelman
Benefits of Audio Description In Education Contest (BADIE): Young People Who Are Blind Write Reviews of Film and Video
Up, Up and Away! Apply to Become a 2021 Recipient of the DKM First-Timers Award, by Kenneth Semien Sr.
Meetings of the ACB Board of Directors, August 27, 2020, and October 13, 2020: A Summary, by Penny Reeder
It’s a Mini Mall Holiday, by Carla Ruschival
Flexibility, Initiative and Collaboration: Why and How Are These Qualities Necessary?, by Arturo Espinoza
Qualifying for Social Security Disability with Vision Loss, by Cendy Molier
Assistive Technology for Safe Cooking, by Beth Bakke Stenehjem
Retaining and Reactivating Members, compiled by Ardis Bazyn
Affiliate News
Here and There, edited by Cynthia G. Hawkins
Chaplain’s Corner, by Timothy H. Burdick

I finalized the December E-Forum’s layout and sent it to Perkins on November 5th. It includes some of the CVAA anniversary information that went out over lists, via Facebook, YouTube, etc.

I had received an article about running for office with a disability, and sent it to you all because I was a bit leery of including it. I’ve heard from a couple of you that it would be OK to run it. I’m thinking of including it in a spring issue, perhaps March or April. I have a number of articles left over from December that would be good for January; several focus on “new year-new you” kinds of topics.

I continue to do the recordings of the information about ACB’s community calls. I record from home on Friday nights, and Sunday afternoons, too. Sunday and Monday are at extension 1020; Tuesday, 1021; Wednesday, 1022; Thursday, 1023; and Friday and Saturday, 1017. Listen to the prompts on the call-in menu to get directly to them.

One long-term project I’m spending a fair bit of time on in between issues is getting copies of the Forum digitized, cleaned up and modernized to current large print standards, and organizing them on our Sharepoint drive (at the moment, from the 1990s through today). I’m including Word, text and BRF file formats in the Forum folders on Sharepoint. I have completed 2005 through the current issue, and will upload December after I make all the files (text, BRF, large print Word with the TOC hyperlinks). I have 1990 through 2004 yet to work on. Then, when I get through those issues, I’ll go back and look at the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, scan what I can, and go from there. It’s been fascinating so far.

Another long-term project I’m still working on is identifying people in old convention photos. It’s been a bit challenging with some of the photos; people change over time, and sometimes their faces look quite different from what I remember, or they’ve changed their hairstyle or hair color, etc.

One item I keep forgetting to mention is ACB’s Job Connection, our online job bank. I put that together, too. I have a boilerplate for the little blurb at the top of the document, about how to get your jobs included, and a standard format for what goes in each job entry (name of job, location, a brief description of the office if available, job description, qualifications, etc.). I’m currently working on the November update, and hope to have that ready to roll by the 13th. I get job listings from various sources – Department of Justice, various states’ Lighthouses for the Blind (South Texas is prolific), and other departments and organizations.

Speaking of connections, yes, I still record the Washington Connection, too – one menu and 8 boxes. I updated the whole thing on October 20th, and with help from Clark and Claire, will be updating it again soon.

I will be out of the office November 19th and 20th.

Deb asked how we are doing with respect to recovering missing cartridges. Sharon had sent Deb the language we include in each issue which encourages Braille Forum readers to return cartridges when they finish reading each issue. She will share that language with the BOP via e-mail, and Paul suggested and Deb and Sharon agreed to add the topic of that language to our January meeting agenda.

Sharon said that we have 844 cartridge subscribers.

Paul noted that there is a substantial difference (323) between the number of cartridges that are going out and the number of people who are subscribed to that format.

Sharon said that the COVID-19 pandemic has complicated things at Perkins significantly, generating quite a backlog of cartridges that need to be processed.

She also reported that Clovernook (braille producer for the Forum) has had a COVID scare within the last couple of weeks, and she had just gotten, late the day before, the BRF for the November Braille Forum.

The BOP accepted Sharon’s editor’s report with gratitude.

Sharon had submitted the report posted below via the BOP e-mail discussion list, in advance of the meeting.

Debbie said that ACB Radio has been incredibly busy streaming ACB affiliate conventions. They are planning to hold a number of training workshops for current and prospective broadcasters, with an emphasis on streaming virtual conventions.

Jeff said that there was a preliminary meeting to discuss plans for updating ACB-LINK last week. The next step is to identify prioritized feature requirements and then to begin the work of creating the next version of ACB-LINK.

Deb said that the roll-out of ACB Radio Events will proceed during the beginning weeks of December.

Jason is working on creating new podcasts for posting on the new PINE server.

There was no report on e-mail statistics at this meeting.

The following report was shared via the BOP e-mail discussion list in advance of the meeting:

Social Media Stats

October 2020

Facebook
5,190 likes
5,395 followers

Top Posts:
CVAA Facebook Live Video
1,171 people reached
42 likes and loves
15 shares

CVAA Preview (which also displayed the CVAA live video)
1,166 people reached
25 likes
24 shares

HBO Max Agreement
782 people reached
45 likes, wows, and loves
25 shares

The importance of inclusion of White Cane Safety Day (ACB press release)
615 people reached
48 likes, loves, and cares
35 shares

Twitter
3,468 followers

Top Tweets:
Stevie Wonder CVAA Video
8,147 impressions
1,085 engagements

Apple TV – Peanuts Specials Available w/ AD
2,576 impressions
112 engagements

HBO Max Settlement Agreement
1,635 impressions
90 engagements

Top Mention:
Tim Cook – Apple CEO
Stevie Wonder CVAA Video
33k engagements
1.7K likes
196 retweets
5 quote tweets

There was no formal public relations report, but the main focus of the November meeting was on the proposed e-mail list changes that the Public Affairs Steering Committee had been working on over recent months, culminating in decisions made at this meeting.

The meeting adjourned around 10:45 p.m. Eastern. The next scheduled BOP meeting will occur on January 5, 2021.