Board of Publications Meeting Minutes: November 7, 2023

Board of Publications Chairperson, Penny Reeder, called the November 7, 2023, meeting to order at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. To the published agenda was added Anthony’s idea to promote the Member on the Mic part of ACB Voices Blog.

Board members present: Penny Reeder, Cheryl Cumings, Cachet Wells, and Zelda Gebhard

Absent: Jeff Bishop.

Ex-Officio members present: Sharon Lovering, ACB Braille Forum Editor; Rick Morin, ACB Media and IT Manager; Katie Frederick, Member Lead on ACB Public Awareness Steering Committee; Deb Cook Lewis, ACB President, and Dan Spoone, ACB’s Interim Executive Director.

A motion was made by Cheryl and seconded by Cachet to approve the October minutes.  No corrections were offered.  Minutes were approved.

No topics were brought forward. 

Sharon is currently working on the1980 Braille Forums. So far she has made the Word and text files for January through March. Has also been working on some outside braille translation for the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office Offenders Manual and National Council on Disability meeting agendas.

Penny brought to our attention the ACB Media information she put together and then shared with us. Sharon doesn’t think this information would fit in any one place in the Braille Forum. Cachet suggested that we post it on the BOP page on the ACB website. After some discussion, we agreed to try placing the information here and there throughout the issue between articles with referral to the BOP page on the website for more information. Sharon and Penny will put together some information to be posted.

Editor’s Report November 2023

Statistics

October 2023

Issue type: electronic
Pages: 60
Email distributed: 5,367
Electronic bounces: 50
Spam: 2
Unsubscribes: 5
Return percentage: 0.93%
Email received: 5,317

November 2023

Issue type: hard copy
Page count: 64
Braille distributed: 496
Cartridge distributed: 366
Large print distributed: 2,095
Email distributed: 5,436

December 2023

Issue type: electronic
Page count: 48

Deadlines for the Next Issues

January 2024 (hard-copy): braille/reflections on 2023/goal setting for the new year; deadline: November 20, 2023

February 2024 (electronic): accessible voting, civil rights and Black history; deadline: December 22, 2023

March 2024: ACB Women with International Women’s History Month; deadline: January 26, 2024

April 2024: Multicultural Affairs Committee; deadline: February 23, 2024

November’s Table of Contents

In Memoriam: Oral O. Miller, April 7, 1933 - August 6, 2023

Oral O. Miller: Friend … Advocate … Sportsman, by Charles D. “Chuck” Goldman

Readers’ Memories of Oral O. Miller

Looking Ahead to Jacksonville, by Janet Dickelman

Summary of the August ACB Board of Directors Meeting, by Penny Reeder

Summary of 2023 Resolutions

Raise Your Awareness — and Tune in for the Annual Audio Description Awards Gala!, by Tabitha Kenlon

Benefits of Audio Description in Education (BADIE) Essay Contest Winners

Audio Description on the Hill: Why the CVTA Matters, by Tabitha Kenlon

Audio Description in the Federal Government, For the People, by Patrick Sheehan

Audio Description at Every Performance, by Joel Snyder, Ph.D.

Recap of 2023 Audio Description Project Awards, by Jeff Thom

Affiliate News

Here and There, edited by Cynthia G. Hawkins

High Tech Swap Shop

Thanksgiving, by Anthony Corona

December’s Table of Contents

President’s Message: The Ups and Downs of Holiday Traditions, by Deb Cook Lewis

Snapshots from Jacksonville, by Janet Dickelman

The Winners of the 2023 Audio Description Awards Are …, by Tabitha Kenlon

Defining DEIA, by Regina Marie Brink

An Unexpected Journey, by Maria Kristic

English Language Teacher Privileged to Work with Students from Across the Globe, by Audrey Schading

My Brother’s Gift, by Rodney Stanford

Bermuda, by Toni Eames

The Gift of Community, by Cindy Hollis

Seven Ways We Can Get Paid in a Volunteer Organization, by Amanda Selm

Braille Matters, by Denise Colley

Texas Puts the Fun in Fundraising, by Jan Gray

Affiliate News

Passings

Here and There, edited by Cynthia G. Hawkins

High Tech Swap Shop

*****

I continue to put together the Dots and Dashes newsletter. One went out on Monday, November 6^th; the next one will go out November 20^th. 

I’m still working with the archives/history committee on preserving and digitizing old recordings and documents from ACB events and identifying people in photos. I haven’t done much on that recently; I’m holding off until we move up to the sixth floor and unpack boxes. Some of the work involves digitizing board minutes – most of which are, right now, still in the moving boxes. Another part of the work includes cleaning up and modernizing old issues of the Forum to current large print standards and organizing them on our Sharepoint drive. I make the Word version first, then the text and braille-ready files. I have finished 1981 through 1989 and am working on 1980.

I continue to record the Washington Connection, and some of the other boxes on our phone system, such as the national convention box, the scholarship information, and the state convention box. I updated the Washington Connection on November 1.

I am also handling press releases, getting them to the newswire service, setting the distribution, the time we want them posted, etc. We’ve posted one in English, and one in Spanish, about the Audio Description Awards Gala on the 14^th.

Sharon Lovering, Editor

._,_

Future Themes

January 2024 (hard-copy): braille/reflections on 2023/goal setting for the new year

February 2024 (electronic): accessible voting, civil rights and Black history

March 2024: ACB Women with International Women’s History Month

April 2024: Multicultural Affairs Committee

Penny asked about the boilerplate for the Braille Forum. We are not currently using one. Katie offered to post the former one to the BOP email list.  We will work on a new one to include information helpful to those wishing to write articles for the Braille Forum.

Penny requested a BOP email address. Deb stated that this is not usually done for groups, and that people are normally directed to the staff relating to the group. For the BOP that is Sharon, and she will forward if necessary. Some on the ACB Board have expressed interest in a way to give members easy access to their leaders. Since individual email addresses are difficult to maintain and are easily spammed, Deb is looking into the feasibility of creating a contact form on the webpage to provide better leader access.

Add suggested word count and description of appropriate topics to the introductory material.

The document about the Member on the Mic (MOM) Process will be ready for approval in December.

Anthony has written a promo about the Member on the Mic. Penny suggested that it be posted on the ACB-Conversation and ACB Leadership email lists and possibly Dots and Dashes. The promo will ask members to nominate someone to be featured on the Member on the Mic. These nominations will be sent to Sharon, and she will forward them to Anthony.   

Katie suggested that we consider also interviewing the DKM First-Timer and ACB JPMorgan Chase Leadership Fellow recipients in addition to the Scholarship recipients. Anthony will contact the DKM First-Timer Fund Committee Chair, Kenneth Semien for his approval.

Anthony would like to grow the Member on the Mic team and has talked to two potential interviewers – Cecily Nipper and Larry Gassman. For now, Tim is okay with additional editing. Lisa would like help beyond two transcriptions a month. Penny pointed out that there are some on the BOP willing to do transcription. When the MOM process document is complete and approved, Anthony would like to use it to announce the opportunity to others to become a part of the Member on the Mic team with the goal of having 2-3 individuals in each of the areas, so no one is overworked.   

Penny, Zelda, and Jeff have not yet met to review the Manual but will do so soon.

Since we have submitted our proposed budget, Penny asked what comes next. Deb reported that Nancy adjusted the figures and took into account the changes that will occur when the nonmembers who have been receiving the Braille Forum have been taken off the distribution list. The BOP budget was for 10 hard-copy issues at 48 pages an issue. Dan reported that last year’s expense was $38,000 for 6 hard-copy issues. Following the removal of the nonmembers, the requested 10 issues will cost $40,000, 8 issues $33,000, and 6 issues $27,000. These are the options the budget committee will have to choose from. Dan will ask Nancy to share the numbers on the BOP list.

ACB staff will be sending letters to those nonmembers still receiving hard-copy issues asking them to renew their membership, switch to email format or be removed from the circulation list.

Penny attended the LUA board meeting and they decided to help us with the e-reader training with sessions in March and April. Judy Wilkinson spoke to the person who provided similar training in California, and he is willing to share tutorials. Penny will attend the November BRL meeting to ask for their assistance as well.      

The AD Gala is Tuesday, November 14^th at 7:30 with pre-show earlier on Media 1 (English) and Media 2 (Spanish). Video options include Peacock, YouTube, and the AD Gala website. Podcasts will be shared the morning after.  Watch Party will be happening on Zoom.  Replay will be available on ACB Media.

ACB.org has been having some infrastructure issues with timeouts. A contract was signed with webhosting company, Pantheon (used to be with Asure hosting and storage). Hosting our web environments through Pantheon.

The ACB Media Holiday Auction will be on November 26.

Announcement from Deb posted to Leadership and Conversation that ACB has a Mastodon presence now. Follow the American Council of the Blind on Mastodon
@ACBNational.mastodon.social.

The soft launch happened a week and a half ago and we currently have 100 followers. Mastodon offers an additional choice of medium to receive content from ACB. For training there are several good podcasts about Mastodon available.

Dan asked if the BOP would like to receive the social media statistics. Penny accepted the offer and asked that they be included in the Media report (see below).

October 2023 statistics provided by Kaitlyn M. Herrera on the BOP list the week of the meeting as requested by Executive Director, Dan Spoone.

Facebook

8,059 followers

Top Posts:

• Casting Call for BLV Boy (October 2)

904 reached with 14 reactions, 0 link clicks, 0 comments,

11 post shares

• Code for Social Good Event (October 30)

684 reached with 50 reactions, 0 link clicks, 3 comments and 7 shares

• Karla Gilbride Confirmation (September 5)

468 reached with 30 reactions, 0 link clicks,

5 comments, 8 shares

Instagram

Accounts reached: 326

Total followers: 972

Top Posts:

• Clark at MSCB Convention (October 13)

173 reached with15 likes and 1 share

• ACB Staff at White House for NDEAM (October 3)

164 reached with 42 likes and 2 shares

• #AccessibleAirTravel Partnership with U.S. DOT (October 6)

159 reached with 19 likes, 0 shares

Twitter

5,034 followers

Top Posts:

• Verizon Panel Discussion Invitation (October 24)

919 impressions with 49 engagements

• Quest Diagnostics Press Release (October 25)

560 impressions with 51 engagements

• Fall Advocacy Podcast (October 26)

224 impressions with 10 engagements

Mastodon

92 followers

Top Posts:

• Quest Diagnostics Press Release (October 27)

15 boosts, 6 favorites

• Code for Social Good Event (October 30)

6 boosts, 2 favorites

LinkedIn

1,829 followers  
196 page views

Top Posts:

• ACB Staff at White House for NDEAM (October 3)

1,769 impressions, 352 clicks, 64 reactions, 2 comments, 2 reposts

• Karla Gilbride Confirmation (October 19)

977 impressions, 22 clicks, 40 reactions, 0 comments, 0 reposts

• Quest Diagnostics Press Release (October 25)

589 impressions, 17 clicks, 23 reactions, 3 comments, 7 reposts

YouTube

16 New Subscribers (912 total)
768 Total Views
31.9 hours total watch time
559 Unique Viewers
13,793 Impressions
Top Videos:

• ACB 2020 Virtual Convention Message from Senator Dianne Feinstein: 151 views
• Parenting with AD: 140 views
• 2023 ACB Year in Review: 57 views

Website  

11K Users
17,227 Page Views
Top Visited Pages:

• Scholarships: 689
• White Cane: 614
• Large Print Guidelines: 585

ACB Voices Blog

241 Views
121 Visitors

AD Awards Gala Website

507 Views
293 Visitors

ACB Media Website

2,924 views
1,433 visitors

The formatting of the daily ACB Community Schedule is still not consistent. They are working with the JPMorgan Chase Force for Good programs and hopefully future participation in those will help them address this ongoing concern.

Cheryl moved to adjourn the meeting; Zelda seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 9:56 p.m.

December 5, 2023, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.

Respectfully submitted,
Zelda Gebhard, Member
ACB Board of Publications