BOARD OF PUBLICATIONS
Meeting Minutes
February 25, 2011
The ACB Board of Publications met in person at the Holiday Inn National Airport, Arlington, Virginia, on February 25, 2011 at approximately 7:45pm EST. Members present were: Paul Edwards, Jenine Stanley, Marcia Dresser, Judy Jackson, Ken Stewart; Ex Oficio Members: Berl Colley and Bob Hachey; Absent: Ron Milliman; ACB Staff: Melanie Brunson, Sharon Lovering and Larry Turnbull. Tom Mitchell also joined the group as a presenter.
Note: The Recording Secretary extends her apology for listing Larry Turnbull as an Ex Oficio member in past minutes. Larry is technically ACB staff as ACB Radio Managing Director.
Minutes:
Judy moved to accept the February 7 minutes as presented. The motion was seconded and adopted.
Oral History Project:
Berl reported that the ACB Board asked the Oral History Project to prepare some materials for the 50th anniversary in 2011. One of the projects involved interviews with each of ACB’s living presidents, parts of which would be aired each day prior to the general session. The other project involved preparing a compilation set of oral history interviews. For sale during the conference and convention and later in the ACB Store.
Berl asked in which formats the ACB Board wished the compilation set to be available. The Board advised that the BOP should make this decision. Paul then opened discussion to the audience for input.
After discussion, Judy moved that the BOP recommend the Oral History Compilation Set be made available on two standard CDs using CDA (audio CD) format allowing approximately 160 minutes of audio. The BOP also recommends that the Director of ACB Radio work with Berl Colley to create intros and other editing for the project. The motion was seconded and adopted.
Jenine moved that the Oral History Committee, with the assistance of Kim Charlson who has offered her help and a representative from the BOP, put together a funding proposal for the 2-CD set including mailers, sleeves, labels and CDS to be presented to the ACB Board by May 1. The motion was seconded and adopted.
Drupal Working Group:
Jenine reported that the ACB Board has designated funds from life memberships go toward web presence advancement which includes upgrading the web site and social media as well as other web advancement strategies. This funding policy will be reviewed every two years in consultation with the BOP.
Larry noted that Drupal 7 has been released and he has installed it on the ACB server. It is much easier to manipulate in terms of style and content placement.
Jenine will be reconvening the BOP’s Web site Task Force to begin to look at style sheets and other design issues. Paul noted that the one stumbling block seems to be the lack of knowledge about the infrastructure of the site, i.e., the theme being used. He is concerned that the BOP and others were not appropriately consulted or informed about the reason to change themes and whether this change would better meet our design protocols.
Braille forum Name change:
Tom Mitchell proposed a name change for the Braille Forum as a resolution in 2010. The issue was sent to the BOP for discussion. Paul opened this discussion by reading a document from Tom regarding his reasoning for a name change.
Tom prefers “ACB Forum” with the subtitle “A Publication of the American Council of the Blind.” He feels this better describes our membership and also more effectively promotes ACB’s name in marketing efforts.
Tom joined the discussion via telephone to hear audience reaction and uphold his points.
After a very fruitful discussion, a name was proposed and tested. “The ACB Forum – sharing the Vision of the American Council of the Blind” met with positive reaction both during the meeting and at subsequent discussions. The BOP will continue to explore this issue. We thank Tom Mitchell for covering the cost of his telephone participation in our meeting and presenting us with a thoughtful proposal and relevant discussion.
BOPEEP:
Ken noted his appreciation for the new design and finish of the large print edition of the Braille Forum.
It was noted that only one exoficio member, Ron Milliman, is listed under the Board of Publications on the Forum’s back cover. Bob Hachey as representative of the Internet Oversight Committee should also be listed. Paul stated that this is being ratified for future issues.
Marcia noted that in this first braille issue produced by Clovernook, titles in the table of contents and in articles are displayed differently from the previous producer. Sharon noted that this is the correct format.
The February issue of the Braille Forum was late due to decisions on publication schedules based on new funding received in December.
Pennsylvania Affiliate Digitized Newsletter:
George Holloday announced that the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind has entered into a partnership with their state library to distribute its newsletter on NLS cartridges through the library system as an optional format choice. Cartridges are returned to receive a new edition of the newsletter.
Awards:
Jenine and Sharon announced that award nominations are due on April 15. There are 41 nominations for the Ned. E. Freeman award, only 1 nominee for the Hollis K. Liggett award and none for the Vernon Henley award.
Editor’s Report:
Sharon noted that since the published Editor’s Report shared with the ACB Board and BOP, she has a total of 62 people who have signed up for email subscriptions to the Braille Forum. She is keeping a list of who has changed subscription options to email for the “Going Green” proposal.
Jenine moved to accept the Editor’s Report as submitted. The motion was seconded and adopted.
Next Meeting:
The next meeting of the BOP will be via conference call on Monday, April 4 at 9:00pm EDT.
Adjournment:
Ken moved to adjourn the meeting at approximately 9:50pm EST. The motion was seconded and adopted.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jenine Stanley,
Recording Secretary