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January 5, 2009, Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Publications

BOARD OF PUBLICATIONS
Meeting Minutes
January 5, 2009

The ACB Board of Publications met via teleconference on January 5, 2009 at approximately 9:15pm (EST). Members present were: Paul Edwards, Jenine Stanley, Ken Stewart, Marcia Dresser and Judy Jackson. Ex Oficio members present were:Barry Levine. ACB staff members and contractual employees present included: Sharon Lovering and Larry Turnbull. Ron Milliman was absent. 

Agenda: 

Judy moved to accept the proposed agenda with amendments. The motion was seconded and adopted. 

Minutes: Ken moved to accept the October and December minutes as submitted. The motion was seconded and adopted. 

ACB Radio Report: 

Larry reported that the move to SW-Cast has gone well and that the service is providing appropriate meta data to comply with the Digital Millineum Copyright Act (DMCA). He is auditioning several new and returning broadcasters to ACB Radio Interactive. The ACB Radio Tuner has been rewritten to capture dynamic links to accommodate the fact that the programming is being streamed through the SW-Cast web site. This is transparent to the listener. The Acb Radio streams are also listed on the SW-Cast page, providing a new source for potential listeners. 

New programming includes “Ask the Therapist” featuring a licensed therapist, “ON Board” featuring interviews and biographies of ACB leadership, and “It’s All About Sports” featuring blind sports. No listener figures are available yet for these programs. 

Policy Manual Revision: 

Paul proposed that the BOP continue the assigned revisions from the December meeting and have text ready for compilation by Sharon no later than January 19. The revised sections will then be made available and reviewed at the first February meeting. It was decided that there would be two meetings of the BOP in February, one on the first Monday and the other at the ACB Mid Year Meeting. 

Jenine will send out a list of tasks as enumerated at the December meeting regarding the policy manual revision. 

ACB Mid Year Meeting: 

The BOP will meet at 7:30pm on Friday, February 20 during the ACB Mid Year Meeting. In a discussion regarding presentations to the ACB Presidents Meeting, it was decided that the BOP would submit an article to the Braille forum about the Policy Manual. It was decided to present a general report involving issues surrounding alternative formats, the work done on internet and email list issues and the new web site design roll –out. 

Ken moved that the BOP Chair explore with the ACB President the possibility of hosting a reception on Saturday, February 21 for the ACB Presidents to increase the BOP profile and solicit input on BOP activities. The motion was seconded and adopted. There was also discussion of seeking sponsorship for the event. 

Awards: 

After a discussion of BOP awards, it was decided that Jenine will put an announcement, through Barry Levine, on the various ACB email lists regarding where to send submissions for the Hollis Liggett award as there was some confusion last year. Jenine will also write the article regarding the other two awards to appear in the March issue of the Braille Forum. 

Internet Oversight Committee Report: 

Barry noted that the committee has not met recently and that he will strive to hold a meeting within the month. He also noted that there was not a lot to concern the committee at the moment but some policy recommendations could be discussed. 

Web site Task Force: 

Paul and Jenine reported that the task force continues to work on redesign of the site. The process is moving much more slowly than expected though and the task force will be involving more people for input. Recommendations will be ready for the February meeting regarding future progress. 

Unfinished Business: 

IRMA: 

Ken asked about the progress of providing identifiable logos on ACB materials. Paul reported that he had spoken again with Melanie Brunson and Mitch Pomerantz and that he has seen a draft of the computer graphic logo which when finished will be more easily transferable to many formats. Paul noted that the tactile component of the BOP’s motions to provide identifiable aspect to correspondence is not feasible at this time. Paul said that he would provide Ken with the direct information about the type of envelope Ken proposed for the tactile portion of the motion but that this envelope’s use would significantly increase costs. He asked Ken to come back with information to repute this claim at future meetings but until then, the BOP had done all it could to implement the motions. 

New business: 

BOPEEP: 

Ken outlined the Board of Publications Edition Evaluation Protocal. Each member will review a format of the current issue of the Braille Forum and give feedback. Paul asked that we review the January issue and revisit this initiative in February with some guidelines for future review. Formats were assigned as follows: large print, Ken;cassette, Judy; braille, Marcia, CD, Jenine; email, Barry; web site, Paul. 

Next Meeting: 

The next meeting of the BOP will take place on Monday, February 2 at 9:00pm EST). 

The meeting was adjourned at 11:10pm (EST). 

Respectfully Submitted,
Jenine Stanley,
Recording Secretary