BOARD OF PUBLICATIONS
Meeting Minutes
June 7, 2010
The ACB Board of Publications met via teleconference at approximately 9:05pm (EDT), Monday, June 7, 2010. Members present were: Paul Edwards, Marcia Dresser, Judy Jackson, Jenine Stanley, Ken Stewart; Ex Oficio Members: Berl Colley, Michael Malver, and Larry Turnbull; Absent: Ron Milliman; ACB Staff: Sharon Lovering; Guest: Carla Ruschival.
Deferment of Agenda:
Judy moved to defer the proposed agenda to allow for a report from Carla Ruschival. The motion was seconded and adopted.
Convention Report:
Paul and Carla reported the Convention Committee’s proposed choices for advertising rates in the convention newspaper. Last year there was some controversy about advertising prices and the committee would like to establish the rates and publicize them with the support of the BOP. There will be three categories of rates. Rates for “Individuals” refer to individual blind people advertising goods or services they provide. Rates for “exhibitors refer to entities who also have space in the exhibit hall. Rates for “All Others” refer to entities not present at convention advertising goods or services, or those not fitting into the previous two categories. Blind people acting as independent representatives for businesses shall be counted as “individuals” when purchasing advertising.
Michael moved to approve advertising rates as follows: Individuals, $15.00 per day or $40.00 for 3 consecutive days; Exhibitors, $40.00 per day or $100.00 for 3 consecutive days; All Others, $50.00 per day or $125.00 for 3 consecutive days. All advertising will be purchased via the Convention Information Desk and a receipt must be shown to personnel in the Communications Center before any advertising will be included in the newspaper. The motion was seconded and adopted.
The BOP noted that last year there were significant differences in the print and Braille programs and that this drew considerable criticism. Carla assured the BOP that both versions would match this year.
Jenine moved that the Convention Committee take all measures to assure that the print and Braille versions of the program match. The BOP supports updating the electronic version of the program as necessary, with an announcement at the beginning of that program about its most recent update. The motion was seconded and adopted.
Adoption of Agenda:
Ken moved to adopt the amended agenda. The motion was seconded and adopted.
Minutes:
Ken moved to accept the corrected May minutes. The motion was seconded and adopted.
Judy moved to accept the corrected July, 2009 minutes. The motion was seconded and adopted.
Marcia moved to accept the February 2010 minutes. The motion was seconded and adopted.
Drupal Group:
Jenine noted that she was unable to attend the May Drupal meeting. Larry reported that the group will be working on business cases for prioritizing content. He also noted that some of the style elements will be slightly changed from the BOP Web Site Task Force’s recommendations but this is due to Drupal’s automatic ability to include such style elements. The group will meet again in June prior to convention. Paul asked that the group try to have a test home page or other pages for viewing at the BOP meeting at convention. Jenine will carry this request to the Drupal group.
Social Networking Task Force:
Jenine reported that she has received no letters of interest or other inquiries about the posted positions for Facebook and Twitter Administrators. The positions have been posted twice on the ACB Leaders list and have been reposted by several BOP members on other lists. The deadline is June 15
Ken posed a question about supervision of the positions being done by appointed persons, the BOP Chair and Social Networking Task Force Chair. It was agreed that this issue would be dealt with if raised.
Larry moved to accept the Drupal Group and Social Networking Task Force reports as presented. The motion was seconded and adopted.
ACB Radio:
Larry reported there are several new and returning broadcasters on ACB Radio Interactive. He is preparing to send automated Twitter Tweets during convention to announce programming.
Marcia moved to accept the ACB Radio report as presented. The motion was seconded and adopted.
Internet Oversight Committee:
Michael reported that there are now two people, Ann Parsons and Bob Hachey, designated as moderators to fill in when he is not available. He notifies the list when either of them are taking over his duties. The IOC consulted ACB President Mitch Pomerantz regarding several issues. Mitch stated that the list is not liable for announcements about various types of audio streaming. Michael also noted that as long as people make a good faith effort to include sources when posting articles, such posts will be allowed on the list. Regarding a discussion about the IOC’s constitutional status, Michael is awaiting further talks with Otis Stevens and reading ACB’s history and will be prepared, should he still be in his current position, to further discuss the issue with the BOP after convention.
Jenine moved to accept the IOC report as presented. The motion was seconded and adopted.
Editor’s Report:
Sharon reported that award winners have been determined and plaques have been ordered. There is a great deal of work in the national office at the moment with the imminent departure of two staff members. She and Paul worked together with a final edit from Melanie Brunson, on condensing a legal document to be placed in the Braille forum.
Regarding the convention program, Paul asked Jenine to send a copy of the motion adopted by the BOP to Carla Ruschival.
National Braille Press:
Paul reported that a conference call took place including himself, Melanie Brunson, Sharon and Mitch Pomerantz, and the CEO and several staff members of National Braille Press to resolve the contract issues. After stating ACB’s position that any change in the amount cited as a stipend in the original contract would constitute a rate increase and thus a contract violation, National Braille Press agreed to keep rates for production of the Braille edition of the Braille Forum the same for the remainder of their contract. This contract is up as of January, 2011 along with the other production contracts for the Braille forum.
Paul noted that Lane Waters and Melanie Brunson will assist in drafting requests for proposals and contracts for the upcoming bidding and contract cycle. The BOP will be asked to review these documents and all bids in the fall.
Jenine moved to accept the Editor’s report as presented. The motion was seconded and adopted.
PR Committee:
Judy reported that the committee has been working on a media kit to showcase at the convention with an associated workshop.
Jenine moved to accept the PR Committee report as presented. The motion was seconded and adopted.
DAISY Committee:
Berl reported no meeting had been held in May. He will let the BOP know if the committee is able to hold a workshop on using Eclipse Writer software for DAISY production.
Oral History Project:
Berl reported that the group had done one interview in May.
Information Technology Resources Management Committee:
Berl reported that work continues on creating a virtual server to be eventually used as a backup server. Lane Waters will continue to work on contracts with the server host. Once this is finished, Larry and Eric Henson, current server administrator, will take over technical duties.
Paul asked Berl and Larry about the status of an emergency preparedness plan. Larry said he thought the committee had created and approved one. Paul asked that Berl and Larry both check into the status of the plan and report to the BOP at convention.
Jenine moved to accept the DAISY, Oral History and IRTM committee reports as presented. The motion was seconded and accepted.
Convention Review:
Candidates Page: Jenine encouraged all elected BOP members, who are eligible and planning to run for reelection, to submit entries for the Candidates Page. Currently Sharon reported that there are no entries for this page. Jenine posted the announcement again on the ACB Leaders list during the first week in June with no response. She recommended dropping the page in 2011 if there was no further response by the submission deadline.
Meeting Location: Paul reported that the locations for the BOP meeting and workshop have both been assigned and should be adequate.
Candidates Forum: Paul requested questions for candidates from the BOP. He noted that those running for BOP positions could submit questions for the ACB board of directors candidates. He and Jenine will co-host the forum on Thursday evening.
BOP Assistance: Marcia and Jenine both volunteered, along with Marcia’s husband, to assist in any editing necessary to make convention sessions ready for CD duplication. They along with Paul also offered assistance as broadcasters to Larry for ACB Radio. Paul asked Sharon to let the Convention Committee and others know about these offers as appropriate.
Convention Ear: Marcia asked about the status of the Convention ear. Paul reported that unfortunately, the cost is prohibitive this year as phone line costs for this hotel are extremely expensive. Larry noted that the software itself is now working much better and that he is able to produce the recording. No final decision has been made but Paul thought it unlikely to happen due to cost.
Newspaper: The paper will be available each day at the Convention Information Desk and Larry will also send it out to various ACB lists.
Registration: Sharon reported that all issues with telephone and on-line registration have been resolved. She has sent out around 72 print copies of the registration packet upon request.
BOPEEP:
Ken was pleased to report the early arrival of the May issue in most formats. Paul noted a problem with the Braille Forum archives in that there are some files which are text, but have the file extension .ACb. These files cannot easily be opened by Windows and the file extension must be changed to .txt. He requested that a notice be placed on the web page containing these files in zip format, explaining that the file extension will need to be change to .txt before they can be opened.
Next Meeting:
The BOP will meet in person on Sunday, July 11 from 10:30am to 12:00pm, Mountain Time, in Phoenix, Arizona.
Adjournment:
Jenine moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded and adopted.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jenine Stanley
Recording Secretary