The ACB Board of Publications met via teleconference on Monday, Augusts 6 at 9:00 PM EDT. Members present: chair Paul Edwards, Denise Colley, Nolan Crabb, Marcia Dresser, Judy Jackson; ex officio members Berl Colley, Bob Hachey, Ron Milliman; ACB staff/contractors Annette Carter, Sharon Lovering, Larry Turnbull. Several guests also participated on the call.
Chair Paul Edwards called the meeting to order at 9:10 PM EDT. He welcomed new BOP member Denise Colley, and thanked Ken Stewart for his service.
Judy moved and Annette seconded adoption of the meeting agenda. The minutes of the July 5 meeting were approved with one correction.
Editor's Report
Sharon reported that the announcement regarding the need for a new editor of "Here and There" will appear in the September Forum, which went to press Friday, August 2. Sharon has enough material for three "Here and There" columns, including the September column.
Publications Committee
The combined public relations/membership seminar at the ACB national convention was very well attended and focused on how affiliates can use their Web sites to build membership and get out the word about public relations and marketing. These discussions will continue on upcoming open conference calls, and the PR and membership handbooks will be updated. Several affiliates received certificates for outstanding Web sites; GDUI's site was deemed the best. Marcia moved and Bob seconded adoption of Ron's report; the motion carried.
Daisy Committee
The DAISY committee is still on hold because three members are needed, and only two people have been confirmed.
Leadership Institute
Berl reported that the leadership institute went well despite technical difficulties. Unfortunately, because of these problems, this seminar was not recorded. 28 people registered and 26 attended. Each participant received a thumb drive containing all the relevant documents. The committee overseeing the leadership institute will decide soon whether or not to make these documents generally available. The participants will continue their training via monthly teleconferences. In August, they will focus on fundraising, membership will be discussed in September, and ACB's role in the legislative process will be the focus in October. In November, the participants will determine if their expectations from the Leadership Institute have been met, and they will decide whether or not to continue these teleconferences on their own. Three regional leadership trainings will be held in 2013, one each in the eastern, central, and western parts of the country.
Oral History Project
Berl hopes to put together a second edition of the Oral History CD, with more durable packaging. The board of directors gave permission to include recordings of banquet presentations, talks given by NLS narrators, etc., as part of this effort.
ACB Radio
Convention coverage went very well, with only very minor technical difficulties. Jeff Bishop was very helpful in getting announcements out to the ACB lists. Listenership averaged 200 Sunday night, 165 Monday through Thursday mornings, 185 Friday morning, 140 for the candidates forum (with only 55 people attending the actual event!), 160 for the banquet, 60 for the interviews from the exhibit hall, and 75 for the FIA Showcase. Larry, Michael Garrett, and Marlaina Lieberg are doing research to try to attract more listeners and increase sponsorship for Treasure Trove and World, which are more mainstream. To that end, they are investigating the feasibility of revamping World into a news and information channel, with programming like what is heard on Voice of America and the BBC. This would be of much better quality and easier to access than short wave. There is a great deal of VOA and BBC content we can choose from because it is in the public domain. If this happens, Larry will create another stream which would broadcast affiliate conventions and other events. Judy moved and Denise seconded acceptance of Larry's report; the motion carried.
Web Site Task Force
This committee met in June. Some behind-the-scenes changes needed to be made to the server in order for the Web site to function better. As a result of these upgrades, Annette has made several improvements to the ACB Store site. At their next meeting on August 7, the task force will begin to set goals for what they hope to accomplish between now and June. These goals will be finalized in September. One of Nolan's goals is for everyone on the office staff to be able to independently post documents on the Web site. Annette would like to conduct a structured, interactive class to teach the staff, the BOP, and interested ACB leaders how to use formatting tools, instead of just making a document look good visually, so that if the font size is changed or it is put into braille or PDF, formatting is not lost. The BOP will take Annette's class so that we can help train others. The Web Site Task Force will create a document with these instructions and bring it back to the BOP.
The copyright statement and the privacy policy now appear on the footer of each page on the site. Annette will put a link to the policy manual on the BOP page. Annette will also update the members of the BOP and the board of directors. Nolan made a motion, which Bob seconded, that, as an interim solution, the Implex logo be used everywhere on the site. The motion was adopted. We will continue to seek better ways to provide color and contrast. Bob moved and Marcia seconded acceptance of this report. The motion carried.
Internet Oversight Committee
This committee met on June 6, and Bob presented two proposed changes to ACB-l list rules that came out of that meeting. After the BOP made minor modifications, Nolan moved and Denise seconded adoption of these changes. The motion carried. As an experiment, Bob will change the configuration of the chat list so that a simple "reply" will go to everyone on the list.
Convention Debrief
BOP programming was very well received. The convention program was very full, however, so attendance was down. We were prepared to discuss the good and bad points of the large print convention program at our Thursday session; unfortunately, however, this was not widely publicized, so there was no representation from CCLVI. Ken Stewart will communicate with CCLVI about this. We were all disappointed that so few people attended the candidates’ forum. We discussed the pros and cons of having a candidates’ forum. Many people hear the candidates speak in caucuses, but many others do not. People do have the choice of whether or not to attend any event.
Consequences Of The Braille Forum Name Change
Sufficient money must be allocated in the budget to cover the cost of changing the trademark and copyright information. The BOP determined that we would not implement the name change until the July/August 2013 issue. Paul and Denise will come up with a timeline developing the budget and implementing these changes. Charlie Hodge offered to approach affiliates who might be willing to donate funding for this cause.
Board Liaison
For the next year, Paul will serve as BOP liaison to the ACB Board of Directors.
Unfinished Business
Sharon has not received summaries of the board of directors meetings for this past year. Marcia suggested that Judy send these to Marcia, who will send them on to Sharon, in case there has been a cyberspace glitch.
Paul will send a note to the interested parties requesting updated bids for the production of the BARD-compatible files of The Braille Forum, and will forward these bids to the BOP members as soon as he receives them. The BOP will then hold a brief executive session in September to discuss those bids and make a decision.
Marcia moved and Nolan seconded a motion that Judy Jackson continue as the BOP liaison to the Public Relations Committee. The motion was adopted unanimously.
Marcia moved and Denise seconded a motion that Berl continue as liaison to the Technical Resource Management Committee. This motion was adopted unanimously.
Larry will create a new email list for BOP members only. The current email list will remain open to ex officio members and other people with an interest in the BOP.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:50 PM EDT.
The next meeting of the Board of Publications will take place via teleconference on Monday, September 10, at 9:00 PM EDT.
Respectfully submitted,
Marcia N. Dresser, Secreta