The ACB Board of Publications met via teleconference on Monday, January 2, 2012 at 9:10 PM EST.
Members present were: chairperson Paul Edwards, Nolan Crabb, Marcia Dresser, Judy Jackson, Ken Stewart.
Ex officio members Bob Hachey, Berl Colley, and Ron Milliman were absent.
ACB Staff/Contractors present: Sharon Lovering, Larry Turnbull.
A number of guests also participated in the call.
On behalf of all of us, Paul welcomed Nolan to the BOP.
Marcia Dresser was elected secretary by acclamation.
Nolan moved and Ken seconded adoption of the agenda as read by the Chair and amended by the group. The motion carried.
The minutes of the December 2011 meeting were read aloud, and two corrections were made. Ken moved and Judy seconded adoption of the minutes as amended.
Editor's Report: Sharon sent all of the membership lists out to the affiliates before she left for the holidays.
Copyright Statement
A long discussion ensued regarding the copyright statement that the BOP approved last month. A number of programs aired on ACB Mainstream, such as Sound Prints, Council Connection, and Nolan's program on the Legend, are not the property of ACB and, therefore, are not covered under the current statement. Paul and Nolan will amend the copyright statement to reflect these concerns and send it to the BOP list for our review.
ACB Radio
In the next month or two, two programs will be added to ACB Radio Mainstream. Sound Prints will be broadcast live as soon as the logistics are worked out, and Viewpoints Plus, a program from New York, will be aired. There will be a Mainstream/Interactive staff meeting on January 8, and a management meeting on January 9. The management team is putting together a listener survey, and they hope to finalize the policies regarding advertising on ACB Radio.
If the World Blind Union approves the budget, their November meeting in Bangkok will be broadcast on ACB Radio. Their last two meetings were broadcast, as well as one meeting of the African Blind Union.
ACB Web Site
President Pomerantz asked Larry to assume the duties of Web master until someone is appointed to that position. The job description was posted on December 21. The application process does not require submitting a resume or being interviewed; each candidate must provide a written proposal regarding issues raised in the job announcement. The person who puts together the best response will become the new Web master.
Pratik Patel has proposed several changes to the site which will make it more user-friendly for large print users.
Nolan will become the BOP representative to the Internet Oversight Committee and will join ACB-L at the behest of the BOP.
Midyear Plans
Melanie Brunson publicized our Friday night meeting in her January column in the Forum. During that meeting, we hope to get feedback from participants about what they like and dislike in the Forum. On Saturday, in addition to informing the leaders about BOP initiatives, we will promote the Hollis K. Liggett award and provide some suggestions on how to make affiliate newsletters more interesting. (We will hold a workshop for newsletter editors this summer.) At both meetings, we will make sure everyone is aware of the proposed name change of our publication from The Braille Forum to The ACB Forum. (The membership will vote on this at the convention in Louisville.)
BOPEEP
All formats of the December Forum were fine. The braille edition for January will be sent out as soon as Sharon receives the brf file. As of the January issue, Paul will take over evaluating the CD format.
Unfinished Business
We will review the proposed brochure written by Steve Obremski and send comments to the BOP list by January 6.
New Business
Ken proposed that we form an ad hoc committee to investigate putting the Forum on digital cartridge. Several folks raised the concerns of staff time, storage space, and maintenance of the cartridges. In addition, the current budget for the Forum does not allow for the purchase of cartridges and mailers. Since we have contracts for cassette production for the next two years, and possibly three, we have plenty of time to find a viable alternative to cassettes. Marcia agreed to assist Ken with the research regarding digital cartridges.
Ken moved and Nolan seconded that Marcia and Judy have the authority to revise the article on the awards and send it to Sharon by January 27. The article will be published in the March Forum.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:07 PM EST.
The next meeting of the BOP will take place on Monday, February 6, 2012 at 9 PM EST.
Respectfully submitted,
Marcia N. Dresser, Secretary