Call to Order/Introductions
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Ron Brooks at 9:04 PM on May 1, 2018. Members present: Ron Brooks, Chair; Deb Lewis; Donna Brown; Susan Glass; Paul Edwards. ACB employees and contractors present: Sharon Lovering; Larry Turnbull. Ex officio members present: Kim Charlson, ACB President; David Trott, ACB Treasurer; Bob Hachey, Listserv Manager; Katie Frederick, Public Relations. Guests: Ralph Smitherman; Ken Stewart; Denise Colley.
Adoption of Agenda
Ron reviewed the agenda.
Motion:Susan moved and Deb seconded adoption of the agenda. Motion passed.
Approval of April 3 Minutes
Motion:Paul moved and Susan seconded adoption of the April 3, 2018 minutes. Motion passed.
Open Forum
There were no comments.
Approval of the BOP Award Recipients
Voting on the Henley Award recipient was unanimous. One BOP member did not vote prior to the meeting; however, the leading Freeman nominee has 11 points, with the first runner up having 3, making it mathematically impossible for the additional vote to make a difference. Motion:Deb moved and Paul seconded to accept the results for the Henley and Freeman awards. Motion passed. Ron will work with Sharon to make sure the winners are present if possible and will work with Kim to determine when each should be given during general session. Ron will share the draft plaque language with BOP members and will need comments quickly to meet the May 11 production deadline.
Discussion of Downloadable Formats for ACB Braille Forum and E-Forum
Sharon explained that the magazines have traditionally been published electronically in standard and large print Word, ASCII text, Braille ready file, and a zipped version. The web committee has recommended we discontinue the zipped file version. Sharon noted that several people who download the magazines do not have high-speed Internet. There was consensus that the zipped version does not compress the files enough to save any significant time or bandwidth, and email would also be an option for most of these individuals. Motion:Paul moved and Deb seconded to discontinue production of the zipped file format for ACB magazines. Motion passed. There was also brief discussion of the feasibility and issues involved in producing a future Spanish version of the magazines in all of the current formats. It was agreed that this is a longer range discussion requiring future planning.
BOP Recommendations for ACB Conference and Convention Program Format
This discussion, continued from the April meeting, was postponed because Janet Dickelman was unable to make the meeting. It is also too late to further impact this year’s program.
Page Allocations for ACB Braille Forum and E-Forum Magazines
In reviewing page allocations for the past year, there is significant convention coverage in every issue of both magazines. In general, all other topics were unevenly distributed throughout the year. It was previously agreed to create some consistency regarding allocations for particular content with themed topics in the E-Forum. Themes will be determined and shared in advance, and issues will include a two-question survey to determine how content is being received. Ron reviewed the allocations previously submitted by email.
Initial Draft of Page Allocations by Topic for the ACB Braille Forum and E-Forum
Topic; Hard; Electronic; Comments Covers: 4, 4 From the Editor: 0, 1, Introduce the theme. President's Message: 4, 4 Letters to the Editor: 2, 2 Convention Corner: 2, 2 Board/BOP Introduction: 2, 2, Introduce a new member of the Board or BOP in each issue Committee Spotlight: 2, 2, Focus on committee, its purpose, project, etc. Affiliate Focus: 2, 2, Feature an affiliate, its leaders, its history, chapters, etc. Organizational Business: 10, 10, Includes information from committees, task forces, etc. Legislative/Advocacy: 10, 10 Lifestyle and Leisure: 10, 10 Here and There: 8, 8 High Tech Swap Shop: 4, 4 (adjusted to 2, 2) Other: 4, 3, Room for additional content Theme: 0, 16, Theme for each issue of the ACB E-Forum Total: 64, 80 Bob and Deb proposed to reduce High Tech Swap Shop to 2 pages. Kim said it would be important to get buy-in from individuals such as the convention committee who are significantly impacted by the change. Ron said he is happy to explain how the allocations will help us write more concisely and will be flexibly interpreted to meet what is needed. Content that could be archived is important with emphasis on individual writers. Guidance on what is appropriate for the magazines and what better serves us in social media will be developed. Collaboration with Marketing to make this change is important. Motion:Paul moved and Deb seconded that we adopt the proposed page allocation guidelines to be reviewed and revised as needed. Motion passed. Next, Ron reviewed the theme topics, which were sent out by email and added to, as follows:
Potential Topics for Themed Issues
- Transportation and Environmental Access
- Personal Finance
- Dating, Marriage and Relationships
- Education
- Employment
- Rehabilitation
- Societal Attitudes and Perceptions About Blindness
- Health and Fitness
- International Perspectives on Blindness and Low Vision
- Assistive Technology
- Travel and Tourism
- Guide Dog Issues
- Deaf-Blind Issues
- LGBTQ Concerns
- Women's Concerns
- Multi-Cultural Concerns
- Braille Literacy
- Young and First-Time Authors
- Senior issues
- The ADA
- Reading and libraries
- Sports, recreation and leisure
- Audio description
- Civic engagement and voting
Sharon will categorize articles on hand to see if they readily support any themes. The BOP will work two or three themes ahead to gather content. Susan suggested advertising the themes in a writers group she is affiliated with to engage a broader audience. Ron recommended that we reprint relevant materials related to particular themes. Deb suggested we interview individuals who may not have writing experience but who can make a contribution. It was agreed that education will be the first theme. Ron will work with Families for a blind parent’s perspective, the IEP, Susan will coordinate with the Teachers affiliate, Paul will collaborate with the education task force. Ron asked that everyone look for material and communicate about what we find. Deadline for the August issue is June 25. October will be on the agenda for next meeting.
Editorial Policy Work Group Update
Deb reported that the working group was unable to meet due to schedule issues and would report next month. Katie will send the graphics style guide to deb for reference and incorporation into the BOP policy appendix.
Report from the BOP Chairman: Ron Brooks
- Reviewed and commented on several draft web pages for the new ACB website under construction. Specific pages included the FAQs page and the ACB Convention landing page.
- Developed a list of eighteen potential themes for the ACB E-Forum. This represents enough themes for three years of the ACB E-Forum.
- Developed draft template showing page allocations for the ACB Braille Forum and E-Forum magazines.
- Provided comments and recommended revisions to the ACB Executive Director for the ACB Editor’s position description.
There was discussion of the pre-convention Candidates Forum and it was determined there are some errors in the dates posted in the March Braille Forum. Ron will work with Sharon and Larry to identify a new schedule for candidates to submit their information, will revise the event date, and will post an updated announcement to Leadership.
Editor’s Report: Sharon Lovering
April 2018
Issue type: electronic Page count: 64
Braille Returned: 6 LP Returned: 11 Cartridge Returned: 3 cassettes from 2017 Electronic Distributed: 6,338; Returned: 2; Return Rate: 0%; Received: 6,336
May 2018
Issue type: hard copy Page count: 64
Braille Distributed: 690 LP distributed: 2,598 Cartridge Distributed: 911 Electronic Distributed: 6,338 I am wrapping up work on the June E-Forum. I was surprised how fast the 80 pages filled! I continue to work on credentials, and have just completed the math telling me which affiliates are the winners of the growth awards this year. Some states were neck and neck; others lost members over the last year. Ditto for the special-interest affiliates. The largest percentage winner, a state affiliate, had a 64.29% increase; the largest number of new members was 47 (another state affiliate). I’m also continuing my work on the photo project for the history committee. I’ve written descriptive captions, including the names of people in the photos (when I know who they are), for the 2001 and 2002 convention photos, and am working on 2003 and 2004. It’s a slow process; there are over 500 photos per convention. I will keep on plugging away until I get them done, and am working to identify people who may know some of the people in the photos. Listening to the convention sessions through ACB Radio’s convention archives has been a big help identifying speakers and scholarship winners, etc. Kim indicated that 986 cartridges were distributed in May. This is the 3rd cartridge issue and the system will now check to see that cartridges are returned before sending additional ones.
Other Reports
ACB Radio: Larry Turnbull
Listener counts for April 2018: Mainstream, 2,148 Café, 397 Treasure Trove, 2,312 Interactive, 1,141 World News and Information, 740 ACB Radio Live Event: Iowa Council of the United Blind convention, 15 ACB of Nebraska convention, 10 Phone: 9,152 calls Web hits: 20,256 ACBRI on demand visits: 5,842 Downloads: Main Menu Archives, 590 Speaking Out for the Blind, 35 ACB Braille and E Forum, 739 ACB Reports, 535 Legendary Insights, 791 New podcast subscribers: ACB Braille Forum and E Forum, 30 ACB Reports, 29 Main Menu, 61 Legendary Insights, 10 Tuning hours: ACB Radio Interactive, 3,396 ACB Radio Café, 2,241. We had 210 calls to the ACB Braille/E-Forum hotline for the month of April. Larry is lining up convention sponsor interviews. He is setting up a Zoom account for the interviews and for the Candidates Forum. There are 24 promos produced by Deb to cover convention events.
Email Lists Stats: Bob Hachey
Email List Statistics, April 2018 ACB-L: Members: 325; Posts: 151 ACB-Chat: Members: 140; Posts: 280 Leadership: subscribers: 258; posts 100
Social Media Stats for April
Facebook Likes: 3388 ACB consulting on development of a blind character: 5521 reached; 90 likes loves and wows; 69 shares App designed to assist blind people: 4391 reached; 81 likes loves and wows; 73 shares New font combines Braille with existing characters: 2570 reached; 52 likes loves and wows; 55 shares Twitter followers: 2309 Tony Stephens quote on representing people with disabilities: impressions 1170; engagements 20 Breaking barriers for people who are blind or visually impaired: impressions 857; engagements 40 College students compete in Perkins School for the Blind hackathon: impressions 718; engagements 25
Public Relations: Katie
They did not meet in April. PR is working with Kelly to categorize the convention previews to make it easier for readers to locate information. They are also determining what types of situations will be photo or video content at this year’s convention.
Other Business and Announcements
There was no other business.
Next Meeting
The next meeting is scheduled for June 5, 2018 at 9 p.m. Eastern.
Adjourn
Deb moved and Donna seconded adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 10:39 p.m. Eastern. Respectfully Submitted, Deb Lewis, Secretary