Publishing SIG BUSINESS MEETING MINUTES: August 2002

SIG Officers for 2001-2002:
Chair: Judy Rude
Vice-Chair: Jim Coats
Vice-Chair-Elect: Diane Bowen

SIG Officers for 2002-2003:
Chair: Jim Coats
Vice-Chair: Diane Bowen
Vice-Chair-Elect: Natalie Johnson

Partial list of those present (from sign-in sheet):
Judy Rude (SIG Chair, USDA); Jim Coats (SIG Vice-Chair), U of California; Diane Bowen (SIG Vice-Chair-Elect), Texas A&M; Rich Pope, Iowa State; Julie Todd, Iowa State; Cindy Gambill, Fort Valley State; Kathy Reiser, U of Illinois; Jane Wolf Brown, Purdue; Gloria Schwartz, K-State; Kyle McCaskill, Maine Cooperative Extension; Larry Etkin, Minnesota; Teresa Welch, Oregon State; Sandy Clarke, Iowa State; Joyce DeBoe, U of Minnesota; Meg Ashman, U of Vermont; Helen White, Texas A&M; Dave McAllister, CSREES.

The meeting began about 45 minutes late, at 10:45.

Judy Rude:

• Judy asked if anyone would be interested in pursuing a joint meeting with the National Resource Management Officers (NRMO) organization to discuss issues of common interest. Kathy Reiser said that a previous meeting with them had been very valuable.


SIG member objections to planning such a meeting centered on the perception that many publication production units are moving away from distribution functions (Larry Etkin), and on the tight budget constraints that restrict many from attending more than one out-of-state meeting a year (Meg Ashman). Distance ed technology was suggested as a possible solution to the problem of travel costs, but we decided to propose that NRMO meet with us at the ACE/NETC meeting in Kansas next year.

Judy will ask the NRMO folks if they would like to meet with us either just before or right after the Kansas conference. Perhaps a 1 -day workshop or discussion could be arranged. She suggested that two people from ACE and two from NRMO get together to talk about this proposal.

New Vice-Chair-Elect Natalie Johnson also plans to attend this Fall's NRMO meeting, and will get a sense of the feasibility and potential usefulness of a joint meeting or workshop.

• The quest for a new name for ACE continues, as does the question of whether to keep the ACE acronym or let it change. Share your ideas via the online forum at www.aceweb.org.
• ACE historical documents are now housed at the National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, MD. A new publication, "The Records of Agricultural Communicators in Education," is online as a PDF; che the ACE web site under "publications."
• Judy also reminds SIG members to enter their names and additional information into the ACE membership database. To enter information, follow the link at the bottom of the ACE home page, www.aceweb.org.

• Jim said he will e-mail all Publishing SIG members a filled-in agenda from our SIG meeting, including information on the name change, ACE produce line, and 2003 Kansas City conference.
• Proposals for sessions at the 2003 Kansas City meeting will be due earlier than they were for the Savannah meeting.
• It's not too early to think about who should receive next year's Publishing Award for Excellence, much less the Pioneer Award, Beacon Award, or Professional Award. Let one of the PubSIG officers know if you's like to make a nomination.
• We have been asked to formulate a mission statement for the SIG, and Jim said he would circulate a draft to members.


The SIG already has a mission statement, which appears on the SIG web site: "The Publishing SIG's mission is to develop and recognize professional skills, and facilitate networking and information sharing, among ACE members who work in print or electronic publications." The SIG officers see no need to revise the current statement.

• ACE-branded merchandise is on sale near the registration desk. Jim asked if anyone knew what the money from those sales would fund, but no answer was forthcoming.
• The ACE directory for this year is in the mail ("I've already received mine," chorused 4 or 5 members present).
• Jim encouraged members to submit articles and news items to SIGnals.
• Members are likewise encouraged to submit articles, software reviews, book reviews, web site reviews, or class or workshop reviews to the Journal of Applied Communication.
• We understand from the ACE Board that we will soon be asked to formulate a 2- to 3-year strategic plan for the SIG. They will tell us more about that later.
• We have an October 1 deadline for making changes to the Critique and Awards classes, and an early November date for naming judges for the various classes. Jim asked SIG members to pass any complaints or change requests to one of the SIG officers.


Members asked why C&A results were mailed so late this year. Apparently one of the judges was very late returning C&A materials, and that pushed everything back. Members suggested that earlier deadlines be set, and that the judge in question be replaced.

Diane Bowen is seeking a new judge for that class.

• SIGs are being encouraged by the Vice-President-Elect to name regional representatives within their SIGs. The PubSIG officers discussed this in September, and did not see a compelling need to establish regional representatives, nor were we clear either on what role those representatives would play or how they would be coordinated or administered.
• There will be a marketing workshop in Fort Worth this November for folks who do not have formal training in marketing but do wear a "marketing hat" for least part of their work day. Information is online at http://tti.tamu.edu/conferences/ace/

• Diane asked for suggestions of goals for the SIG for the coming year.


Meg Ashman suggested that SIG members be more active in sharing their experiences in their units that might be of interest to other members. She suggested that we each make a commitment to respond once a year to a request for information.

Larry Etkin said he found it helpful to troubleshoot problems via the SIG mailing list. Another member reminded us that it's helpful if a member who requests information via e-mail eventually writes a summary of the responses and posts it to the PubSIG web site or e-mails it to the SIG.

Members suggested that an e-mail go to all SIG members when the SIG web site is changed, and that we post publications that win C&A awards to the SIG web site, along with copies of their entry forms.

Diane and Judy also expressed the SIG membership's gratitude to Meg Ashman, Sue Keller, and Kim Parker for their fine work on redesigning and updating our web site.

• Diane will be sending Meg new information to update the web site for 2002-2003.

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