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BOARD REPORT: FALL 2005

Publishing Special Interest Group Report
Fall 2005

Name of SIG: Publishing

Mission statement: To develop and recognize professional skills and facilitate networking and information sharing among ACE members who work in print or electronic publications.

Officers:

Summary of SIG business meeting at annual conference:

Number of members attending: 21

Topics of discussion, decisions, plans, etc.: A summary of our business meeting is attached. In brief, we reviewed PubSIG activity of the past year for each of our seven goals and talked about ideas for the upcoming year. New PubSIG members were identified and welcomed. Comments from the judge in the C&A editing category were shared and goals for the coming year were discussed. Most of the business meeting was devoted to the continuation of a popular activity started at the 2004 business meeting: “Trading Aces and Disgraces.” Each member introduced him/herself and shared a resource, idea, experience, or product they found helpful in their jobs. (Complete notes from this session are posted on the PubSIG Web site.) At the conclusion of the business meeting, PubSIG members were invited to meet for dinner after the ACE Development Fund Auction that evening.

How are leadership responsibilities being divided among the officers?

This year the PubSIG will continue to follow an established pattern of dividing leadership responsibilities. The vice chair, Helen White, will coordinate the C&A judge selection and rules review. The vice chair-elect, Kyle McCaskill, will handle nominations for the Award of Excellence. The chair, Glenda Freeman, will write and distribute an electronic newsletter for all SIG members. Helen and Kyle will provide input on the newsletter and help review it before distribution. Glenda will plan and conduct the monthly SIG leader teleconferences, monitor and update the content of the PubSIG Web site, welcome new PubSIG members, write reports for the ACE board, and handle the election of the vice chair-elect. Glenda will handle any other business presented to the PubSIG for consideration.

How are SIG leaders communicating with members, and on what schedule?

PubSIG leaders are communicating with members primarily through an e-mail newsletter to be sent every one or two months. The first newsletter is scheduled for mid-September. PubSIG leaders are also using the listserv to communicate with members.

How are SIG leaders encouraging members to communicate with each other?

This year the PubSIG will continue to encourage communication among members with more conversation calls. Members are notified of the calls via the e-mail newsletter. The SIG leaders select a topic and sometimes select a moderator to help lead the discussion. Members are given a telephone number to call to participate in the discussion. SIG leaders try to choose timely and appropriate topics that will generate interest among SIG members.

What is the status of the SIG Web site?

Some recent updates have been made to the Web site including current contacts and information about the writing workshop. Soon to be added are notes from the PubSIG business meeting and the “Trading Aces and Disgraces” session in San Antonio, summaries of many of the ACE conference sessions, and recent C&A winners.

What are the SIG’s concerns relative to the C&A Awards Program?

In early August, Helen sent an e-mail note to all PubSIG members asking for comments on the C&A Awards Program. A separate report on a suggested change in the wording of one category will be submitted to the ACE vice president for consideration by the board.

What steps will you take to solicit nominations for the Award of Excellence? How will the SIG select its Award of Excellence winner?

As vice chair-elect, Kyle will send an e-mail invitation to all PubSIG members inviting them to submit a nomination for the Award of Excellence. The chair, vice chair, and vice chair-elect will make the final selection using an evaluation form developed and used successfully in previous years.

What steps are you taking to encourage members to submit articles and reviews to the JAC?

The leadership of the PubSIG plans to encourage members to submit articles and reviews to the JAC in several ways. We plan to use the PubSIG newsletter to encourage submissions. We will provide examples of how past articles were developed, and we plan to encourage SIG members to consider drawing article ideas from things we learn and develop in our work each day. We also plan to ask the editor of JAC for a brief solicitation for us to include in our newsletter.

What other issues or concerns would you like to bring to the board? What action would you like to request?

Nothing at this time.

Submitted by Glenda Freeman, September 2, 2005

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Last updated 10/06/2005.