END-OF-YEAR REPORT:
April 2006
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Publishing
SIG
END-OF-YEAR REPORT: April 2006 |
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 (current year):
Chair – Glenda Freeman
Vice Chair – Helen White
Vice Chair-elect – Kyle McCaskill
Regional Representatives (if any) – none
Officers (next year):
Chair – Helen White
Vice Chair – Kyle McCaskill
Vice Chair-elect – Kevin Smith
Did the SIG present an Award of Excellence this year? Yes.
Please comment on the nomination and selection process itself.
The Publishing SIG’s nomination and election process (below) for the Award of Excellence was the same as the one we developed last year. Kyle carried out most of the duties related to the award process this year. We unanimously chose Jim Coats as the finalist.
We have one suggestion regarding the nomination and selection process. The SIG leaders recommend that the SIG chair be notified when our recommended recipient is notified. This could be done with an e-mail message from the ACE president or ACE headquarters or with a copy of the actual notification letter.
Selection committee: The three PubSIG leaders (chair, vice chair, and vice chair-elect)) comprise the selection committee.
Selection process: The three SIG leaders held a teleconference to discuss the qualifications of the nominee based on the evaluation form developed two years ago and selected the finalist.
Timeline:
What were your goals for the year (from your strategic plan)?
- Encourage members to use and contribute to the PubSIG Web site.
- Increase the PubSIG members’ sharing of experiences and expertise.
- Offer excellent professional development opportunities for all members.
- Increase the value of the C&A program to SIG members.
- Make the PubSIG more useful to members year-round.
- Help new members feel welcome and understand the benefits of PubSIG membership.
- Recognize accomplishments of SIG members.
What successes did you have in reaching those goals?
1. Web page: Cindy Eves-Thomas continued to serve the Publishing SIG as Webmaster. Sue Keller and Glenda periodically checked the Web site, and Glenda sent updates to Cindy, who made the changes on the site. Among the additions were the following:
Updating the Professional Development Opportunities section, which includes workshops and conferences sponsored by ACE, NETC, and other pertinent organizations. Events mentioned this year included the ACE writing workshop in Mississippi in October.
Posting the SIG business meeting minutes, goals, newsletters, and chair’s reports to the ACE board as they were completed.
Keeping the PubSIG leaders’ names, titles, and contact information current.
Adding summaries from the 2005 ACE conference – as well as from other conferences and workshops, such as the National Resource Manager Officers – of interest to members. Summaries of some of these events were posted as links from the regular PubSIG newsletter.
Posting the names of C&A winners and entries as well as the entry forms for the gold award winners. Posting the name of the Award of Excellence winner.
Posting summaries of the “conversation call” discussions.
Posting regular issues of PubSIG newsletter.
Posting discussions of interest generated from the PubSIG listserv. Those added this year included “Alphabetizing Hyphenated Last Names” and “Singular or Plural Currency Units in Tabular Material.”
2. Sharing of experiences and expertise.
This year the PubSIG continued having conversation calls to encourage participation throughout the SIG. Two calls were conducted and another is planned in May 2006. The first call was September 29 with Jim Coats moderating. The topic was a continuation of the Social Responsibility Round Table breakout session held at the San Antonio ACE conference. Notes taken by Glenda were posted from the November PubSIG newsletter. The second call was December 19 with Bob Griffin, C&A judge for Class 25, Editing, as the guest. Bob offered insight into how he looks at editing entries and what can be done to prepare entries to show our work at its best. Participants asked questions and notes taken by Kyle were posted through the January PubSIG newsletter.
We encouraged members to propose breakout sessions for the ACE 2006 international conference in Quebec City.
During the upcoming PubSIG business meeting in Quebec City, we will ask each person attending to do two things: (1) share something that they are passionate about that has nothing to do with work, and (2) share a reference or resource that is particularly helpful to them in their work. These activities are designed to help us get to know each other better and to share professional resources and tools.
During the year, PubSIG members send queries to the listserv. Some of these discussions, including ones initiated by Tom Merrell of the LSU AgCenter and Sandra Clarke from Iowa State University, were posted on the PubSIG Web site.
News from or about PubSIG members is included in the periodic PubSIG newsletter.
3. Professional development:
The 2006 ACE international conference in Quebec City will offer a variety of professional development sessions in the publishing track. These include the following: “Keeping Your Newsletter Sustainable: Lessons From a Small Research Center and Its Newsletter Readers” by Laura Miller, Iowa State University; “I Want a Brochure! I Need a Web Site” by Robert Casler and Joanne Littlefield, University of Arizona; “Is This Spanish Correct? Clues for Non-Spanish Speakers” by William Watson, Texas A&M University, and Myriam Grajales-Hall, University of California; “Sharing the Brand: Developing Consistent and Flexible Communication Templates for Extension Staff” by Kevin Smith and Virginia Quesada, Purdue University; “Fear Factor: Publications Undone” by Elaine Edwards, Chris Johnsen, Barb Abbott, and Diane Nelson, Iowa State University; “Convergence of Media: How Do We Develop Materials for Multiple Media?” by Evie Engel, Oregon State University, and Lisa Brown Jasa, University of Nebraska; and “Totally Tabular, Dude! An Editor’s Workshop on Making Sense (and Apparent Order) Out of the Malformed Manuscript Table” by Jim Coats, University of California, Davis.
The Publishing SIG and the Writing SIG will jointly host a special conference event Saturday, June 3. The Social Responsibility Round Table, a continuation of a breakout session from the 2005 conference and a PubSIG conversation call, will be a thoughtful dinnertime discussion of social and ethical issues and how they relate to our roles as communication professionals working in the public interest. The event will be held at the St. Alexandre Pub where a private room is reserved for our use. We envision a fun, relaxed atmosphere in which we can enjoy a vigorous exchange of ideas with our ACE colleagues (without being TOO pretentious, we'd like to think of this as a nod to the type of discussion made famous by Tolkein, C. S. Lewis, and the Inklings at Oxford). Our guest speaker will be Elaine Harger, Coordinator of the American Library Association's Social Responsibilities Round Table. The ALA group has been active for more than 35 years, and Elaine will give us an overview of the scope and nature of the work that they do. Participants will then be encouraged to talk with one another about how our own nascent SRRT can best address issues that we encounter in our own work in communications.
Discussions have begun among PubSIG officers regarding the possibility of a SIG-sponsored workshop. This discussion will continue during the business meeting in Quebec City when we will brainstorm to see if there is interest in such an event to be held in conjunction with the 2007 conference in New Mexico or at a different time and place (e.g., the Writing Workshop at the University of Mississippi or the Media Relations Workshop in New Orleans). We will ask the SIG membership for workshop topic ideas and interests. We will also explore the availability of grants and other funds.
4. C&A program
In early August, Helen sent a message to PubSIG members requesting their input in the Critique and Awards program. Based on this feedback and conversations among the SIG leaders, we made a recommendation to the board that the following wording be added to the C&A rulebook description of Class 25 – Editing: "Entries will be evaluated on how well the editing helps the publication fulfill its stated purpose and improves the presentation of its message to the intended audience. The PubSIG officers felt that both entrants and judges needed a little better understanding of how publications are evaluated in this category.
PubSIG officers addressed a variety of questions from entrants regarding C&A rules and guidelines. These were funneled through Amanda to Glenda who shared the concerns with Helen and Kyle.
Note was made that wording may not be clear for the electronic publication category; this will be considered in the fall when guidelines for the 2007 C&A competition are being evaluated.
C&A award winners and their entries and entry forms were posted to the Web site.
5. Usefulness to members year-round.
We regularly updated the PubSIG Web site.
We wrote and distributed six issues of our newsletter (September, November, December, January, February/March, April) and plan to send another in May. The newsletters helped members stay connected and in touch with ACE activities and deadlines, alerted them to professional development opportunities, informed them of Web site updates, shared information about upcoming PubSIG events, identified new members, sought to create a sense of community in the SIG, etc. Glenda wrote and sent the newsletters; Helen and Kyle gave advice and input for the content and reviewed it before distribution.
6. Welcome new members
Glenda sent a welcome letter to each new member immediately after that individual was identified by Amanda.
Information about new members was included in the newsletter.
Other members of the SIG were encouraged to contact new members.
At the upcoming conference in Quebec City, the PubSIG will continue efforts to reach out and welcome new members by introducing them at the PubSIG business meeting and seeking out new PubSIG members at the new member reception.
7. Recognize accomplishments
We will be honoring a very deserving PubSIG member, Jim Coats, with this year’s Award of Excellence.
We periodically asked through the newsletter that members share news of their and other SIG members’ accomplishments. Information was shared in the newsletter.
What barriers kept you from achieving the goals?
One barrier we faced but quickly overcame was the earlier deadlines for the Quebec City conference. Many deadlines from 2005 were moved up one month for this year.
What would you have done differently?
We would have sought funding for the Social Responsibility Round Table earlier in the year so we could have made the deadline for the Development Fund grant application.
Did you use the funds provided by the ACE board?
Yes, we requested and received funding from the ACE board. We combined this with funding for the Writing SIG to help finance the Social Responsibilities Round Table. The $600 will go toward the guest’s airline fare, two nights in the hotel, and meals at the conference.
What can the board do to help SIG leaders in their responsibilities and to make SIGs more effective?
We believe the board has already helped make SIGs more effective by adding the position of SIG Director. We look forward to this close association between the board and the SIGs. The SIG training is very helpful as is the SIG Leader Handbook.
What other concerns or thoughts would you like to share with the Board?
Submitted by Glenda Freeman, Chair, ACE Publishing SIGOur compliments to the ACE board and the personnel at ACE headquarters, particularly Amanda, for the high level of support provided throughout the year to the SIGs.
The PubSIG is a remarkable community of communications professionals. Each time we made a request (from listserv questions to volunteers for hosting breakout sessions) we received above and beyond the need. Particularly gratifying this year was the nomination of three very strong candidates for the vice chair-elect position. As one member shared: “Congratulations on having three good candidates for the SIG Vice-Chair-Elect position! I believe that the level of interest in serving in SIG leadership is a good indicator of the general health of the SIG. The Publishing SIG is in good shape!” Erik Anderson, Director, Educational Communications, University of Idaho.
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Last updated 05/02/2006.