Date:         Tue, 16 Jul 2002 18:58:38 -0400
From: John Unsworth <jmu2m@virginia.edu>
Subject:      ACH Web report

I've recently spent some time cleaning house on the ACH web site--there's
not a lot of material there, but what is there was in need of
maintenance.  I fixed broken links, removed outdated material (or moved it
to the archive section), reorganized the front page slightly, to foreground
contact information for standing subcommittee chairs, and to highlight the
jobs database as a resource.  I also reorganized the EC page, adding links
to relevant information and reorganizing what was there into "current
business" and "old business."  I note that in the future, features of the
web site (like the 1998 project to list conferences and training
opportunities) ought to come with an editorial and maintenance plan of some
sort, because without it, they simply consume someone's time for a little
while and then stagnate, and gradually fall completely out of date.

In the course of poking around on the web site, I learned that the ACH used
to publish a web-based newsletter, for a few years in the early 1990s, and
I think we should revive that publication, and use it to bring relevant
publications, web sites, projects, grant opportunities, etc., to the
attention of our members (and anyone else who wants to read it).  A
quarterly publication would seem reasonable, and I would like to propose
that the newsletter have its own editor, and that the editor change at
least every two years.  I'd also recommend that the ACH pay for student
help in putting the newsletter together, and in keeping the web site
generally more up to date--it probably wouldn't cost more than $1500 a year
to do both.

A related matter: Julia Flanders has mentioned that Brown may need to hand
off the ACH web hosting, and I'm ready to volunteer to take it on at IATH,
but if someone else is eager to host www.ach.org, and can provide reliable
server access at no cost to the Association, it could go somewhere other
than IATH.

John Unsworth