Re: [AISdiscuss] E-memberships

[gary white <in2iris@yahoo.com>]

Greetings,

All the discussion about e-memberships is very
exciting.   The possibilities are numerous.  I think
Jeanne mentioned the American Horticultural Society
(AHS) has member only pages on its website.  I checked
it out yesterday, using the password they publish in
each publication (I think they change the password
every 3 months or so - everybody has the same
password).  Anyway, virtually their entire magazine is
available for members to read, print, etc from those
member-only pages.  Most of the articles are in
separate pdf files, with photos included.  There is an
article or two from each issue that can be accessed by
anyone, with the rest only available to members with
the password.  I see those articles on the public
pages as teaser articles.  Its a good way to show
prospective members the types of articles that are
published in the magazine.  There are also web-only
articles for members.  While the AHS does not have a
different level of membership for e-members, they do
some of the things we have been discussing with an AIS
e-membership. One other interesting benefit is that
many of the photos can be enlarged on the screen to a
size considerably larger than in the printed pages, so
providing more detail than you might get with the
magazine.

One other possibility for e-membership could be
Judge's Training online.  While judges obviously would
need to fulfill their garden JT, live and in the
garden, many of the other classroom style hours could
be done online.  Most professional Continuing
Education credits can be completed online now.  I'm a
pharmacist with licenses in 4 states and I do most of
my CE requirements online now.  It seems to me that it
would be easy to adapt some AIS JT credit hours to the
member pages of the website. That would certainly
benefit very rural areas.  In my region, there is an
AIS member who is a physician living on an Indian
reservation in South Dakota, a couple hundred miles
from the nearest affiliate. She does travel to our
regional meetings, and has been to a national
convention or two.  She is interested in becoming a
judge, but wonders if she can do it being that far
from other irisarians.  With online JT and
e-memberships, she could much more easily do it,
having only to travel to gardens in the spring and
completing garden JT there.  During the rest of the
year, she could pick up JT credits online for things
like Awards and Ballots, etc.  Just one example how
e-membeships and members only pages on the website
could serve our rural members.  As Terry pointed out,
the same types of services could greatly enhance
foreign membership in AIS.

We do have to carefully consider the costs and
membership fees with these 3 types of memberships.  We
certainly don't want to alienate those members who are
not computer savvy either.  We still do have a good
number of members without computers, so I think we
have to be careful that we continue to serve that
segment of our membership well.  And, like others, I
would opt for the choice of e-membership with printed
bulletin.  I can't quite imagine not getting the
bulletin and having to read everything on a computer
screen or printing articles myself....I definitely
also want the printed bulletin to flip through and
enjoy on the patio.  But, others may feel otherwise.

And, I also agree with Terry and others that the
website and member pages would require a great deal
more from a webmaster....maybe even several people
working on the site to maintain it and keep it current
and interesting for all these new e-members.  And,
there undoubtedly will be a significant cost
associated with building and maintaining that kind of
website.  Lots to think about and consider.  Maybe we
need an e-membership feasibility group.

Gary White
Lincoln, Nebraska



--- Robt R Pries <rpries@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Terry: these are some wonderful thoughts. It seems
> e-memberships have an awful lot to offer and my
> imagination of what is possible runs wild. I like
> your
> idea of involving kids,with an on-line symposium. We
> might even be able to develop some interactive
> components. Design your own Irissee if it is
> possible!!. People could nominate and vote for the
> most durable Iris, or the most exotic, etc. etc.
> They
> could submit their own pictures. On-line photo
> contests could be fun. Before we get too carried
> away
> maybe we need to be looking for some additional
> webmasters to aid in this new workload. Maybe John
> needs a whole team. Of course he was able to get the
> online registrations in place (no small task), I
> have
> confidence he could handle this. Before we start
> accepting e-memberships it would be nice to have a
> number of benefits in place so no one would be
> disappointed. I would guess this might take some
> time,
> seems like we need a plan.
> 
> --- Terry Aitken <terry@flowerfantasy.net> wrote:
> 
> > I'm back! Hi all.
> > Just speculating on the impact that e-members
> might
> > have on membership.
> > INTERNATIONAL? Eliminating the exhorbitant mailing
> > cost and time delays 
> > of sending hard copies around the world. I suspect
> > that we would almost 
> > immediately double, triple, quadruple our
> > international memberships. We 
> > would not have to charge them extra (overseas
> > shipping) for 
> > participating. We could become a "world iris
> > society" without even 
> > knowing it.
> > INTERNATIONAL TRANSLATIONS? Some of this is
> > happening now, especially 
> > from Japan. When I type a message to someone in
> > Japan and a whole bunch 
> > of strange symbols show up on the screen, it is
> > really spooky. This 
> > could happen with articles. Our E-Bulletin could
> > have international 
> > translations. Sometimes they sound funny but I
> even
> > appreciate that.
> > YOUTH MEMBERS? My grandkids are better on a
> computer
> > than I am. The 
> > younger generation is firmly tuned into this type
> of
> > communication. 
> > Reduced rates for youth e-members would be easy.
> > VOTING RIGHTS? Eventually, we could have a push
> > button symposium on 
> > line? Maybe even a judges ballot?
> > COST OF HARD COPIES? Probably traditional
> > memberships will drop. This 
> > will increase the unit cost of publishing
> > traditional bulletins. 
> > E-memberships would have to cover the increased
> > costs? Should not be a 
> > problem.
> > SHOPPING CARTS.?  For paying memberships; buying
> > supplies for shows or 
> > from the storefront. Others??
> > OTHERS?-Uncle  Roy would even get his bulletin in
> > the same year as the 
> > rest of us?  Just kidding Roy!
> > -What we need now is a web-guy/gal guru who
> doesn't
> > sleep!
> > Have a good night, sleep tight.
> >  Terry
> > The garden looked great today during a dry moment.
> > Cleanup is under way. 
> > All is well in the NW!
> > 
> > Jill Bonino wrote:
> > 
> > > This is great discussion....
> > 
> >
>
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