Website report, September 2006
A report on the chapter’s virtual office…
Chapter mailing lists
- aiace is the private list to which all members are subscribed. This list is used for important chapter announcements for all members. Access to this list is strictly controlled.
- posted is a mailing list which relays news items “posted” to the front page of the website. All members are subscribed to this list but are free to remove their addresses if they wish. This list is served only through automated forwarding of website posts.
- comment-relay is a channel through which comments made on the website are distributed to subscribers. Members are not subscribed to this list but are instead invited to subscribe.
- france-section distributes news of specific interest to the France Section. It is used primarily by the Section Director France but can be used for announcements by other list members. (Section Directors should contact the site administrator if they wish to create a Section Mailing List.)
- Additional lists exist for the Board, Committee Chairs and Conferences.
Chapter email
The chapter domain has a number of specific email addresses:
- for membership issues. Email to this address goes to the Secretary and the administrative assistant.
- reaches the administrative assistant who directs inquires as needed.
- for continuing education issues. Email goes to the Continuing Education Committee Chair.
- to contact the web editor.
Other email addresses are sometimes created on an as needed basis.
Recent web search results
Google search of +aia +europe: AIA Continental Europe is the fifth result. Number two is a reference to our chapter from the AIA website.
Yahoo results for +aia +europe: AIA Continental Europe is the first non-sponsored link. The second result is a direct reference to the Udine Conference within the AIA website.
One other result of interest: in Yahoo, the first result for a search of +american +architects +europe is the Wikipedia page for the AIA where one finds this note: “The AIA membership has grown to over 75,000 with more than 300 state and local chapters, called components, in the U.S., UK, Europe, and Hong Kong.”
Continuing projects:
- Site organization and internal searches are not maintaining pace with the increasing size of the site and its archives. New menus will be implemented with shortcuts for quick access to certain content. A new content management system will allow content organization by subject: e.g. continuing education, event news, etc.
- Reorganization of information detailing chapter communication, resources and conference planning and archives.
- Better integration of Honorary Members into the chapter database and lines of communication. (I would note that even AIA National is not consistent in tracking Honorary Members by chapter territory.)
Upcoming projects:
- Raul Salgado, AIA (Spain) has suggested a site section dedicated to reciprocity issues. I have information from him outlining his attempts for registration in Spain and will work with him to create a draft for presenting this content. Members with experiences to share regarding cross-border reciprocity, successful or otherwise, should with details at their convenience. The format for this section of the site might be a wiki, a forum, a “community blog” or, simply, a category of posts to the chapter website.
- Rethinking the member finder… the current incarnation of the member finder is little more than a reinterpretation of the static printed directory of years past. I hope to create something which is more interactive with sorting of members by keywords — e.g. office type, location(s), project types, etc. Keywords should be directly attributable by the member themselves, excpet for the main listing as part of a chapter sections. This will tie into the project mention of Honorary Members above.