Tim Shirley wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I bet you didn't think that it was possible to score on this list...
>
Thanks for this Tim - and Mark.
With 313 subscriptions, that places Aus Soaring at about 10% of the GFA
membership. I say 'about' because
* there are people on this list that I know are not GFA members (but
who do fly gliders)
* there may well be people on this list that are not GFA members and
do not fly gliders
and so allowing for this non GFA membership part of the subscriber list
in a generous fashion suggests that about 10% (probably a bit more) of
GFA members are on Aus Soaring.
Over the years there has been fairly significant opposition within the
GFA management to credit Aus Soaring with being any sort of barometer of
opinion. This has probably been due in part to some fairly spectacular
flaming of the GFA management here. Despite this, Aus Soaring always has
been 'monitored' by the GFA management and it has had some effect (not
always what was desired) on GFA management opinions.
What I now see within the GFA management (I have been a part of this now
for 12 months as Qld board representative) is a recognition amongst a
growing number of the GFA management that electronic communications
offer significant potential to assist the GFA (ie all of us - the
members) to improve communications amongst us and reduce overheads - to
our mutual benefit.
This brings up a couple of interesting points that I would like to hear
from Aus Soaring about...
1. Moving to electronic communications has a potentially significant
downside as I am certain that not all GFA members have an email
address. Whilst the move to electronic communications will
certainly not be 100% in the foreseeable future (eg the magazine
will remain hardcopy although articles will probably appear on the
web site some time after publication), what do we do about members
who do not have Internet access? In one conversation it was
suggested to me that everyone can get an email address (gmail,
yahoo etc.) and Internet access is readily available through
public libraries, so I should not worry about this - but I do.
2. One of the reasons we are switching the GFA web site to a content
management system is that it allows us (fairly easily) to add new
capability such as web fora. This would allow the web site to host
a range of discussions aimed at serving the general membership as
well as specialised groups (such as instructors, coaches, club
development officers etc.). I am interested in what people here
think of this? For example, would a general membership disscussion
group replace Aus Soaring - and if it does where would that leave
our non GFA aus soaring contributors? What do people feel about
specialised discussion groups - and what would be the benefits and
problems of such groups?
Looking forward to reading comments.
--
Robert Hart [EMAIL PROTECTED]
+61 (0)438 385 533 http://www.hart.wattle.id.au
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