[GBW] update on GBW website

[Eric Alstrom GBW Communications Chair <communications@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

With all the talk about digital publications and related matters, I  
wanted to update the membership (or the portion of the membership  
which subscribes to our list) about what is happening with the GBW  
website.

As it was noted, the website has basically been the same since Peter  
Verheyen, then GBW Publicity chair, created many years ago (in early  
1995, I believe).  Peter asked me to be the webpage editor in  
1997/1998.  I updated it and did minor changes for several years.   
Then I was elected Publicity Chair (now known as the Communications  
Chair) when Peter stepped down in 2002.  I have done some more tweaks  
and addition of pages over the past few years, but nothing major.   
The look, the navigation and the content have been pretty  much the  
same since 1995.  It is time for some change!

So change, were we come!  I am currently working with a professional  
web designer on overhauling the website: the look, the navigation,  
somewhat with the content, and perhaps most importantly, adding an  
online payment system.  To be honest, I do not know what direction  
the designer will take.  We are still in the early stages of this  
process.  I have told him what we need (info about the Guild, about  
our activities such as exhibits and Standards, online payment system,  
and info about the book arts), who our audience is (members and the  
public) and what the goals of the website should be (inform current  
members, attract new members, and be a resource for information on  
the book arts).  Where he goes with this is anyone's guess.  Not that  
I/we won't have input, but he is the professional so I am letting him  
present his ideas first.

This is a multi-month project.  I don't expect anything to appear on  
our website until late Spring/early Summer.  And that will be the  
first round of changes.  More will come at an even later date.  But  
rest assured, some changes are coming.

If you have thoughts about what our website should be and what it  
should contain, please let me know.  Better yet, please reply to the  
list and lets have a discussion about what we want to see on our  
website.  I won't promise that every idea can be implemented (we  
don't want to create Homer Simpson's "perfect" car), but it is to all  
of our advantages to know what we want to see as the public face for  
our Guild.

Thanks,
Eric




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  Eric Alstrom
  Publicity Chair & WebBinder
  Guild of Book Workers
  publicity@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/gbw/
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