I do agree! The officers page is very appealing, and you can immediately see your representatives of the ARRL in a consistent format. Bravo to the web designers on this format! The division page either brings you to the individual division website if one exists, or a link within the ARRL.ORG website. All division websites are in a different format, some with pictures of the Directors/Vice Directors on their home page, some without. Consistency within the website adds to professionalism, IMHO. If the Division page was set up like the officers pages, that would definitely add consistency. The "Learn more" link could link to the individual division web pages. Yes, I know the IT/IS department is overworked, but the most difficult part of changing the division page would most likely be collecting our pictures. Barry Shelley needs a picture....... '73 de JIM N2ZZ ARRL Vice Director Roanoke Division ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio -----Original Message----- From: Brian Mileshosky [mailto:n5zgt@swcp.com] Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 10:42 PM To: arrl-odv Cc: arrl-odv Subject: [Bulk] [arrl-odv:19500] Re: RE: Web site observation and request Granted. I don't think I'm explaining my point well enough. Put yourself in a visitor's shoes, or even a member's shoes. You're curious about the Division leadership of our organization. You go to http://www.arrl.org/divisions. Lots of names. But all text. Nothing personable, such as what the visitor is presented instead at http://www.arrl.org/officers, which is a very appealing page since the member/visitor can see who their leadership is, see that there's life in the organization's leadership, and not just read a typed name. Of course, one can click on 15 different links to see pictures -- if they want to click on those 15 different links, and if picture exist on each of them, and if those links aren't first serving as links to external, dedicated Division website such as what many of our Divisions maintain. To me, that's pretty excessive. Just offering a point of view and recommendation on a more welcoming and professional way to display the League's Divisions page without altering any of its existing functionality, and without burdoning a member/visitor to click on 15 different links to see that real people (not just text names) make up its Board. 73, Brian N5ZGT On Fri, 5 Nov 2010, G.P. Widin wrote:
Brian, et al., This has all been possible for quite some time. As an example, see: http://www.arrl.org/Groups/view/dakota
-- 73, Greg, KÃGW Director, Dakota Division
----- Original Message ----- From: "Brian Mileshosky" <n5zgt@swcp.com> To: "arrl-odv" <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> Cc: "arrl-odv" <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> Sent: Thursday, November 4, 2010 5:08:10 PM Subject: [arrl-odv:19497] Re:RE: Web site observation and request
I'm thinking not for use in our profiles, but for use on the "Divisions" page (http://www.arrl.org/divisions) that probably sees much more traffic from members and prospective members than our respective, individual profile pages.
Very similar to http://www.arrl.org/officers
Brian N5ZGT
On Thu, 4 Nov 2010, Grant Hopper wrote:
We can actually do that via our "Avatar". If you follow Dave's instructions and look for a blue hyperlink near the top of the page, you will see "update your avatar" where you can upload a picture to be displayed. Keep in mind that after you upload it, you have to specifically select the avatar in order to enable it, even if you only have one.
I uploaded a silly one to test it out and will now have to find an action shot to replace it. In any case, it should give you all an idea of how it works.
73, Grant KB7WSD
-----Original Message----- From: Brian Mileshosky [mailto:n5zgt@swcp.com] Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 12:15 PM To: arrl-odv Cc: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:19492] Re: Web site observation and request
Dave,
Going along these lines, I wonder if there are plans to add photos of Directors and Vice-Directors to the website, similar to how Officers' pictures are shown. Doing so would add even more of a human face to the organization's website. We did take pics at a previous Board meeting and Board members might also supply their own.
Just a thought to compliment your request below.
73, Brian N5ZGT
On Thu, 4 Nov 2010, Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ wrote:
Dear Colleagues:
Becoming directly involved in the Web project has been interesting and educational so far, and reasonably productive. I would like to share with you some of what I have learned, and make a request.
The website is designed to increase members' sense of belonging to the ARRL community - to strengthen their ties to the organization and to one another. The principal tool for doing so is the Member Profile. The basic information contained in each member's profile is taken from our membership records. Members can add to this if they wish to do so, including an image (typically a photo of themselves) if they choose. How much information is shared with other members is entirely up to them. A member may choose to make no information or a lot of information available, or almost anywhere in between. If a member chooses to make any part of their profile public, they will be included in the Member Directory that can be searched by other members (and only by members). Of course, this is entirely at the member's option; it is essential to let people control their own personal information.
The website design relies on the Member Profile as the primary means of providing contact information about active ARRL volunteers to members and others. In other words, our active volunteers now control how much contact information and other information about them is made public. If a volunteer appointee or elected official does not make any part of their profile public, or if they withhold basic contact information, then someone wanting to contact them will have to look elsewhere for the information. As of now, most of our section-level field appointees do not have public profiles. As a result, when you visit their section pages the only information you will see are their titles, names and call signs.
My request is simply this. Currently there are 15 volunteer officers, directors and vice directors who have public profiles and 20 who do not. I would like to ask everyone who has not yet done so to set an example for other League officials by making at least your basic contact information available via your Member Profile. It's easy to do.
1. Assuming that you are already logged in, click on "Edit your Profile" just below the "Favorites" window on the home page (or go directly to http://www.arrl.org/Users/edit) 2. Click on the "Edit Profile" button. 3. Review the information that is displayed under "Profile Information." In particular, note the options available to you under "Public Location." The options are to not show a physical address, to show one of the addresses for you that are in the ARRL database, or to add a different address and show that one. For example, while the 225 Main St, Newington address is not in my membership record, I have created an additional address called "work" and am showing that address on my public profile. 4. Review the check boxes under "Permissions." Note especially the sixth box, "Allow ARRL to show my profile on the website." If that box is not checked, none of your profile will be made public. If it is checked, only the information you have elected not to hide will be shown. 5. If you want to indicate the activities you enjoy and how you became interested in amateur radio you can do so, but that's entirely optional. Reading some members' stories will give you a chuckle. 6. Don't forget to click the "Save" button at the very bottom of the page. Once you do that you will be returned to a screen with a yellow banner saying "Profile Updated" at the top.
The Member Profile is potentially a powerful tool, but we need to build greater acceptance among our leadership volunteers or we will have to find another way of providing their contact information.
Comments welcome to dsumner@arrl.org.
73, Dave K1ZZ
ARRL Director, Rocky Mountain Division On the web at www.RockyMountainDivision.org
ARRL Director, Rocky Mountain Division On the web at www.RockyMountainDivision.org
ARRL Director, Rocky Mountain Division On the web at www.RockyMountainDivision.org