There’s some concern that when documents are distributed in Word, users must hit “ctrl-click” to follow links. [This is a relatively new “feature” in Word. It corrects the behavior in Word 98 that had inadvertent clicks exiting Word to bring up the browser.]
What’s the feeling on whether “training” is needed for this? After all, Word itself is pretty explicit letting folks know what to do:
This actually opens up a much larger question. How much of “standard desktop training” should the Association provide to its members. Since 2001, I’ve been saying that people need to get basic training in their communities - community colleges, other continuing education centers, bookstores, local training businesses, friends and neighbors, etc. - though I’ll admit, not everyone understood that this was my message. [See 9/25/01 AAUW Online live and search for “shoemaker”. Raleigh branch URL is now http://rwc.aauwnc.org.]
Severity: moderate
Audience: moderate
Fiscal effect: no
Policy question: yes
Reported: no
C/U Chair and Representative job descriptions were e-mailed to (at least) state C/U chairs and state presidents. But they are not posted at www.aauw.org. It is fundamental that everyone needs to know what others are expected to do, not just the details of their own role.
For reference:
C/U Representative Job Description
C/U Branch Chair Job Description
C/U State Chair Job Description
Severity: minor
Audience: small
Fiscal effect: no
Policy question: yes
Reported: no
Link: Compare https://www.now.org/renewnet.html to https://svc.aauw.org/join/mal_renew.cfml
Okay, I know we’re nowhere close to “national dues collection,” but I just renewed my NOW membership (including membership in the local chapter), and I must say it was pretty painless.
- I got a paper invoice from the national organization
- There was a web address where I could make my credit card payment
- There was an explicit option for 2 and 3 year renewals (with *discounts* where our Finance Committee seems reluctant to look at this at all).
- I entered codes from the paper invoice - which meant I didn’t have to enter *any* address info.
Would it be possible to prototype this with at-large members?
I’ve no idea what this looks like from the chapter side — do they get dues in a timely fashion? what kind of “processing fee” is embedded in this process? But after a couple of years as a branch treasurer, I have to believe that this process is one that we must consider for our future.
Severity: minor
Audience: small
Fiscal effect: no
Policy question: no
Reported: no
Link: http://www.aauw.org/member_center/branches_states/bylaws/1933-2005%20AAUW%20resolutions.pdf
I almost hate to say this, because I’m so thrilled that this document has been posted at all - but the doc could be improved with the judicious insertion of a few page breaks, I think.
Severity: minor
Audience: small
Fiscal effect: yes - if sales are deferred
Policy question: no
Reported: no
Link: http://aauw.tranguard.com
At http://www.aauw.org/member_center/tools/divkit.cfm folks are referred to Shop AAUW for the Diversity Toolkit, but it’s a bit hard to find — it’s under branch resources, not publications.
Severity: severe
Audience: large
Fiscal effect: yep
Policy question: hmm
Reported: well, sort of - but does it need to be?
Link: Various
AAUW is a complex organization and since even earlier incarnations of the website (www.archive.org anyone?) the web site’s way of dealing with this has been long lists of somewhat related topics. See, for example, the left hand menu on the Member Center.
Some pages try to deal with these lists by providing some structure (e.g. forms for states, branches, etc.), but others appear to throw up their hands and just list things alphabetically. That last might be okay if the items in the list were parallel in some way, but things like the list of topics in the member center left-hand menu are just really odd.
Evidence that this is a problem is in the response to the SAR/SEC regional meeting Web Tour workshop. This was repeated at the Conference of State Leaders. The workshop — all info at http://wiki.bbvx.org — is just a simple front end to some of the key content on www.aauw.org, so it might be considered a prototype for a new navigation system.
I’m not minimizing the difficulty of this problem, just documenting it as an issue that must be addressed in the new web design.
Severity: moderate
Audience: small
Fiscal effect: could be - inconsistent branding may give the wrong impression
Policy question: maybe? are we changing the color?
Reported: no
Link: http://www.aauw.org/member_center/newsletters/logos.cfm
Once upon a time the Teal W, Grey AAUW was distributed in PNG format (see www.aauwnc.org) and TIF format (for printing). Those don’t seem to be available any longer from the official logos page, which has EPS files for print. These can be imported into Word or other desktop publishing tools and, unlike the JPG and GIF, they stay sharp even at larger sizes.
I have, however, noticed what appears to be a problem with the EPS for the first logo, i.e. the one labeled “all teal” though the JPG and GIF demonstrate a teal W over grey text, http://www.aauw.org/images/logos/AAUW-logo_327+50K.ZIP. On both my screen and my printer, the W is clear green, not teal. Now if that’s intentional I can “get with the program,” but if it’s not, we need a new EPS file.
[According to Color Schemer, the green is RGB (0,217,97) while the teal in the JPG and GIF for other logos on that page is something like RGB (0,124,112).]
FIXED - per note 7/7/06
(more…)
Severity: minor
Audience: small
Fiscal effect: no
Policy question: no
Reported: no
Link: http://svc.aauw.org/cfpNew/selectLogin.cfml
In the drop down list for “where did you hear about this” it says EdEgChange instead of EdEqChange. On a related topic it’s strange there’s no “web site” in that list.
