Author: J.F. Bennett

Gentlemen, over the next month or two we will be rolling out an entirely new web site with many new features. We will be updating and adjusting this new site as we see what works and what doesn’t. For the time being we will have a new web address: bostonpt.org. Our current web address was owned by Dick Bourbeau and we have to find a way to access it now that he has passed away. We have learned a valuable lesson from this; all passwords and account information for our new on-line presence will be kept on file in our office.

I will be heading our new “tech” committee with Philip Findlay and Steve Vorenberg, as we set up our new web site with assistance of David Clark and look for ways to best utilize the internet for the advancement of our organization’s goals. We will be looking at on-line analytics to see who is visiting our public pages, what they are looking at and for how long. (Not specific individuals, just blind data. For example, we will be able to see if people from New England are looking at our site as opposed to eastern Europeans.) We want to see if we are reaching potential members.

Our new site will also feature a blog version of our Prologue that we will be able to update whenever we like and an on-line bulletin board for members to gather and converse and share images &c. It will be private and moderated. Members will set their own passwords rather than one rotating password. You will be able to private message other members and search the board for conversations you are interested in. We will have tear sheets, board minutes and our by-laws on line as we do now. We hope to have newsletters from other chapters on-line as well.

We have also switched to a new calendar on the bostonpt.org site, which should allow us to add events that might not get to us in time for the Prologue; be sure to check the news and calendar on the website for these events so we can hopefully get out and do more things!

There are lots of exciting changes ahead for us. As we move forward, let’s pause a moment to thank Steve Lord & Charlie Briggs for all their hard work over the years on our previous web site.

Gentlemen, our board elections are in April. Our by-laws require short biographies of candidates be published in the March Prologue. If you are interested in running, start working on one. We’ll need them by the end of February.

Serving on the board does entail some work and can be a bit stressful at times, but overall it is a rewarding and enriching experience, one that gives great satisfaction. If you feel you might not have the experience or knowledge to do a good job, well, you may just surprise yourself. On a related note, I will be stepping down as editor of the Prologue. Four years is long enough. As someone who is still working full time, I find I don’t have the time I’d like for other things. I am also hoping to focus on IT for the club. It has been an interesting few years full of challenge and expanding horizons.

I have learned a lot about our community and myself by putting together each number. I have not accomplished everything I set out to do, but I feel it’s time for a fresh viewpoint. I would urge whoever steps in to follow me as editor to focus more on expanding content. I feel I have had mixed results on that front. We will, in the near future, have an increased web presence that we can use in a myriad of ways to enhance the Prime Timer experience.