Communicating with SIAG members
SIAM encourages each activity group to communicate with its members on a regular basis, using e-mail, newsletters, and SIAG Web sites.
SIAG E-mail
SIAM provides systems that
enable activity groups to communicate with members by electronic mailing list or bulk e-mail.
- SIAM can create a moderated or unmoderated electronic mailing list composed of SIAG members or anyone else approved by the designated moderator. Each mailing list participant has the option of selecting to receive messages in digest mode. SIAG members are included on the list automatically, with the opportunity to opt-out. The moderator can decide when and if members who opt-out will be invited to join the list again at a later time.
- To use SIAM’s bulk e-mail, the chair of the activity group (or designated spokesperson) composes a message and forwards it to Membership Manager Susan Whitehouse at whitehouse@siam.org two weeks prior to the intended distribution date. SIAM will send the e-mail to all current members of the activity group.
SIAG Newsletters
Electronic newsletters are a great way to communicate with SIAG members. SIAGs
should designate a newsletter editor, either by virtue of office (i.e.
SIAG Secretary), or by appointment. Once the editor of the SIAG newsletter
has completed the publication, it can be distributed by SIAM and posted
on the activity group Web site.
SIAG Website and Wikis
SIAM has a Web page for each activity group (linked from www.siam.org/activity/)
which includes basic information including the SIAG purpose, rules of
procedure, current officers, link to SIAG conference, and other information. SIAM
encourages each activity group to develop its own Web content to maximize
communication with its members, by either adding to the basic page, or
by creating its own independent Web site that will be linked from the
basic page. Beyond the basic information, SIAG Web content is
developed and updated by the volunteers, but the site can be hosted in
one of several different ways.
- Activity groups can provide additional content linked from the basic SIAG Web page, as done by the SIAM Activity Group on Discrete Mathematics (SIAG/DM). Volunteers develop or edit the content and send it to the SIAM Webmaster at webmaster@siam.org for posting.
- SIAM has a new area on the Web -- http://siags.siam.org -- set aside for hosting SIAG Web sites. An example of such a site is the one created and maintained by SIAG/IS. SIAG volunteers build and maintain their own content using standard HTML Web pages. This site ensures continuity for SIAG Web sites maintained completely by volunteers. It allows for a smooth transition when Web editors pass responsibility for the site on to successors, with no need to reload the Web site on to a new server or to establish a new URL.
- SIAM can host a structured Web site, such as DSWeb, which was developed for the SIAM Activity Group on Dynamical Systems (SIAG/DS). SIAM technology staff work with SIAG volunteers to select the modules that meet the needs of the individual activity group. Once the framework is established, SIAG volunteers build, maintain, and update the module content themselves.
- SIAM can develop a wiki for your SIAG, as done for SIAG/GS at http://wiki.siam.org/wiki/siag-gs/ and for SIAG/CSE at http://wiki.siam.org/siag-cse/index.php/Main_Page. We are currently using MediaWiki, the same software Wikipedia uses for their website. SIAG volunteers build, maintain, and update the wiki content themselves.
- Web sites can be hosted off site on a volunteer’s institutional server, as done by the SIAM Activity Group Orthogonal Polynomials and Special Functions (OPSF). To simplify transition to future editors and to ensure Web site continuity, we recommend that SIAGs who want to maintain their own site consider option #2 above.
