SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

64 / 166

64
12. WEBSITE AND ELECTRONIC
COMMUNICATION
In his President’s Inaugural Address at
the start of the 1995-1998 triennium,
J. L. Robins (AUS) remarked on the rapid
developments occurring in electronic
communications and foretold that it would
surely impact on the work of the Union.
In fact, the impact was great and touched
almost all of the Union’s activities.
At that time (1995) the main publications
of IUVSTA were as follows: the Statutes
and By- Laws (including the initial statutes
of the Divisions); the News Bulletin (see
Section 11); an IUVSTA Information
Booklet (giving a brief description of the
IUVSTA, its history, its member societies,
its activities, and its current officers);
the IUVSTA Directory (listing names
and contact information for the officers,
councillors and alternates, and members
of IUVSTA Committees and Divisions –
first issued Sept. 1990); the Administrative
Procedures Booklet (covering the tasks
and responsibilities of all officers and
most chairs and secretaries, and the
protocols and documentation for the
Union’s activities – first issued Feb. 1991);
and a one-page Flyer (for distribution to
advertise IUVSTA and its activities). Many
people over many years have contributed
to the development of these documents
but special mention of the contribution of
J. L. Provo (USA) is appropriate for his
sustained editorial contributions.
In 1996 the AVS generously invited
IUVSTA to set up a World Wide Web site
on the AVS internet servers.
They offered to host the site and provide the
services of MrsMaryWeaver free of charge for
the first year and at a nominal rate thereafter.
As Webmaster from 1996 to 1998, Mary
Weaver was a great asset because of both
her competence and her intimate knowledge
of the Union’s structure and activities
through her husband J. H. Weaver (USA).
As Chair of the Publications Committee,
L. A. Westerberg (S) undertook the task of
planning what material would be put onto
the website in close collaboration with John
and Mary Weaver.
Thus, on 24 May 1996, the IUVSTA’s World
Wide Web site was launched at www.
. In 2000 this was
changed to Initially, all of
the information contained in the above-
mentioned publications was transferred to
the web. Thereafter, this information was
added to and expanded. Westerberg has
served as Web Editor until 2000, when John
Grant (USA) took over and Keith Mitchell,
Webmaster of the AVS site, has served as
the IUVSTA Webmaster until 2003. From
2001, the Web Editor is the Chair of the
Publication Committee.
Late in 2002 a decision was made to
transfer the IUVSTA website from the AVS
server to that of the French Vacuum Society
(SFV). This was completed by the beginning
of 2003 and Hervé Lemoine (F), the SFV
Webmaster, replaced Keith Mitchell (USA)
as the IUVSTA Webmaster.
As tools to produce and maintain web
sites quickly evolved, a decision was
taken in 2004 to produce a new web site
which was launched in 2007, containing
the following information accessible to