SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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The difficulty with all websites is that, de-
spite the best efforts of the web-editor and
webmaster, there is a vital need for a large
number of individuals to conscientiously
supply information on a continuing basis to
keep the website current. At ECM 107 in
October 2009 it was decided to restructure
the website to facilitate editorial access by
the new Web Editor, Y. Petroff (USA). The
Website was relocated to the Material Re-
search Laboratory at the University of Illi-
nois, Champaign- Urbana (USA) and Rick
Haasch (USA) served as the new Web-
master. Once again, it has been decided to
re-design the site and a new version should
be launched in 2018.
By the early 1990’s, facsimile (FAX) trans­
mission had become the most common
procedure for transmitting documents among
councillors, although airmail was still used
when all councillors had to be contacted. In
the November 1994 edition of the 1992-1995
IUVSTA Directory, 28 of the 29 councillors
listed fax addresses but only 6 showed e-mail
addresses. By thefirst editionof the1995-1998
Directory all of the 30 new councillors showed
faxaddressesand22showedemail addresses.
This allowed e-mail communication, speeded
the interchange of ideas, and encouraged and
facilitated consultation amongst the Officers
and amongst the members of Divisions and
Committees. It is now common for notices,
agenda and minutes of all meetings to be
distributed by e-mail. In addition, revisions to
the statutes and by-laws have been made
in order to permit the use of e-mail in some
instances.
As described elsewhere, the ECM minutes
have now become the primary archival
document for the Union. For each meeting,
a full set of the reports of the Officers,
Committees and Divisions are attached to
the ECM minutes as appendices. Printed
out, even in small font, these minutes may
amount to over 80 pages and, as upward
of 75 copies need to be distributed,
electronic distribution is efficient and offers
considerable savings in mailing costs.
Following the September 1998 meetings,
the GM-13 and ECM-82 minutes were the
first distributed by e-mail. The minutes of
ECM-83 and subsequent meetings have
been placed on a local closed-access web
site with the web address being circulated
only to those who are entitled to access
them. These changes were introduced as
standard procedure by R. J. Reid (GB),
as Recording Secretary for the 1998-
2001 triennium, although U. Valbusa (I), as
Scientific Director, had begun making use of
a local server for STD agenda and notices in
the lead-up to this same meeting, ECM-83.
As expected, the IUVSTA’s Website,
has taken on an
increasingly important role in the
affairs of the Union and almost all
communication between personnel is
now conducted by e-mail.