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Secretary's Department Newsletter 1/2

There’s lots of action taking place within the National Publications Committee. These are some of the highlights since the last Secretary’s Newsletter.

1.         A District Publications Committee Guide has been created, distributed free to all district pub chairs, and added to PubCom’s USPS web pages. The guide is a comprehensive “How To” conduct a district workshop/seminar. A Power Point presentation is also available on the web for district chairs to download and use at district conferences.

2.         The Committee has discontinued to label its editor liaison members as “Evaluators”, preferring, rather, the designation “Advisors”.  Advisor better describes their primary function, that of assisting editors to produce the best possible USPS editorial products.

3.         Another name change will be seen in the committee’s annual Journalism awards: the word “distinction” replaces  “excellence” so we now have the “Distinction in Journalism” Award. The rationale is that many publications are distinctive versus those that sincerely can be classified as excellent.  New award logos and certificates have been developed.

4.         All 2001 Award recommendations have been submitted by committee advisors and are currently being reviewed by the PubCom chair.  Publications selected for the Award will be announced at the USPS annual Meeting in January and published in the February issue of The Ensign.

5.         A “blue sky” PubCom Open Meeting program is being planned for annual in Orlando.  If feasible (thus the blue sky tab), we hope to make an Internet connect to PubCom’s pages on the USPS site and do a “live show” for those who attend our meeting.

And, finally, a note to Mr. and Mrs. Editor:  thank you for doing what you do.  I have been a commander and an editor and based on comparisons and experience, assure you that your job as a communicator, in my opinion, is truly far more important and influential than any other USPS position.

HELLSAPOPPIN’

AT PUBCOM

R/C Robert D. Bair, AP

THE FUTURE OF  - -

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

as seen by

R/C Frank Dvorak, SN

Asst National Secretary

In the last three years we have seen dramatic changes in the way we conduct business in USPS.  At the forefront of this change has been our endorsement of INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.  Few are the members who do not now have access to a computer and e-mail.  Twenty plus years ago the government developed a nation-wise network to link computers at government research laboratories to those at selected universities.  This network has grown into what we now know as the INTERNET, a worldwide network of computers all linked together in a giant web.  This web has allowed squadrons, districts and national committees to create sites containing a wealth of information available to members through a web browser.  With the advent of e-commerce members can purchase clothing and other items directly from the ship’s Store.  They can submit a resume to the committee on Nominations directly from the national website, submit a variety of departmental  forms, download an Operations Manual or request a roster using the new roster program DB2000.  Currently the roster is received via e-mail, but shortly, rosters will be available directly from the web without human intervention.  In the near future Americans Boating Course, a joint venture between the USCGA and USPS will be available as an interactive basic boating course on the web.  This will give us the opportunity to reach those people who either live a great distance from a squadron or auxiliary or do not like to take classes in a classroom environment.  This brings in the advent of ‘distance learning’ and I am sure that the Educational Department leadership will at some stage offer our squadron courses on the web to take advantage of this new tool, both for our membership and the public at large.  E-commerce will also be coming soon to the Educational Department.  When implemented, Squadron Educational Officers will be able to order course supplies, exams and other materials directly over the web.  We continue to develop new ways to communicate and exchange ideas using the internet, this newsletter being a prime example.   Someday we may even routinely renew our membership using the web.  We are only limited by what we haven’t yet imagined.

A Little Bit of News–

      “E-mail has come a long way in 30 years.”

Thirty years ago, a simple message launched a revolution in the history of human communications.  That dispatch is now considered the first e-mail, or electronic message, to have been sent from one computer to another through a network.  Devised by BBN Technologies scientist Ray Thomlinson, the system for sending e-mail was initially a demonstration of what the ARP Anet–the Internet’s precursor–could do.

                          —CNET News Daily Dispatch