TO: FADM Michael D. Smith
Commander, STARFLEET
FROM: COMM Gordon L. Goldberg
Chief of Communications, STARFLEET
STARDATE: 9702.03
RE: Communications Division January Activity Report
_________________________________________________________________
The Communications Division has been highly productive during the
month of January. In addition to the numerous STARFLEET web pages
created by the NetServices staff, a Communications Division web
page is now available at http://www.lily.org/~ggold/sfcomm.html,
which is linked into the main STARFLEET pages and serves as a
central link to other Communications-related pages, including
the Fanzine page, the soon-to-be-published Communiqué page,
a "STARFLEET In The News" page, and others.
The Fanzine, Communiqué, and NetServices staffs have been growing,
are extremely active, and their phenomenal accomplishments are
delineated below. I commend them to you.
In addition, plans for three new Offices are underway, and the
leadership positions for these offices will be advertised in the
upcoming edition of the Communiqué.
FANZINE
Fanzine staff update:
Capt. Wendy Fillmore - Managing Editor
Capt. Bob Fillmore - Technical Consultant
Typing Team:
Capt. Nat Saenz - R5 - nat@televar.com
Inge Fong - R5 - nat@televar.com
LTjg David Breland - coda@sierra.com
Proofreading Team (Team 1):
Ens. June Heidemann - R7 - JuneH@qtx.com
Ens. Jeff Engel - R7 - j_engel@earthlink.com
Ens. Jean Engel - R7 - ghatten@earthlink.com
Copy Editing Team (Team 2):
Adm. Alex Rosenzweig - R7 - alexr@castle.net
Comm. Sashi German - R7 - sashi@feith1.FEITH.com
LCdr. Liz Woolf - R7 - lizwoolf@garden.net
Fanzine accomplishments:
1) Web page: http://www.castle.net/~olgie/fanzine
2) submission guidelines;
3) editing guidelines;
4) production schedule;
5) article submitted for Communiqué.
The Fanzine staff has already received two e-mail submissions, and a
packet full of stuff from Kris Harrah that had been submitted for the
last fanzine. Included were three disks, so a significant portion of
it is already typed up. They have held three on-line meetings, and
expect to pick up again on Wednesday, February 19, 7:30 p.m. for their
next meeting. They've also come up with a price structure, and are
examining other fanzines for format ideas.
NETSERVICES
NetServices provides the first contact for 'fleet members or perspective
who wish information on what is available to 'fleet members in cyberspace
aka -All Things Cyberspace. These include maintaining the 'fleet web pages,
announcements-only listserver (under construction) and answering e-mail
that comes to the Department.
NetServices staff update:
Michael Dugas has been added to the NetServices staff as a Staff Assistant.
NetServices accomplishments:
1) <starfleet.html> aka the "main page" -- received approximately 6000
hits with an average of around 200 per day.
2) Feedback Page -- 62 feedbacks were received from the 'fleet web pages,
via the feedback form. These were acknowledged and forwarded to the
appropriate individuals/Divisions/EC members for response and action.
Web Page Maintenance takes up a majority of Allyson's time, though this
is expected to diminish as daily maintenance becomes more routine. The
announcements page is working out better than expected, and will be used
in conjunction with the Announcements-only listserver, which is under
development. Between the 'fleet main list, the announcements list and the
announcements page (with files that can be viewed on-line and saved
off-line), there will be no excuse for the on-line 'fleet member to be
uninformed.
Future plans include moving the main site from halcyon directly onto
sfi.org. This should be accomplished by mid-February. Halcyon will be
kept up to date as a backup. Allyson is lso working on a general
information and address FAQ to assure that all important names and
addresses be accessible from one file.
COMMUNIQUÉ
The Communiqué is well under development, and on track for printing in
late February.
Communiqué accomplishments:
1) Verifying printing costs -- We are still looking at a cost of around 20
cents per CQ to print, even taking into account a lower press run.
2) Acquiring permits -- Starfleet now hold bulk rate permit #5 in Tecumseh,
Oklahoma and has $299.15 in postage credit at the Tecumseh PO. Greg will
apply for the second class permit the day before we mail the CQ; that way,
we will be able to include the current CQ as an example publication, and
we'll be credited the diference in postage between second and third class
mailings.
3) Design -- Design editor Tonea Morrow has been hard at work getting us an
attractive and appropriate flag for the new Communiqué.
4) Web site -- Mike Wilkerson has volunteered to design a CQ web site. He has a
preliminary site up, and the new site will be announced to the EC and the
general membership very soon.
The transfer of Communiqué materials from Kris Harah to Greg Trotter should be
completed by 2/7/97.
SUPPORT SERVICES
Three offices are being created as part of the Communications Division's
Support Services Department. Openings for all three offices are currently
being announced on the Communications Division web page, and will be
announced in my column in the upcoming issue of the Communiqué:
1) Office of Subspace Communications
The Office of Subspace Communications will be responsible for promoting open
communications between STARFLEET chapters within their regions and world-wide.
This includes not only an on-line pen-pal program, but a "SubSpace Relays"
program for those chapters without e-mail. In addition, this office will be
responsible for coordinating STARFLEET's participation in OPERATION:EAGLE,
a pen-pal project which promotes communication between STARFLEET members and
real-life members of the armed services overseas. Applications for the position
of Director are now being accepted. FCapt Bill Herrmann has expressed an
interest in this position, and is considered the leading candidate for
appointment.
2) STARFLEET Diplomatic Corps
The Diplomatic Corps will be responsible for opening and maintaining
communications between STARFLEET and other fan organizations, initiating
inter-fandom activities and newsletter exchanges. Applications are now being
accepted for for the position of Director, in addition to various Liaison
positions.
3) STARFLEET Language Bank
The Language Bank will consist of volunteers who may be called upon
to provide translation services (spoken/written Terrestrial languages,
sign languages, Vulcan, Klingon, Romulan, Dwarvish, Elven, et cetera) in
their Regions or over the Internet, as needed. Applications are now being
accepted for the position of Coordinator, who shall be responsible for
recruiting and organizing the volunteer translators.