Website
The purpose of the Website committee is to develop, administer and maintain the General Service Conference Area 47 Central New York Website of Alcoholics Anonymous (hereinafter referred to as “the Website”) on the Internet (World Wide Web).
Operating within the principles embodied in the Twelve Traditions and Twelve Concepts of AA, the Website shall specifically, but not exclusively display items such as:
- Assembly meetings;
- Assembly minutes (password protected);
- Information on conventions and events within the General Service Structure of AA;
- District workshops, activities and group anniversaries within Area 47;
- Links to useful websites that present no affiliation, endorsement or display of any non-AA entity;
- Bulletin Board as a content manager for Area 47 officers, committee chairs and other trusted servant announcements;
- Facilitate correspondence of communication between Area officers, chairs and trusted servants;
- Develop and maintain Area 47 Website Manual
—Reprinted from the Area 47 Handbook
Link to A.A.W.S. Internet Guidelines (.pdf)
Link to A.A.W.S. Anonymity Online (.pdf)
Website Committee Report for November 2016
The Area 47 Web Team met Sunday in Bridgeport with three members present. We discussed a few final edits to the Web Manual before making our motion that the assembly approve the updated web manual which had been available in draft form for review on the Website Committee web page since October. Since then we have corrected a couple of errors in the table of contents and proofread the manual one more time. Having been accepted by the assembly, the manual will be available on the website this month. I’d like to express my gratitude to the Web Team for its service and dedication to this project and to the assembly for its support.
Colleen K.
Area 47 Website Committee Chair
Website Committee Report for August 2016
The Website Committee met at Sunday’s August Area Assembly with three members present. Dave M. shared about his service at this year’s NYSIW. I’d like to thank him again for attending in my absence. We discussed several items that need to be updated in the Web Manual which we hope to have complete by October or November. After briefing Gloria J., on our work-to-date, we went completed edits to several items. Thank you to Chris P. for filling in for me at last month’s assembly. The website was down briefly in between July 10 and July 12 due to a conflict with our calendar plugin. We’ve fixed that. We mailed and posted minutes, updated the Area Assembly location page, and, at the request of our literature chair, added a reminder to the calendar to order literature during the first week of the month. We added the Group History form to the Archives Committee page: http://www.test.aacny.org/forms_2016/Archives/Archives_GroupHistory.pdf. We’re also working with the Area 47 Handbook ad hoc committee and the Area 47 archivist to make past meeting minutes available for the committee’s reference. If you have announcements, please email them to website@aacny.org and they will be posted to the calendar. Also, if you have NYSIW reports that you’d like to have posted on the site, please send those as well. In Service, Colleen K., Area 47 Website Committee Chair
Website Committee Report for June 2016
The website committee—four members—met at June’s assembly. It was good to be back together. We welcomed Gloria. The team also reviewed and discussed the Website committee section of the Area 47 Handbook. Our recommendations have been forwarded to the ad hoc committee. We also discussed and decided on a way to continue our work on updating the Website Committee Handbook. We checked a couple of links and agreed that we would check the “Intergroups” page under “Resources” to make sure all those links are up to date. Chris P. agreed to chair the website committee in July in Watertown as I will not be available that weekend.
Website Committee Report for February 2016
In January, we met with a member of the treatment committee to discuss ways in which the website might facilitate participation in “Bridging the Gap.” The treatment committee has provided a form and text for us to post to the treatment committee page. We received it just before February’s Area Assembly.
December and January’s email addresses were added to the site and the minutes emailed in January.
Also, we are working with the Archives Committee to make more minutes available on the website; so the Ad Hoc Committee for the Handbook will have easier access. We hope that someone from Archives will assemble all the monthly minutes into “volumes” combining a whole year’s minutes into one .pdf. Archives is working on that. I’ve received a couple of volumes; but haven’t done anything with them yet.
At February’s Area Assembly we were asked to post the final agenda items on a password protected page. That’s been done.
https://aacny.org/wordpress/general-service-conference/
The password was shared at Assembly. Contact website@aacny.org or any of the officers to obtain the password.
Also, in February, our recording secretary asked if there was a way to set up a page or forum for the Handbook Ad Hoc committee’s use in getting input/feedback on Area 47 Handbook updates. I would like the ad hoc committee chair to administer that content.
There were 15 or 16 new GSRs at February’s assembly; so we’ll have quite a few new emails to add and GSRs to welcome. Our registrar was out with an injury; so I’m not sure when we’ll receive the new list. I haven’t had a chance to get back to cleaning up our “database;” but it’s helpful as is.
The next Area Assembly is March 20 in Hornell and it will be devoted to the GSC Agenda items; so let me know if you’d like to get together sometime in between or have a phone conference.
Website Committee Report for December 2015
The Area 47 Website Committee met with three members present at Sunday’s assembly in Syracuse. We discussed a few ways in which the web team might help the treatment committee in an upcoming project. We looked at SENY’s web site and how they highlight ways to get involved in committee work on their site. The website committee handbook will be a priority going into 2016; so we discussed ways to share access to the working draft. Lauren volunteered to come up with an idea for a little handout that could be given out to remind people of informational resources on the website. Dave has already worked on compiling a list of all the email boxes on our server to compare with our list of active servants. I showed a member of the ad hoc committee working on the Area Handbook how to access the handbook and the minutes on the web site. We’re looking forward to meeting with a member of the treatment committee next month. It’s been a great year. Thank you to all the members of the committee for your commitment this past year.
Website Committee Report for November 2015
The website committee met at November’s Area Assembly in Binghamton with four participants. We discussed last month’s request that the website committee archive all past Area 47 minutes instead of just going back to 2007 as well as the request to create a searchable online library of the Area 47’s archives. The committee agreed that a major archiving project exceeds the website committee’s core mission but that we would certainly provide support to the archives committee or the our Area 47 Archivist if they request it. Housing a deeper library of Area 47 minutes on the site seems closer to the website committee’s mission to be an informational resource. Therefore, Dave M. agreed to research our current host provider’s storage limits and get back to us. The committee also thought we should get more input from the past delegate who made this request so we could better gauge the amount of material. We discussed the use of the aacny.org distribution lists. Lauren, our newest member, has agreed to draft a short statement about recommended use of Area 47 email addresses for our web manual. Chris P. will begin an editorial review of our website manual. Dave will draft a “how-to” on posting meeting schedules and I will draft “how-tos” on event and blog posting.
Colleen K., Website Committee Chair
Website Committee Report for October 2015
The website committee met at October’s Area Assembly in Ithaca with five participants.
We welcomed two new website committee members: Kevin V. and Lauren H. and one visitor Susan N. We gave an overview of our team’s monthly responsibilities and some of our long term goals. Monthly activities include: assigning email accounts for new trusted servants, emailing and posting the monthly minutes, updating the Area Assembly location page, posting events announcements and flyers, as well as backing up and updating the site. Dave M. posts meeting schedules as they’re received. Long term, we are still working on updating the website committee handbook and addressing some accessibility issues.
Chris P., DCM and Webteam Email Coordinator checked on the District page for the 600s. He will be sending updated information for his district’s monthly meeting. I will be adding “how-to” sheets for the alternate delegate’s blog posts, event/flyer posting and web page updates.
Later in the assembly I received a request to post all of Area 47’s archived minutes. Currently the website stores minutes back to 2007. The request to house a digitized archives library on the website was also made. The web team will explore the feasibility of these requests and what role the committee might play in facilitating them as time permits.
Colleen K., Website Committee Chair
Area 47 Website Committee Chair’s Report on NYSIW—August 2015
As the Website Committee Chair for Area 47, I participated in this year’s New York State Informational Workshop along with current and former committee chairs and members from Areas 47, 48, 49 and 50. There were panels every hour on Saturday; each one focused on a specific area of service. SENY, Area 49, did a great job hosting the event.
From almost every panel came a couple of ideas that, as a committee, we might assist other committees in sharing information with Area 47 groups. For example David C., our C.P.C. Chair, has agreed to provide a list of pamphlets helpful to professionals to which groups with open meetings may refer when compiling packets for visiting professionals. Also Noella, our Accessibility Chair, agreed to provide diagrams to post on the site that will help groups in Area 47 evaluate their accessibility to members with physical limitations.
I participated in the Website Panel along with the Web Chairs from Area 49 and Area 48. I reported on our reasons for and approach to redesigning the Area 47 Website over the past year and how we, as a committee, agreed to provide an online home for meeting schedules from parts of our Area where no AA web presence existed. I was approached later by the Corrections Chair from Area 48 who expressed his gratitude for the posting of Area 47 Meeting Schedules. He said it would make his job of providing meeting information to newly released inmates more manageable.
In reviewing other Area’s websites, I realized and shared that our Area 47 site, having been developed primarily for the use of G.S.R.s, D.C.M.s and regular Area Assembly attendees participating in General Service, has very little information up front for someone seeking help for a drinking problem. Although, our site content is in keeping with its purpose as stated in our handbook, it is a little like having a first-timer wander into an Area Assembly right when we’re counting down eligible voters or listening to the treasurer’s report—maybe a little daunting. There are many online resources for a newcomer or a family member seeking information, but it’s hard to say where Google will take them first when searching the internet. As a committee we might want to consider this. In addition, I reported on plans the Website committee has to address the accessibility of the site to hearing- and sight-impaired visitors as well as on our efforts to update the Area 47 Website Manual in the coming months.
Fred’s talk regarding the upcoming redesign of Area 49’s website was the most interesting discussion I heard. His enthusiasm and energy were inspiring. He talked about “lowering the bar” for participation and ways in which the SENY website would be built around readily displayed “job descriptions” and “service opportunities” offered by various committees in an effort to retain new G.S.R.s who, just as in Area 47, often attend an Area Assembly once and then “bounce.” He stated that we, as a Fellowship should find it completely unacceptable that there are currently 300 male inmates on a waiting list for Corrections Correspondence from AA members. He wondered aloud if someday email might be a means of helping to address that backlog. He shared a little about his committee’s decision to use SquareSpace with some WordPress functionality as a means of generating a super-simple-to-maintain and a visually-appealing-right-out-of-the-box site much as we did with WordPress. I am eager to see the new SENY site which should be launched soon.
I am grateful to have had this opportunity to serve AA in New York state as well as Area 47. Thank you.
In Service, Colleen K., Website Committee Chair
Website Committee Report for August 2015
The website committee met at August’s Area Assembly in Cortland with four participants. We reviewed the website committee’s activity over the past year in preparation for the upcoming New York State Informational Workshop. We welcomed Chris P. as the new Webmail Coordinator. An issue reported to the committee regarding Sayre, PA’s meeting schedule was resolved. We discussed with our registrar some of the pros and cons of developing and maintaining a meeting database. The committee began the process of reviewing and updating its handbook. We post Area Minutes and reports within a few days of receiving them. You can always find the minutes on the Website. Committees and districts have designated pages on the website for posting committee information and activities.
Colleen K., Website Committee Chair
Website Committee Report for July 2015
The website committee met at July’s Area Assembly in Watertown with four participants. We discussed various ways to accommodate wi-fi accessibility at Area Assembly locations. Among the solutions considered were the purchase of a “hot-spot” vs. clarification of the existing Area Assembly hosting guidelines. We also reviewed and discussed the Website’s events-posting guidelines and agreed they are clear. The committee pages are a good place to put information for and/or about your committees. For example, the Website committee page has a link to GSO’s Internet Guidelines at aa.org. According to our visitor statistics (provided by our hosting service), the meeting schedule pages typically receive the most visits. The committee posts Area Minutes and reports within a few days of receiving them. You can always find the minutes on the Website.
Colleen K., Website Committee Chair
