Assembly of Society Officers meets in College Park

What will be the future of journal publishing in the 21st century? How can associations and nonprofits survive the current recession? How do societies engage with their international members? These were some of the questions discussed at the 2009 Assembly of Society Officers , an annual meeting held in College Park, Maryland, by the American Institute of Physics (AIP) for its member and affiliate societies.

Journal publishing

To an audience of about 80 society officers, John Haynes, AIP’s vice president of Publishing, gave a brief history of journal publishing and the expansion from general to more specialist niche journals over the last 300 years. Too many journals and papers to read has been a common complaint since Michael Faraday’s day, said Haynes, who pointed out that society publishers should try to be nimble and adaptive in order to compete with larger commercial publishers. “Publishers have to listen to the user-community,” he said, “and find ways to enhance their [users] productivity.” The growth in XML (Extensible Markup Language), a technique for categorizing content, will allow publishers to develop new products, and users to easily access more relevant information, once the content is deeply categorized, said Haynes.

XML is a key adaptive element of turning data sets into visual aids, said the next speaker, Matt McKeon, a developer with the Visual Communication Lab at IBM Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. McKeon pointed out that 85% of the next generation of scientists writes some form of weblog, and 91% read blogs. This generation will be using online tools very differently than their predecessors, he said.

McKeon described how researchers are uploading data sets to a free repository run by IBM. Called Many Eyes, the software is designed to produce graphs and images that can be modified by the end user to highlight different parts of the data set, and commented on. “Visualization can be a powerful medium for discussion and outreach,” said McKeon.

For publishers and scientists these new tools lead to larger questions, he added; a research paper could be enhanced or consist of a series of interactive graphs and data sets that may contain conclusions not visible in the text. One challenge, he said, will be to make sure that researchers understand how to interpret these visual elements.

Raising charitable funds

Interpretation of another sort was at the heart of CCS Regional Vice President Eric B. Javier’s presentation on the effects of the recession on charitable giving. In a time when core sources of support are declining or in flux, including government grants, membership, and paid services, philanthropy has taken on an even more vital role.

Javier described how overall charitable donations are relatively recession-proof. “Giving is not connected to the stock market but more closely follows a relationship with GDP,” he said.

But competition for those dollars has never been so intense, with some non-profits undergoing a tenfold increase in their development staff in an effort to raise substantial funds. Despite cutbacks by most businesses and foundations in their donations and grants, a different attitude is being observed among individuals. “44% are giving at the same level,” said Javier, “and 64% are volunteering time towards helping organizations.”

Javier explained how sometimes simply asking for donations can be successful, and that the main reason why people stop donating to a cause is because they no longer feel personally connected to the organization. A lack of finances, he said, is very low on the list. “People have more empathy during tough times,” he added. Changing how you ask for donations--asking for specific operational funds instead of toward an endowment program--would be the key to continual support, he said. Changes in the tax code rarely affect whether an individual will donate to a cause.

Tapping into individuals was the theme of Kevin Hagen’s talk on fundraising as an art and science. Hagen is an executive senior consultant with Stanley Weinstein & Co. A core group of supporters will frequently provide most of the funds for any organization, Hagen said. The trick is to identify and approach them with suitable representatives. Any member who has given in the past is likely to give again, but you must be careful not to ask too often. “You should treat funders like friends; you don’t simply call them up when you need something,” he added.

Science and politics

Answering a different call, one to change from science to a policy career, were five former AIP and Member Society Congressional Fellows--Dahlia Sokolov, Benn Tannenbaum, Kathryn Clay, Josh Trapani, and Colin McCormick--who discussed their experiences as fellows and their current careers. A common theme in all of their presentations was the value of their scientific background in dealing with policy issues in Congress, and the wide range of follow-on opportunities their fellowships provided them. All of them agreed that their fellowships opened doors to careers that would likely not have been available had they remained on a traditional academic or research track. The Fellows found receptive audiences for scientific input in Congress, executive departments and agencies, and other venues. The importance of scientists communicating with members of Congress, especially with their local representatives, was emphasized, although sometimes placements would depend on something as simple as a representative having a desk available. “If there’s no desk then there’s no space available for a fellow,” said Tannenbaum. But with so many new representatives joining Congress last year, the Congressional Fellows are highly sought after for their expertise. “It’s become a very competitive market,” said Sokolov.

International affairs

A different type of market exists for scientific societies trying to maintain strong links with their international membership. Four representatives talked about the different ways in which they try to integrate their international members into the affairs of their societies: Fred Spilhaus, Executive Director Emeritus, American Geophysical Union; Amy Flatten, Director of International Affairs, American Physical Society (APS); Brad Miller, Director, Office of International Activities, American Chemical Society; and Todd Osman, Executive Director, Materials Research Society.

“We are an international society — not a society with international members,” said MRS’s Osman. International members make up a significant percentage of most society membership and journal article authors (50% for one publication cited). Moreover, for some journals, the majority of their subscription revenue now comes from abroad.

Several organizations highlighted economic policies and practices, including scaled product and membership pricing for members outside the US, in addition to travel funding for participating in meetings, committees or lecturing. Ensuring a mechanism for fostering communication and collaboration was highly recommended by all the panel members--including electronic delivery of publications, international and virtual meetings, and ensuring opportunities for international members to reach leadership positions. Encouraging open communication and developing relationships between domestic and international members only strengthens the organization, said Flatten. One question arose on how societies could measure success--monitoring participation in workshops and how members use society resources appeared to be part of the solution.

Some organizations have efforts targeted at humanitarian efforts; others, such as APS, work strongly on visa-related issues. Education is one issue all societies work on, said the panel--teachers across the globe face similar challenges, and the success of one set of education materials and curricula can be replicated to other locations.