May 18, 2006
Location
Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), 600 Broadway, Kansas City, MO
Attendance
Chris Audano, Chairman, City of Overland Park
Randy Ellis, City of Overland Park
Barbara Hensley, Mid-America Regional Council
Susan Waters, Mid-America Regional Council
Julie Wittman, Mid-America Regional Council
Karen Sorensen, Johnson County Waste Water
Bradley Hook, Kansas School of the Blind
Kelli Behr, City of Gladstone
Kreg Cox, City of Gladstone
Sonya Fendorf, City of Shawnee
Rich Lovett, City of Kansas City , MO
Joy Devor, Johnson County, KS
Brett Williamson, Johnson County, KS
Amy Ostrom, Johnson County Library
Scott Vieira, Johnson County Library
Angela Ner, Unified Government of Wyandotte/KCK
Jason Newkirk, City of Independence
Anthony Oropreza, Johnson County Parks & Rec
Presentations
Website Accessibility – Bradley Hook, KS State School for the
Blind
Bradley’s slideshow presentation can be viewed
online.
NAGW Conference Update
Hotel room rates are $59 during the conference, and the early-bird
registration fee, which expires on July 15, is $150. Speakers are being identified
by the committee.
NAGW members will soon be receiving an email with proposed minor changes to the bylaws. Members will be asked to vote electronically on these changes.
So far, approximately 20 people have registered for the conference; this is comparable to the registration at prior conferences at this stage.
Conference Scholarship Proposal
Barbara and Susan distributed copies of the
proposal for the group. In summary, it had been mentioned in the past that
some MAGWeb members would like to attend the conference, but are unable to
due to budget constraints. The proposal provided for three to five people to
receive their $150 registration fee using MAGWeb funds. Applicants would
have to submit a formal application, which would be considered by a subcommittee
of MAGWeb. Barbara and Susan asked for the group’s input on this proposal.
A lengthy discussion ensued. Some of the comments are summarized as follows:
- Rich said he opposes the scholarship because it uses the only remaining funds in MAGWeb’s budget. With no other means of generating income, these valuable funds will eventually run out. Additionally, application is open to all the membership even though some of those members rarely or never participate in MAGWeb’s meetings.
- Randy also opposed because he believes the funds should benefit the MAGWeb group as a whole, rather than individuals.
- Kelli stated that although she may have been the one to first mention the idea, and while she is one of the people who will likely not be able to attend, she agrees with the opposition for their same reasons.
- Anthony stated he would not be in opposition if the committee provided alternate ways to generate more revenue for MAGWeb. He suggested ideas such as after-hours events and paid training opportunities.
Also discussed was the subject of who really is considered to be legitimate members of MAGWeb. Because membership is allowed by simply signing up on the website and requires no fee or participation, there are many members who contribute little or nothing to the group. Some present felt these non-participants should not have the same benefits available to the regular, dedicated participants.
It was generally agreed by the group that neither the scholarship proposal nor supplemental revenue ideas could be resolved in time for the early-bird registration for this year’s conference. It was suggested that the group proceed with creating a subcommittee to look at the issue for the future. Anthony, Barbara, Brad and Kelli volunteered for the subcommittee.
Upcoming Topics
June’s meeting will be at Overland Park where Dan Davis will
discuss Macromedia Breeze.
Susan reminded the group about the blogging session scheduled for June 20. Keith Kreeger will speak. Registration is still open.
Barbara asked if the group has interest in doing a photo swap the way the PIO Officers’ group did. Members brought in digital photos which were then exchanged by the group and burned to a CD. This provides the group with fresh new stock photos to use on projects. The group agreed it would be a helpful process.
Open Forum
Kelli informed the group she discovered during some recent training
that some of the new features available with the upgraded Photoshop CS.2 are
also possible with older versions if the person carries out a series of techniques.
For those who don’t have the upgrade, features such as wrapping a label
around a cylindrical can are possible using filters and free transformation.
Susan informed the group that Macromedia has released Dreamweaver 8.2.0, which has patches to correct some of the problems in the older version.
Next meeting
Thursday, June 15, 2006 , 10 a.m. at the Overland Park Police Department,
8500 Antioch Road.
Minutes submitted by Kelli L. Behr, City of Gladstone, MO