Mileage Contest results online?

Mileage Contest results should be viewable online

Is there any chance that the results for the 2004 Mileage Contest will be listed on the BMWMOA web site as well as in the April 2005 issue of BMW Owners News?

Gil

Let us hope so

That would be nice. That nice young man from Indiana, Ben Bradford or something or another, has a website with instant milage stats for the swell group of riders who call themselves Rounders. Gosh, how does he do that??

Re: Mileage Contest results should be viewable online

GGNY said:

Is there any chance that the results for the 2004 Mileage Contest will be listed on the BMWMOA web site as well as in the April 2005 issue of BMW Owners News?

Gil

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Good question.

Short answer: yes there's good chance, but right now that decision is in the hands of Sandy Cohen, the Editor of the Owners News.

Long answer: we are in the process of redefing the relationship between the web site and the BMW MOA Owners News. The qoal is to provide a much greater degree of integration between the two media, while retaining the unique strengths of each. One of the major challenges is how to time "publication" on the web so as to not undercut the news value of the Owners News. There is also the technical issue that we are going to "split" the web site between guests and members - with a validated login required for access to the member's side. So, there's some work to do.

This process is going to get a lot of attention this fall/winter/spring, so expect to see a lot of changes to both the look, and the content of our web site by spring.

Re: Re: Mileage Contest results should be viewable online

Greg Feeler said:

Short answer: yes there's good chance, but right now that decision is in the hands of Sandy Cohen, the Editor of the Owners News.

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Isn't Sandy a contractor hired by the MOA? So doesn't she work for us? Therefore, why is it her decision? Is it a contract thing? If so when that contract expires we need to address some things. I would not leave it up to my plumber how my second house is built.

MarkF

Re: Re: Re: Mileage Contest results should be viewable online

MarkF said:

Isn't Sandy a contractor hired by the MOA? So doesn't she work for us? Therefore, why is it her decision? Is it a contract thing? If so when that contract expires we need to address some things. I would not leave it up to my plumber how my second house is built.

MarkF

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Mark,
Yes, Sandy is a contractor, and as such is responsible for the production and success of the Owners News, subject to the oversight of the Board of Directors.

In her management of the ON she has established certain policies, one of which is the policy of "first publication." Nothing in the Owners News should have appeared in another publication (print or web) in fundamentially the same form. This allows for reporting of the "hot topic" of the day without turning the ON into a "me too" publication.

Given that the ON articles are 100% member contributed (i.e. there are no staff writers or stringers like for-profit mags) and the production staff consists of Sandy and Jon, with the layout done by another contracter, this policy is designed to make sure that you'll see things in the ON you didn't see somewhere else first. It's an important way for a magazine with such limited resources to compete against the largest publications for the reader's attention. Naturally, it would be bad for the ON to have to "compete" against another BMW MOA media - the web site. The Board fully supports Sandy in this practice, so she's not doing something without the blessing of the people who answer to the members.

There is a clear need to use the ON and the web together, and we have a plan for that "integration". However, just as the ON is a member-only benefit, so will be access to additional informatino on the web site. Later this fall the web will require a validated membership login to access enhanced content - like more information from the ON. The non-member section will be focused on information about the BMW MOA and member recruitment.

Once the technical issues are solved to handle the validated login, and our new interface is in place, you will see progressively more "ON" content on the web - but done in a way that leverages (I hate that word) the advantages of each media with the other.

Sandy Cohen, our Executive Director, Ray Zimmerman, the Communications & Marketing Committee - and especially myself (Chair) and Rob Nye (Secretary & C&M member), and other members of our web team are working very closely together on these changes. With a volunteer organization things happen in "volunteer time" (i.e. as and when people can get to it). However, the fall/winter/spring is the work season, so we're expecting to make a lot of progress on different aspects of this project by next spring.

We're pretty excited about where we see things going. Unfortunatly, not a lot of our plans have been formally presented to the membership. That's because we've had (and still have) a number of issues which need to be accomplished or resolved before things take a firm shape. However, it's not hush-hush either, so by all means ask all the questions or make any suggestions or comments you want. It's all helpful.

Re: Re: Re: Mileage Contest results should be viewable online

MarkF said:

Isn't Sandy a contractor hired by the MOA? So doesn't she work for us? Therefore, why is it her decision? Is it a contract thing?

MarkF

Click to expand...

The original question was "is there a chance it will be posted on the web", and the answer is yes. I asked the techies that this year, and the response was if I get it to them in a usable format, they can post it. It will probably occur in April to coincide with the April issue of the Owners' News. It's easier to have it coincide, so if I "displace people" or have a typo, I can get the flack all at once instead of spreading it out over several months!

As it is, it's a good thing Minnesota has a long winter, cuz I've been trying to get some riding in, and now have tons of correspondence that isn't going away! :yow

Re: Re: Re: Re: Mileage Contest results should be viewable online

k75karol said:

The original question was "is there a chance it will be posted on the web", and the answer is yes. I asked the techies that this year, and the response was if I get it to them in a usable format, they can post it. It will probably occur in April to coincide with the April issue of the Owners' News. It's easier to have it coincide, so if I "displace people" or have a typo, I can get the flack all at once instead of spreading it out over several months!

As it is, it's a good thing Minnesota has a long winter, cuz I've been trying to get some riding in, and now have tons of correspondence that isn't going away! :yow

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Yeah, what Karol said. I'm in the same boat with a home office full of things that just got piled over the summer. Paperwork is for the winter.

Re: Let us hope so

Cliffy777 said:

That would be nice. That nice young man from Indiana, Ben Bradford or something or another, has a website with instant milage stats for the swell group of riders who call themselves Rounders. Gosh, how does he do that??

Click to expand...

no magazine, that's how.

here we go again.

Re: Let us hope so

Cliffy777 said:

That would be nice. That nice young man from Indiana, Ben Bradford or something or another, has a website with instant milage stats for the swell group of riders who call themselves Rounders. Gosh, how does he do that??

Click to expand...

I can't tell you how I do it, 'cause I am still figuring it out.

Also I am already a volunteer on the webteam and have been involved in the integration discussions. Do not fret, the winter is going to be a busy time with lots of the discussions going on behind the scenes. Greg, Rob, and lots of others are already discussing these type of topics and the process is moving forward.

However I agree that there are some improvements needed, so feel free to voice your opinions. But remember the opinions typically shown here only account for about 10% of the entire membership. The ultimate goal is to make it equal for all in terms of news and information delivery.