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.