OCT. 28, 2006 BALTIMORE, MD.
By NASW Secretary Nancy Shute
Acting NASW president Lee Hotz called the meeting to order at 8:10 am. He noted that this would have been Laura Van Dam's last meeting as NASW president, had she not died this spring. "It occurred to me last night during the Science Cabaret how much Laura would have appreciated the energy and joy that was circulating." He asked for a moment of silence in her memory.
Treasurer's report: Mariette DiChristina reported that NASW received $142,000 in Author's Coalition funds in 2006, up from the $50,000 received in previous years. NASW funded 14 $1,000 travel fellowships for members to attend the Baltimore meeting, and plan to do similar member-oriented projects with the additional funds.
Meeting report: Lee Hotz reported that 415 people were in attendance at the meeting, and added that this is really the activist core of NASW's membership, which is now 2,400 strong. Next year's NASW meeting will be held in Spokane, Wash.
Cybrarian's report: NASW Cybrarian Russ Clemings said that the prototype for NASW's new website was introduced at the meeting one year ago, and that the site was now up and running. One major task remains: to reprogram the members-only portion of the website. NASW has contracted with NICAR to update the online member database, but they had personnel issues, and are just now getting back on it full time. Russ anticipates that the database will be completed in a few months. When it is, members will be able to update their addresses and other contact information online.
For the first time, NASW members who received travel fellowships to attend the meeting are filing daily reports on the meeting to the website, so that people who weren't able to attend can participate remotely. They can be seen on the home page at www.nasw.org.
Freelance Committee: Co-chairman Dan Ferber reported on the long-awaited freelance markets database, which is designed to help freelancers make better business decisions by checking out other writers' experiences with clients. He anticipates that it will be on the NASW site within a few months, and asks members to contribute to it once it's up and running.
AAAS Golden Fund awards: Lee Hotz reported that NASW was approached by Earl Lane and Ginger Pinholster of AAAS to apply for a Golden Fund award, designed to promote science writing at the undergraduate level. The executive board decided to apply for the funding, Hotz said, because if we're about anything we're about the future of our craft. NASW member John Travis volunteered to lead the project, and wrote a grant proposal that landed NASW $10,000. The money will fund as many as 10 undergraduates with $1,000 to travel to the AAAS meeting, Feb. 15-19, 2007, in San Francisco, where NASW runs its annual mentoring program and intern fair. Stay tuned for announcements on NASW-announce and the website on how to apply for a Golden Fund travel grant.
World Federation of Science Journalists: Lee Hotz noted that Laura Van Dam had been particularly keen on expanding NASW's outreach to science writers in other countries, and had helped organize the WFSJ's meeting in Montreal in 2004. He introduced Niall Byrne, director of the 5th World Conference of Science Journalists, who invited all to attend that meeting, April 16-20, 2007, in Melbourne, Australia. It's intended to showcase Australian science, to provide professional development opportunities, and to help build a global community of science journalists. (NASW will award two $2,500 travel grants for members to attend the WFSJ meeting in honor of Laura Van Dam. Applications are due Dec. 10. For more information check the members-only site at NASW.org, or contact NASW's international liaison, Deb Blum.
Awards Committee: Co-chairman Bob Finn said there were 141 entries for NASW's Science in Society Awards this year, with 25 volunteer judges, including the final judging committee of K.C. Cole of the University of Southern California; David Perlman of the San Francisco Chronicle; and E.O. Wilson of Harvard University. Next year there will be three prize categories: books, periodicals, and electronic media. For the past 20 years, the awards have been $1,000 in each category. The NASW board voted on Oct. 27 to raise the awards to $2,500. Entries for the calendar year 2006 awards are due Feb. 1, 2007.
Grievance Committee: Co-chairman Robin Marantz Henig reported that 8 people have asked for help resolving grievances with clients through NASW's new Grievance Committee. Of those, 3 got paid as a result of the committee's intervention, 4 got advice on how to proceed, and in 1 case the committee decided there was no basis for a grievance. Robin asked that NASW members help get the word out that the committee exists and is ready to help with contract or payment problems.
Diane McGurgan Award: Lee Hotz noted that NASW is a volunteer-run organization, and that the $500 Diane McGurgan Award was created to honor the volunteers that make it work. Ruth Winter has been writing the book column in ScienceWriters since February 1979, when it first appeared as a little item asking for news of books either by members or of interest to members. Since then, Ruth has covered a dozen or so books in every quarterly issue. Lynne Friedmann, editor of ScienceWriters, said that Ruth is always on deadline; in fact, she's often ahead of deadline. Ruth has published 35 books herself, and is very interested and concerned about authors. Ruth wasn't able to attend the Baltimore meeting, so Lynne called her to give her the good news.
FOIA Committee: Co-chairman Glennda Chui reported that there is so much going on with restrictions imposed on access to different government agencies, and different parts of the news, that people are discouraged, but also feel that NASW needs to do something to keep members informed and help advance the larger goal of free access to information. To that end, the committee has decided to create a FOIA Wiki or blog on the NASW website. The committee will meet and decide how to proceed. All volunteers are welcome.
New Business: Lee Hotz introduced Charlie Petit, a former NASW president and now author of ScienceTracker, a website that follows coverage of science news and tips to hot stories in the making. Charlie explained the Boyce Rensberger, head of the Knight Science Journalism program at MIT, lured him into the project. The site now has 600 regular return users a week. Charlie said if there's any downside to the project, it's that everyone's too nice, and invites suggestions on stories that need coverage, or weren't covered well, as well as how to improve the site in general. Charlie said there's a subversive element in the Tracker, because it publishes the press releases that news stories are based on. He said he wanted to recognize the good work of PIOs, and also make it easier to recognize how much journalism is cut and pasted from press releases. He encouraged PIOs to pass along press releases when they are responsive for a news break. He apologized for the fact that the Tracker is only following daily news coverage, not weeklies and monthlies, but hopes to expand the coverage in time.
Longtime freelance member Jay Holmes of Arlington, Va., said he's been working on a book on energy independence for 15 years, and has many leads for local angles that may be useful to other members. He invites members to send him an email if they'd like leads on stories in their areas.
The meeting adourned at 8:55 am.
