[pianotech] List changes - it's a lot bigger than just the lists...

[johnparham at piano88.com]

Bravo, Israel.  

My father used to say, "Son, if you know something, it's easy.  If you
don't, it's hard."  

Off to school I go...

-John Parham

> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [pianotech] List changes - it's a lot bigger than just the
> lists...
> From: Israel Stein <custos3 at comcast.net>
> Date: Wed, March 09, 2011 9:36 pm
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> 
> 
> WOW!
> 
> Reading all the messages over the last 
> few days one might think that the PTG is 
> all about the e-mail lists - Pianotech 
> and CAUT-L.
> 
> It isn't.
> 
> What you are seeing on the lists is - as 
> Allan Gilreath and Norman Cantrell 
> attempted to explain - a side effect of 
> a comprehensive attempt to deal with a 
> situation that has become untenable, and 
> to position the PTG so that it could 
> appeal to a much broader demographic 
> than it has to date. It seems that some 
> subscribers to this list expect the list 
> to be the tail that wags the PTG dog... 
> This change is not about "improving the 
> list". This change is about moving the 
> entire organization into a much more 
> efficient and effective mode of operation.
> 
> We all need to realize that the only 
> reason the lists and their archives have 
> been able to exist and develop to date 
> is because Andy Rudoff has set up and 
> managed the PTG server gratis, free, for 
> bobkis. Andy is not even a piano 
> technician - this was a labor of love 
> for him. For whatever reason (probably 
> because it has become overwhelming), he 
> is no longer going to do it (and I don't 
> blame him). Add to this the facts that 
> the PTG website - managed on a part-time 
> basis by Ron Berry - has become 
> inadequate for all the tasks that it is 
> expected to accomplish, and its 
> management has for a long time has been 
> too large a burden for a part-timer. So 
> the choice - as I see it - is hire 
> professionals to do these jobs (and bump 
> up everyone's dues accordingly) to 
> maintain a cumbersome, outdated and 
> inadequate organizational electronic 
> technology setup - or go to a 
> comprehensive up-to-date solution. As I 
> understand it, the PTG server will 
> eventually be shut down, and the entire 
> operation is moving into a "cloud 
> computing" mode, that lives on servers 
> out there somewhere with professional 
> contract management.  Thist will propel 
> all aspects of the PTG - finance, 
> marketing, member relations, 
> communication, management, etc. - to the 
> most efficient and effective level, 
> enhancing the PTG's capability to reach 
> a larger public, reducing the overall 
> cost and easing the burden on the 
> overworked PTG Home Office staff (and, 
> having worked with them on committee 
> stuff for years, I know how hard they 
> work).
> 
> I'll digress a bit now. Current research 
> shows that straight e-mail communication 
> is these days favored only among the 
> Baby Boomer generation. Younger people 
> who are much more computer savvy use 
> more specialized media for various 
> aspects of their communications - IM, 
> social networks, forums and other 
> web-based tools.  If we are not to 
> remain an organization of old fogeys 
> typing into our e-mail clients, we must 
> move into those formats that appeal to 
> the younger demographics. This is 
> absolutely crucial if the PTG is to 
> maintain or expand its membership and 
> its influence in the world of pianos and 
> piano technology. Let's face it - we old 
> fogeys aren't going to be here forever, 
> and the future belongs to the young.
> 
> I am 63 years old, and am starting - for 
> the first time in my life - to have 
> trouble with new technologies. I 
> recently switched from my clamshell to a 
> smartphone. I am still trying to figure 
> out all its ins-and-outs - but hell if I 
> am going back to the old dumb-phone, 
> because it's easy and comfortable... And 
> yes, I am not all that fluent with this 
> new interface yet - but I am beginning 
> to see where I can configure it to work 
> for me. And yes there are issues there - 
> but I see that Ron Nossaman has gotten 
> out of his "this is crap" mode and 
> started asking constructive questions 
> about how it could possibly be made to 
> work. And Fred Sturm - one of us old 
> fogeys himself - immediately saw the 
> potential of this format and bade this 
> old e-mail list-chatroom-flamewar 
> arena-discussiongroup goodbye. And I see 
> him on the new forums happily developing 
> well focused discussions pertinent to 
> the purpose of those particular forums. 
> And I suspect that they will soon draw 
> all those people who have left these old 
> lists because they got tired of pushing 
> the "delete" button all the time, plus a 
> lot more who really weren't interested 
> in having discussions forced on them 
> through their e-mailboxes - and would 
> rather look at them at their leisure,  
> without having their other 
> communications clogged up, digest).
> 
> Most of the complaints I have seen so 
> far are due to lack of desire to adapt. 
> This mode of communication is a lot more 
> flexible than just plain e-mail - you 
> can configure it to work for you in any 
> of a number fo modes suited to your 
> preferences (plain text, HTML, 
> whatever), your platform of choice 
> (computer, PDA) and look at it in any 
> number of views. You can get it through 
> e-mail or on the web. This is going to 
> reach a great deal more people than the 
> current lists, because it can suit a 
> greater range of preferences - if you 
> only bother to learn how to use it. This 
> sort of thing is now replacing straight 
> e-mail in large corporations and various 
> organizations - and if clerks and 
> secretaries can learn how to deal with 
> it, so can we. Stopping all this in its 
> tracks because a couple dozen members 
> don't want to learn how to use it is 
> folly. What's tied up in this this is of 
> much greater consequence than the 
> comfort level of list members who got 
> used to what is fast becoming 
> exclusively the province of old fogeys 
> like me and some of my good friends whom 
> I saw kvetching about the new format.
> 
> So why can't we have the old and the new 
> together? Simply because the PTG server 
> and its no-cost management are going 
> away. The listserves would have to live 
> somewhere - and the PTG would either 
> have to pay for someone to manage that 
> old server just for the benefit of the 
> web-phobic, or buy hosting from some 
> commercial outfit. And maintain a corps 
> of administrators and moderators to 
> administer the lists. Having 
> participated in the management of 
> several exam-related PTG lists, I can 
> tell you that it is no picnic. 
> Fortunately for me, those lists are 
> active only intermittently - but 
> whenever they were, I would get 
> inundated with all kinds of help 
> requests - most of them about simple 
> actions that anyone could do for 
> themselves if they only bothered to read 
> the list info and follow the 
> instructions. I can only imagine the 
> volume of such totally unnecessary work 
> that administrators of busy lists such 
> as Pianotech and CAUT-L had piled on 
> them over the years by PTG member 
> subscribers who neglected to learn the 
> most elementary things about taking care 
> of their own listserve issues whenever 
> possible.
> 
> Well, folks, the cost-free e-mail nanny 
> is going away. It's time to leave 
> cyber-kindergarten and go to web-school. 
> It isn't that hard. If you can't do it 
> on your own - well, buy your 11-year old 
> grandson or niece an ice cream cone, and 
> they'll show you. Or do it for you in 5 
> minutes. I know that I am being a bit 
> harsh with some of my good friends - 
> but, hey, it's a wake up call, and 
> trumpets work a lot better than 
> clavichords for that... The bottom line 
> is that maintaining the old lists 
> imposes costs on the organization that 
> weren't there before - and the 
> preferences of a couple dozen members 
> (and some non-members) is not a good 
> enough reason to bear those costs. Maybe 
> if members want to hang on to the old 
> lists they should pay a dues surcharge 
> for maintaining them. If the city 
> replaces public stables with parking 
> lots for cars, if you want to keep your 
> horse-and-buggy you need to pay for your 
> own stable and shovel your own s--t...
> 
> There is one thing for which I will 
> fault the PTG administration with regard 
> to this rollout. Much greater efforts 
> should have been made to prepare the 
> membership for it in terms of explaining 
> exactly what is happening and why and 
> offering tutorials in how to operate in 
> this new environment. I suspect that had 
> this been done, the change would not be 
> so traumatic. Change is difficult, and 
> people need to be prepared for it. It is 
> not too late - an internal PR campaign 
> needs to be launched explaining all 
> these changes andn offering members help 
> in adapting to them.
> 
> I am posting this to both CAUT-L and 
> Pianotech, and through bioth modes - 
> e-mail and web-based. Let's see what 
> happens...
> 
> Israel Stein