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

[Mike Spalding]

On 3/9/2011 8:36 PM, Israel Stein wrote:
> 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 accordingly) to maintain a cumbersome, outdated and inadequate 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
>