2013Modernising

Modernizing the Society in the Digital Age

2013 marks the implementation of a radical modernization programme for the Society, led by the Publications Committee, which moves us firmly into the digital age. Three years ago we learnt that the Mirror was one of only three per cent of journals still published exclusively in paper format. Contemporaneously, we were conscious of a growing number of non-members seeking access to our publications online and of a feeling that the website design was beginning to look dated and was also vulnerable because of low levels of investment in support. In the following 36 months, groups and individuals have worked to deliver a digital platform which will allow us to build new services to members while ensuring that those who wish to stay in the traditional paper-based world will not be disadvantaged. The first element was the digitization of the back files of Mariners Mirror to meet Internet standards. These standards are important as they allow so-called ‘Google crawlers’ to find articles when users make a general search of the Internet rather than a specific search of our website. With some expense and effort we digitized all post-1980 issues, which put us well ahead of most learned societies in terms of availability, but left a huge task in digitizing our earlier content. Happily, as part of the publishing contract with Taylor & Francis (described below) all content back to Volume 1 has been digitized, although a major task remains to provide search tags for the rich source of material not in article form, ranging from Society reports to notes and queries, and from obituaries to documents. These back files can now generate revenue for the Society, which can be re-invested to further our objectives. The second major project was to develop a partnership with a commercial publisher. This would allow the publication of an electronic version of the Mirror and would also give us access to international markets and the potential for strong growth in sales of the journal. The Publications Committee oversaw a lengthy tender process. The major international publishing firm of Taylor & Francis were the successful bidders. They have the global reach and experience we sought, but they bring other tangible benefits, both to the society as a whole and to individual members. As well as digitizing our back files prior to 1980 as a joint venture; Taylor & Francis bring a vibrant approach to technological development. For example, the Mirror will be available via a mobile phone app and Taylor & Francis offer reduced subscriptions to cognate journals and discounted prices on books they publish; and they are keen to explore joint publication of compilation volumes which unlock the historic assets of the Mirror. The third project was the development of the website. Much of what has been done here is technical in nature and will quite properly remain invisible. After some serious support problems with a major telecommunications company relating to loss of service and poor recovery from that, we moved the site to a smaller specialized web-hosting company which has experience in working with small societies. One reason for this is that the website contains personal details of our members and we wished to ensure professional levels of security and ‘firewall’ protection to prevent hacking. We also wished to introduce a payment system which would allow online membership, sales for events and sales of back articles from the Mirror – again requiring high levels of security. Second, we wished the system to be built for the Internet using robust and standard, but easily managed software, so that the main skills our web editor would require were editorial rather than computer programming. It also needed a members area which could easily be further developed to host the wealth of creative ideas coming forward for sharing information from documents to photographs. In short, it should be so far as possible futureproof. Finally, we wished to upgrade and unify several membership lists. Thus the new website has met our criteria of security, standards and flexibility for the future. In a sense what has been provided are the building blocks to allow the Society to develop its services to members. Finally, the newsletter has transmogrified into its electronic version, Topmasts. This will allow greater currency, perhaps more graphics, and links to social media. This has, of course, contributed to keeping down postal costs, which are an increasing challenge for societies such as ours. In summary, a huge transformation has been achieved as we enter our second century. We have moved from the bottom 3 per cent of societies in terms of technology to perhaps the top 3 per cent. The work is however, not complete. We have built the new platform we set out to. But the point of a platform is that is the starting point from which one moves on. We intend to use it to ensure that we continue to attract and retain new members, to enhance services to existing members, and to develop the advocacy which will deliver the objectives of the Society.

Derek Law, Gareth Cole and the Chair and Members of the Publications Committee http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00253359.2013.76757