Conference Call

ExCom Meetings

FITS Excom Conference Call 12/8/2016 10:00am-11:00am Central

 

Attendees:

Julie DeFilippi Simpson

Nick Sievert

Andy Loftus

Thom Litts

Jeff Kopaksa

Rebecca Krogman

 

Discussion:

  • Andy- In contact with USGS about migrating MARIS, found an affordable hosting service so this process is progressing.
  • Website Discussion
    • Julie- Discussed last month and on communication committee call.
      • Branding is the big push and getting things consistent
      • Discussion about logo being updated for the 100th anniversary
    • Rebecca- Would like to get comments on the Cal-neva website within the next few days.
    • Julie- Flexibility of template could cause issues for consistency
    • Rebecca- Instead of leaving it completely flexible it may be better to have set color schemes that sections can choose from.
  • Goals
    • Julie- What’s the best way to get this out there
    • Andy- discussion superior to survey
    • Julie-our website doesn’t currently have the capabilities and facebook requires users to have accounts
    • Rebecca- we can use a discussion board service
      • Nick- this approach makes sense to me.
    • Julie- are these goals ready to solicit feedback on now?
      • Rebecca- Yes
    • Julie- How should we solicit feedback
      • Allow flexibility but give direction as to what we are interested in.
      • Julie will edit and then send it out after the holidays for comments.
    • Symposia- Jeff and Julie will continue to work on it. No volunteers to help them with the process.
      • May need to provide FITS funds get some presenters there.
        • We don’t have any other planned expenses for the rest of the year-Nick
        • Andy- Keep in mind that we don’t have any major sources of income either. In the past FITS has generated it’s income by charging 10% overhead on federal grants. This is a possibility for an income source depending on our role in FDX going forward.
      • FDX- Julie
        • Will try to bring Jen into the loop on our January call. Push back the time to accommodate her on the west coast.
        • We don’t want to let it die, but FITS doesn’t want to take sole responsibility for supporting it.
        • Andy-lack of funding was the driving source behind why this effort has fallen off.
        • Andy-Important to develop a strategic plan for FDX moving forward. Need long term thinking.
        • Rebecca-Not something the states can do themselves, but they could provide very useful input. Setting standards is something that might be something that we can do on our own without a lot of leadership.
        • Julie- Difficulty in this approach is that many states are in very different places. Iowa is pretty far ahead of many states that might have a lot more trouble getting to this point.
          • Still important to have someone to organize all this stuff. Requires USGS staff as leaders or someone else stepping up and taking over this role.
        • Andy- We may get more buy-in if it comes across as a grass-roots effort coming from AFS than if it’s viewed as the federal government trying to dictate how state agencies manage their data.
        • Rebecca- Project while she is president may be focused on setting better standards for developing metadata and data exchange standards.
        • Jeff K- Discuss the FINS system at OFWIM. Thinks there is room for improvement, there are things he would like to do with it that he thinks it’s not quite set up for all of his needs.
          • Rebecca- I wonder how this fits with what was discussed in Denver.
          • Jeff- Isn’t on the bandwagon of just taking this and running with it.
          • Julie-Does what its designed for but may lack necessary flexibility to expand for nationwide use.

 

 

  1. To offer guidance and information to section members and the wider AFS community on the existence, use, and XXX of various technologies and aspects of information management.
    1. Website
    2. Software
    3. Continuing education
    4. Symposia
  2. To foster the discussion and exchange of new ideas, methodologies, and tools related to fisheries technologies and information.
    1. Blog style discussion forum on website
    2. Symposia
    3. Other? – We have gotten questions in the past and don’t have a good method or place for centering these questions and discussions, but it would be an excellent section service
  3. To provide future, new, and existing fisheries professionals with the information and technological skills necessary to
    1. Continuing education
    2. Certification
    3. Symposia

 

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