Kwigen

Is the AMA unable to come to terms with the technology of the times?

The AMA had it's roots in promoting a common interest. At it's origin, was the need to disseminate information through clubs and publications to add to the collective understanding of the hobby. Everything from beginning construction to flying and organized competitions. Information was the engine which powered the organization's momentum. The power the organization wielded was the result of collective interest and understanding of the membership.

Today we have the ability to instantaneously respond to each issue. The AMA is no longer the reservoir of information storage and distribution. It has become a stagnant backwater. The AMA is still thinking in the proposal/referendum/majority response to issues. An archaic system which only serves the AMA and not it's members. In a recent MA issue I was struck by the news of 3 separate fatalities involving ATVs and border fences or gates around flying fields. My reaction was why 3? Why wasn't warning information rapidly sent to all clubs and members. While it's members discuss issues individually on a second by second basis, the AMA is still thinking 20th century mass communication.

Information is not the exclusive commodity it once was. It is immediate, dynamic, and sometimes unruly. An organization unwilling or unable to function in the new reality will wither and die. While the AMA celebrates it's 70th anniversary I hope it spends as much time looking forward as it does looking back.

K Wigen
662487

Kanain

My Feedback: (1)

Kwigen,

I see only one thing fundementally wrong with your assesment. Technology HAS NOT reached everyone and therefore is NOT immediate. Mass communication is still the only effective way of communoicating to ALL members - or at least those that read the MA article. Just because you and I have the luxury of InterNet connections, forums, cell phones, e-mail, etc., does not mean that all members do. As a matter of fact, I believe you will find a LARGE percentage of the membership base that would be totally ignored if TECHNOLOGY was the only form of communication.

I am a Vice President of a club that has over 150 members and at least 30% of which require their club newsletter via postal mail because they do not have e-mail addresses - including the current club Secretary. I do not live in the back woods. I live in urban America. As a matter of fact, I live between the 9th and 11th largest cities in America.

So, please explain to me how you would IMMEDIATELY communicate anything to those "non-techologically advanced" membership due paying AMA members of my club let alone the rest of the 160,000+ AMA members?

lomcevek1

You kinda get spoiled with the internet don't ya

Kwigen

Hey Kule, My point was that an attitude like YOURS which looks at the PROBLEMS without looking for SOLUTIONS is the very ATTITUDE defining current AMA thinking.

Kanain

My Feedback: (1)

Is that honestly the best you've got? I look for AND IMPLEMENT SOLUTIONS every day of my life. I also look at REALITY not the rose colred glasses you have on. So, if you are going to continue to make statements, at least make them based on fact - not fiction.

Kwigen

I put an idea/opinion out there to begin just the type of discussion of real solutions you suggest. Your first response was to throw capitilized words around to tell me why it won't work. Now your telling me to come up with the solution or shut up. Well, I've seen the "best you've got" and I'm saying that's part of the problem.

"It won't fly Wibur, to heck with it."

abel_pranger

I have a vague recollection that each club is supposed to have an Email POC. Could be wrong - maybe just the way I think it should be. I think you are on the right track, anyway. Even if the message doesn't reach everyone, getting it to some in a timely manner is certainly better than nothing. Even snail mail to clubs/individuals operates on time scale that is compressed compared to AMA's MO.

Abel

Silent-AV8R

Right now +/-56% of all US households have an Internet connection.

100% have a mailbox.

Silent-AV8R

Not sure if this is a requirement. I do know that keeping even the club website info current is a nightmare. Even club mailing addresses are a tough one. But maybe it's time for HQ to devote more time and money towards making this a reality. Again, recognizing that approximately 56% of US households have an Internet connection. Not sure what the AMA member average is.

iflyj3

My Feedback: (7)

In the case of the urgent communications from Dave Brown, I would be willing to bet at least one club officer of any AMA club has email. This communication only needed to reach one club person to be effective. Believe it or not, our club had one of those cables.

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

Since I am a technology type of person I am going to jump in here.

When I joined one of the clubs I am with now, there was no web site, no email for the site and only snail mail to get the newsletters out.

Now they have, email, electronic newsletters as well as paper newsletters, a presence that gets roughly 2500 hits per month, mainly from our own members. This club has 167 current members. It's about 70/30 split with the 70 having internet access. Out of those 70 most are under the age of 55.

The club president and most of the officers do not have internet access and simply refuse to get it because they have no interest in it. For the most part the general membership that do not have internet access have no way to get it. Yes, even dialup because it would be a long distance call.

Now on the other side of it and when I did my computer network consulting gig for the better part of 15 years, I had first hand experience in setting up networks as well as internet access to businesses both mom and pop places to companies with 100's and 1000's of employees. In every case, the business improved and became more of a presence than ever before.

Fact is the internet is here to stay. Because of what one person did with the original internet (called ARPANET, which the military originally used for base to base worldwide communication) we have the ability to view and retrive information in close to real time and in some cases, as it is happening. I've seen things being broadcast via CNN, NASA and others web sites that you only hear about on the next newscast if at all on the news. The problem is because the internet is not truly accessible to everyone and some people have truly no desire to even use it, you still have to maintain what used to be.

Both Kwigen and Kule Kanain have valid points here.

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

We're just so lucky that Al Gore got that invented!


I should post a whole page of smiley faces now............

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

Actuially I cannot remember the guys name right now, but he was given a nobel prize for it fairly recently and that sure as heck wasn't Al Gore

Kanain

My Feedback: (1)

You want solutions? Demand that your government apply as much interest, time, and money on communication infrastructure as they once did on interstate commerce. As bubbagates stated, there are still places in this country that do not even have dial-in access to the rest of us. Since telecom is privately owned and busines is in business to make money, there is no profit in them stringing cable to the six houses out in the middle of no where - even if one of those houses is an AMA member.

So, now we have a computer in ever houshold - currently not even 40%, but hey while we have those glasses on. 100% computer (or other mass media device) compliance and everybody is connected broadband. Hum, what about those "older" folks who refuse to use computers? I know, take away there current TX's. After all computer radios have been around for decades, yet I still know that close to half the AMA membership out there does not use them - technology again being wasted.

It will take a lot more education and a lot more money to effectively communicate to the masses - in this organization or any other. Perhaps you mis-understood me or though I was implying death to technology. I am not. I work in the computer industry and have the "bat utility belt" of gadgets that I stay connected with. I also know that most people don't!

So, I pose a question back requiring not a solution but an answer. What is AMA to do? How many members would cry wolf if they found that they were left out because they didn't have e-mail?

By the way Kwigen, you put an opinion out there. I see statements and inference to AMA being in the dark ages, but I do not see your request for solutions until a much later post. And, an organization has to address majority responses to their paying members. IMHO.

HighPlains

My Feedback: (1)

You mean Tim Berners-Lee. But I don't think he won the Nobel prize (yet).

mongo

My Feedback: (15)

i'm with able on this one.
at the very least, a snail mail warning should have been sent to every member at the first incident, and repeated for the 2 subsequent happenings. who know, maby one or both of them could have then been avoided.

and for what it is worth, the excuse that every body does not have email is no reason not to send info to those that do.

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

Yep, that's him. I could have sworn he got the Nobel. I remember reading something about 2 or 3 years ago where he was given a very prestigious award for his work in developing the Internet as we know it today. Maybe I'll do a search.

As far as the AMA is concerned, and I could be wrong, they do have the ability to send emails to those that listed one when they signed up.

I just looked, the only application for new membership has a place for an email address for both the online and PDF file (paper) versions. It seems to me they have the ability to send things via email especially since the have a place asking for in the applications. I would like to think the AMA may have something in place or is putting something in place to accomdate both types of members. I have not yet found anything on the site that states I can signup for emails for certain things, like newsletters, things like that.

So instead of arguing, why don't we all hit the web site and see what is available for both non-internet users and internet users and list them here.

bhole74

I have received e-mails from HQ on several occasions, though I can't remember the subject of them all. It appears the only left in my inbox is my renewal confirmation.

iflyj3

My Feedback: (7)

AMA does have the ability to send broadcast emails to Club Presidents. I receive an occasional one as a special newsletter.

All I am saying, as urgent as Dave's message was, in addition to being put in MA for all to see it could have been broadcast to the list they already have. Maybe Dave is not aware of the broadcast capability???????????

Giw252

My Feedback: (4)

Not to be a smart a##, but what about a telephone call from the AMA to a club officer? If this was a matter of life and death wouldn't that warrant a phone call? This would have been faster then waiting to mention this problem in MA. However, the cost and manpower to call cub officers form all the clubs in the U.S. may have been substantial. At least by talking about this problem in his column Mr. Brown was hopefully able to reach the majority of AMA members without incurring additional cost. Its a slippery slope when we start saying could have, should have. I do agree with the opinion that AMA is no longer the information hub of this hobby. The Internet is mostly to blame for this change. How many of us have had a question about an r/c product or service and gone to the Internet to conduct a search on that product or service to gather more information? I do it all the time here on RCU or the broader Internet. AMA has made efforts to keep up with current technology as evident through their website. When I want to see if there is anything new with the AMA I usually go to their website or come to this message board--- Just my two cents.

bhole74

Maybe to prevent people from coming to this website and flaming the AMA about "unsolicited e-mails", they would rather you go to their website and register as a member. After registering, you can click on the "Publications" link and SUBSCRIBE to the AMA Insider and receive newsletters. If you feel you have been left out of the information mainstream, maybe taking a few steps on your own would be a start.

Taildrager-inactive

My Feedback: (11)

Just because the few do not have internet or a computer, and refuse to should a organization stand still waiting for those people to catch up. Electric planes and techonolgy is sweeping ahead in RC, and the AMA should be in the fore front of this instead of showing us how it use to be which seems to be the case with many of its pages in its magazine. Balsa and ply will be the main stay for the building material of RC planes, but as Burt Rutan has shown new techonology in composit building will reach for the stars, and shouldn't this be reflected by AMA also.

Kwigen

The people who are not online are not the point of my original post. I'm talking about the younger generation who are already online and see no benefit to an organization like the AMA. They are already getting their information from RCU and other websites. Interactive websites with immediate, easily accessable information. You have a problem with setting up the landing gear on your Nextstar you go online and ask. Within minutes you have a response and your problem is fixed. New guys are using RCU as their club. They don't have to wait for Wednesday's meeting. They don't have to sit through the discussion about the new freq board, they just ask their question.

I see the AMA's challenge is to stay relevant in this type of informational interaction. For those who don't want or need to be connected that's fine, but do we ignore current trends?

Think how little information a newbee needs to have an aircraft flight ready these days.

the-plumber

The three accidents to which you refer occured over a span of years, not months or days.

AMA >DID< get the information out in a timely fashion, including a very timely admonition about chains and cables and such which stemmed from the third death, which itself occured almost a year ago.

Don't blame AMA for failing to respond quickly because AMA in fact DID resoond quickly.

If you think AMA is out of touch with modern technology, then please explain how it was that the AMA staffers managed to call EVERY AMA MEMBER in the areas affected by hurricane Katrina ? How did they do that ?

And by the way, the AMA staffers, i.e. the paid employees, did that on their own simply because it was a good thing to do.

Your fundamental accusation about AMA being mired in the 20th Century is utterly without basis.

fritzthecat

My Feedback: (4)

Ummmm, I am living in New Orleans. I'm a AMA member and have been for many years. I sure didn't get a phonecall. Or letter. Or renewal notice. Or my magazine.
Just setting things clear.

Fritz