[Editors] MIT Editors' Club Minutes, December 2009

[Elizabeth A Thomson]

MIT EDITORS' CLUB

*Meeting Notes from December 14, 2009*

15 Editors attended this meeting, of whom 7 have been at MIT for at least 15 years. Two of the people present have been at MIT 30 and 31 years; a third said she has been here for 850 years. (We asked her for firsthand anecdotes from the year the Institute was founded in preparation for the 150th anniversary.)

Seriously: that's a LOT of experience, and I personally know many other members of Editors' Club who have also been at the Institute over 15 years. Memo to all of us: take advantage of this group's knowledge by sending queries to the listserv and, of course, attending meetings. Also: attached is the list of members.

*Social Media Training?*

Robyn Fizz started us off by asking if folks would be interested in IS&T training classes on social media. Answer: a resounding "yes." What subjects are of most interest to us? Members at this meeting mentioned the following, but if you have ideas you'd like to share with Robyn, send 'em to her at fizz at mit.edu.

--HTML e-mail newsletters
--Wordpress (content management system for web sites)
--A general primer on social media including a Q&A and best practices
--Hootsuite (and other ways to manage a variety of social media)
--Writing for the web

That last topic generated a full-length discussion in and of itself. Lisa Damtoft of MIT Medical noted that as more and more people are making the transition from newsletters to the web, she's finding that the resulting stories go on...and on......and on.  So, is there a preferred word length for the web? No one seemed to think so; in fact, Lauren Clark of Resource Development noted that she often reads the New Yorker online, and its stories are L-O-N-G.

However, everyone felt that writing for the web did involve a few key tricks: for example, many folks appreciated short headlines with a quick summary of a story from which you can then click to the full story. Someone mentioned that writing very short, to-the-point headlines is not something new to the web: think of the spine of a National Geographic, complete with 2-word headlines for every major story.

*Climategate Debate*

Last week a few of my colleagues and I attended The Great Climategate Debate featuring a panel of 5 MIT scientists with a sixth as moderator. I personally think the taped version, now on MITWorld, should be required viewing for anyone interested in climate change. For me, anyways, the event was absolutely riveting. For more on the panel and to see the video, go to: http://globalchange.mit.edu/news/event-item.php?id=218

Also recommended: the CNN video of President Obama's tour of two MIT labs. Go to:
http://us.cnn.com/video/?/video/tech/2009/10/23/sot.mit.obama.tour.nanotech.cnn and
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/tech/2009/10/23/sot.obama.tour.wind.energy.cnn

*Story Ideas Wanted*
Liz Karagianis, editor of Spectrum, noted that the next issue of that publication will focus on public service. She's already well along with the issue, but is still looking for a few more examples of MIT people across the Institute who are involved in public service. Debbie Levey of Civil and Environmental Engineering mentioned that she is currently writing a profile on a student in her department who is very active in Engineers Without Borders. That's exactly the type of person Liz is looking for. If you have ideas, send them to Liz at rkara at MIT.EDU. Liz is also  interested in hearing from you about interesting faculty or students in general. They could be perfect for future profiles in Spectrum.

*MIT 150th & Museum Exhibit*
Check out the museum's web site featuring a list of nominations to include in an exhibition celebrating the Institute's 150th birthday. I haven't explored it yet myself, but someone at the meeting *strongly* recommended we take a peek---"it's just fascinating," she said. I apologize for not remembering who made this suggestion, but you can see the site at: http://museum.mit.edu/150/

*THANK YOU*

A big Thank You to Robyn Fizz of of Information Services and Technology for  
hosting this meeting in N42. 

*Next Meetings*

The next meetings of MIT Editors' Club are as follows. Again, they're  
always from 12-1, and folks are encouraged to bring a lunch.

Wednesday, Jan. 20, 4-303
THANKS to Carol Breen of the Department of Physics.

Thursday, Feb. 11, E38-254
THANKS to Monica Lee and Bara Blender of the Publishing Services Bureau.

Monday, March 8, 66-360
THANKS to Melanie Miller of the Department of Chemical Engineering

Cheers,

Elizabeth

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Elizabeth A. Thomson
Associate Director of Communications
MIT Resource Development
Office of Communications
600 Memorial Dr., W98-300
617-258-5563, 857-756-9457
<thomson at mit.edu>, giving.mit.edu
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