Website Committee Report - December 2002

My hearty thanks goes to Nick H., our Webmaster, for chairing our November committee meeting in my absence. I was sorry to have to miss the last meeting of the rotation, but had an overriding commitment to be with family in Virginia over Thanksgiving.

As you may know, we are on the threshold of an exciting new stage of our Area’s web site. We are soon going to unveil a new, four-section web site that will address the needs of general service folks, as well as professionals who wish to be of help, those seeking meetings, and those seeking help for alcoholism. The committee fleshed out a beginning for this last section, a “Newcomers” page for the site, at our November meeting.

The committee also talked about a “game plan” for providing meeting information over the site, developing a way to keep mailboxes “cleaned up” (not accumulating old, possibly unread, e-mails), and making steady, efficient progress at getting the new site up and running.

Nick H. (outgoing webmaster), Nick H. (yes, another one! incoming webmaster), and Dennis B. (incoming web site committee chair) plan to meet to make a “technology” transition.

Skip L. (then Area Chair) asked me in January of 1999 to chair a new committee that was to create a web site for the area. When I accepted the assignment, I knew then it would be a challenge, but I had no idea (1) how difficult and time-consuming it would be, (2) how much I would learn – about web sites, certainly, but especially about how to work with others, or (3) how much fun it would be to oversee the creation of a brand new tool for us to use in our mission of staying sober and helping others come to sobriety.

I want to thank Skip, Andy D., and the rest of the Area for allowing me to have this tremendous experience. Thank you for trusting me with this work.

I also thank current webmaster Nick H., who spent countless hours with all the technicalities of the site. Nick has a wonderful heart, along with technical expertise that was invaluable to our committee’s work.

Nick H., who becomes the new webmaster in January, has been of immense importance to our work within the past year, posting all the new information on the service site and doing other tasks while the “other Nick” worked on the new site.

Denny B. has been very helpful to us as well. He has helped gather ideas for the newcomer portion of the new site. His experience in general service is huge, and he has developed a technological acumen that will serve him well in his new role as chair of this committee.

I don’t want to forget the great volunteer work during our first year (1999) by Doreen Mc. and Rick S. Doreen served as our first webmaster, and Rick spent many hours building our first site from scratch. Lots of thanks to them both!

Are you reading this and wondering if general service at the Area level might be for you? I can’t say if it’s for you. But it has given me an opportunity and structure within which to build upon my recovery. I’ve been taught skills and learned lessons in showing up, following through, communicating and working with others, accepting criticism and avoiding resentments, admitting when I’m wrong, and creating solutions out of problems. And I’ve had fun meeting some of the finest people I know!

Gratefully,
Jim G.