Director of Publications and Research Report
by Kimberly Hale
Hello CIT Members! I am excited to begin my official journey on the CIT Board as the Director of Research and Publications. Annette Miner and I have been in a transition “year” since May 2013, and she has now officially left her position on the board. I hope you will all take a moment to thank Annette for her many years of dedicated service to CIT. I am humbled and excited that the Board has selected me to take over her position. Onward!
First, I encourage you all to check out the latest IJIE 5(2); it is an excellent compilation of articles. In addition to an article by Mark Taylor, keynote presenter at the 2012 conference, there are several articles from other presenters at the conference. Having one of the first peaks at the journal is one of the highlights of this board position.
Speaking of the IJIE, did you know that your library can subscribe to the journal? While this is your benefit of membership, library subscriptions allow students and other researchers access to the journal. Consider encouraging your library to subscribe to the on-line or print version. All library subscriptions follow the calendar year. So, libraries that subscribe anytime during 2014 will receive both 2014 issues (May and November).
The other major publications related membership benefit is the Conference Proceedings. This benefit is especially important for our members who are not able to attend the conference, or for those who attend the conference, but hate choosing between sessions. Unfortunately, the most recent Proceedings received only a few submissions. We want this benefit to return to return to, and surpass its former glory of providing an overview of the conference. The board and I have been brainstorming ideas to increase submissions.
My priority for this year is to create a Conference Proceedings that adds value to your membership dollars. We are excited to announce a big change that many of you have requested for years; the official languages of the 2014 Conference Proceedings will be ASL and English. Since the official conference language is ASL, it is only fitting that the Conference Proceedings allows for submissions in that language. We strongly encourage ASL submissions.
To make the bi-lingual proceedings a reality, I am assembling a small committee to guide its development. Two CIT members have agreed to serve on the committee, and now we are searching for the Proceedings Editorial team. We want the Editors identified as soon as possible so that they can be involved from the ground up in creating the new vision and processes for the 2014 Proceedings.
Please see elsewhere in the newsletter for the Call for Proceedings Editors.
As I mentioned before the Board and I brainstormed ways to increase submission to the Conference Proceedings. First, ASL as one of the official languages of the Proceedings is the biggest. Second, we want to make the expectation clear that all conference presentations should be submitted to the Proceedings. Finally, we would like to offer an incentive for those who meet all of the presenter submission deadlines (for the program book, proceedings, etc.). Each presenter (or presenter-group) who submits all of the required materials on time will be entered into a drawing for one of five $500 gift cards. We hope that these adjustments to the process and clarification of the expectations will improve the Proceedings as a true benefit of membership.
I am excited to be a member of the CIT Board and working for you.