[APA-InfoTech Leaders] APA-IT DIVISION: 2008/03/07th Meeting Minutes

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Technology Division of the American Planning Association: Executive Committee
Meeting Minutes

07th March 2008 [12:00 - 1:00 EST]
1-888-245-4141
X 394006

Attendees
1. Ken Snyder, Chair
2. Harsh Prakash, Secretary/Treasurer
3. Amiy Varma, Education Chair
4. Peter Conrad, Membership Chair

	Ken called the meeting to order shortly after 12:00 PM and brought-up the following agenda for review:
1. Approve Agenda
2. Chair Report: Membership and new Membership Chair - Ken Snyder
3. Update on the Awards Program - Amiy Varma
4. Sponsoring Sustainable Urbanism Webinar Series - Ken Snyder
5. Updating survey on technology and planning - David Simpson
6. Newsletter update - Jocelyn Hittle
7. APA Vegas - Business Meeting/Reception, Printed Materials, By-Rights Sessions - Jason Levy
8. Next Steps/Next Meeting
9. Other

	Ken started by informing that Jennifer Cowley, Vice-Chair, would join them later. He then welcomed Peter Conrad, City of Baltimore, as Membership Chair. Ken briefly mentioned his preparations for the Las Vegas conference.

	He then talked about the division's response to APA's Certification Maintenance (CM) program. He mentioned their draft proposal for 'Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature - a webinar series of online workshops to teach planners about the principles and practices of sustainable urbanism'. He briefed how it could also help recruit members via the following offerings (Costs: First time participant = $148.50; Subsequent sessions = $68.50):
1. Overview of Sustainable Urbanism by preeminent expert in the field
2. 2-3 AICP CM credits
3. Copy of Sustainable Urbanism textbook ($70 value)
4. 10% discount for APA Technology Division Members
5. One year free APA Technology Division membership for non-members

	He added that the division had a high-likelihood of approval from APA for this proposal. Peter suggested that session archives be shared with their membership via their website, either in their entireties or as snippets. Harsh proposed that the division distribute its archives the way it distributes its newsletter. Ken recommended also allowing for CD recordings and downloads. Amiy asked about the evaluation and approval process. Ken suggested waiting for Jennifer for more information on that.

	Later Peter expressed hope for sufficient flexibility while measuring required attendance. Harsh shared how attending multiple in-and-out seminars often helped in better gauging their utility and better use of time. Peter wondered if full attendance could even be checked. Ken informed how barcodes were used at conferences for that purpose.

	Then Peter brought up the issue of free seminars like iTree and how attending those could translate into credits. Ken said that seminars like iTree received some state or federal funding and were therefore not completely free. Peter hoped for CM to be more quality-driven than price-driven. At this point, Peter had to leave for previous engagements.

	Later Ken reported on his ongoing talks with Steve Kokotas, MIG, and his decision to recruit him as their Website Chair. Harsh remembered briefly working with Steve in 2005.

	Then Amiy brought up the following division awards for discussion:
Category 1 - Best Use of Technology to Improve a Plan or Planning Process - 1 Submission
Category 2 - Best Use of Technology for Public Participation - 2 Submissions
Category 3 - Best Use of Technology for a University Urban and Regional Planning Program - 2 Submissions
Category 4 - Best Paper on Technology in Planning - 1 Submission

	He expressed difficulty in evaluation given the low number of submissions. Ken stressed that a high-quality submission must be recognized even as a lone submission. He recommended advertising on Planetizen to get the word out. Harsh asked for the cost if applicable. Ken replied that it would not be very expensive and that he could get the exact cost from Chris Steins. Harsh also recommended extending the submission deadline (March 31st) as appropriate. Ken wondered if there was enough time to include the winners in their next newsletter. Amiy emphasized the time constraints saying that the judges needed atleast 3 weeks for their decisions, and reiterated that he must have all submissions by March 20th at the very latest. He also recommended combining categories if submissions fell short.

	Amiy then requested Ken and Harsh to do quick internal evaluations to ascertain if the submissions were worth the trouble in the first place. He added that given a submission from Jennifer's university, he could not involve her in any internal evaluation. Harsh advised on using last year's winners for benchmarks.

	Later, Harsh expressed curiosity about Farr and Associates- their co-sponsors for the webinar series. Ken described how he had met and worked with Architect Douglas Farr- the firm's President and CEO (http://www.farrside.com/), and author of 'Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design With Nature'. Harsh proposed a tie-up with the New Urbanism division given the overlap. He added that similar webinars with book authors could be developed along the lines of Oprah's Book Club.

	At the end, Ken informed that Milton Ospina, Communications Chair, was close to clinching their booth sponsorship from ESRI, and mentioned the division business meeting schedule as follows:

Monday, the 28th of April, from 5:30 - 7:00 PM at Valley SkyView #6
	
	The committee scheduled its next call on 04/04th/2008 (12 PM EST). Finally, Ken adjourned the meeting.

Respectfully recorded
Harsh Prakash
Secretary/Treasurer
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