January 2012 - Ping

[Jim]

And now, just to prove (if proof were needed) that the world has indeed been shaved by a drunken barber, comes the final irony:  After sitting on our news release for fully three weeks -- with a piddling four days to go before the day of the first scheduled class -- the very day AFTER we decided it's all but too late for anyone to sign up -- this morning the paper ran our item in the "Community Notes" section. Three column inches on page B-2, shorn of all but the barest, minimal details. Thanks for nothing, guys...

Wouldn't you think maybe they could have found THAT much space before now? People need lead time to make a six-week class commitment. They need time to mull it over, decide whether they can fit it into their schedules, arrange things in their lives. That's why we sent the release out three weeks ago. I'll bet they've run better than 100 "chicken dinner news" briefs during that time, some of them for events not even scheduled to take place before March. And they leave us with four lousy days lead time. Incredible...

So I called the secretary at the museum this morning and told her that if we DO get any calls on this, to refer them straight to me at home, and I'll advise the caller that if we can get two or three persons to commit to the class, we'll go forward with it. Even if we have to push the startup date back a week. At least that'll give me time to purchase the materials, print up the course handouts and ensure the classroom space is set up.

I'm not optimistic, for the reasons already mentioned, but I'm willing to go the extra mile on this, if need be. Right now, though, I'm so disgusted I'm not sure I care, one way or the other...

jim

[cliff strachan]

Jim, I'm very sorry that you are experiencing so much trouble getting your course started. I really think it is a good course and is fulfilling a need in today's so-called modern society. I'm of the opinion that what is needed - and I'm afraid that ultimately it will be proven all too true - is that individuals or society in the aggregate will be forced to adopt a more connected or cottage industry type of existence - more in tune with what we are trying to accomplish in our group by building our own models rather than becoming dependent on the "purchased variety." However, I think that Ken Pugh may have a good point when he suggests taking a hard look at the internet to advertise your proposed course. It seems that if you can figure out how to distribute the promotional material that you shared with us via the internet you should be well underway. Your description of your course, its direction and requirements were clear and to the point.
Cliff.

[Jim]

There's much in what you say. I think sites like this one have been immensely useful in keeping this hobby alive. And they attract new people, too, but only those who are actively looking for information on what we're doing. The so-called "social media" is good at spreading the word to people who are already tuned-in and interested on various subjects, and who are looking to be reached. Unfortunately, in its present state, it really isn't a substitute for the generalized distribution of information that the traditional media has always provided. It's not yet, to use an old term, a "broadcast" news medium -- with broadcast used in the original sense of the word:  to spread broadly and widely, the way a farmer once spread seed to plant wheat, by casting it out or hurling it by hand in all directions.

That's why newspapers -- good newspapers, that is -- still have utility in this electronic era. Of course, the internet offers this, too, through mega-news organizations like Yahoo and Google News. But those services don't really reach down to the grass-roots, hometown-level news as effectively, which is why newspapers maintain their own websites on the web...

The museum has a webpage (which you've seen), and also a Facebook page, and we posted the class news release there. But it can only reach the people who take the initiative to visit those sites. Until the internet finds a way to deliver local, grass roots-level, news right to your doorstep in one place, at one time, the way the print media does when it's doing its job right, it will remain essentially a "passive" form of news delivery, dependent upon the consumer's initiative, rather than serving it up to you in a package that you can scan, sample and consume.

All of this does nothing to absolve our local daily of its failure to convey word of our model class to the general public in a timely fashion, however. Simply stated, somebody dropped the ball there. Maybe next time we won't put so many of our eggs in one basket. We probably should make up some fliers and posters to spread aroluns. But that costs money, and money is in short supply these days for public institutions and not-for-profit agencies like ours...

[Balsabasher]

Jim how about this for an idea ? why not put a solid model on display in the museum with a placard asking people to put their names down if they are interested in building one themselves ? then when there are enough people you do the necessary arrangements and contact each party in turn saying that you are proposing to hold such an event in the future.
I can sense your flustrations on this and quite rightly so,just a suggestion to you anyway once you find the necessary energy and inclination to do so.
Barry.

[Jim]

Not a bad idea, Barry. Thanks. I'll mention it to the folks at the museum.

[R.F.Bennett]

Try your local BoyScout troop. 

[Jim]

Another good suggestion. We discussed this the other day, in fact.

We're thinking about giving the class idea another try in late spring or early summer...

[Oceaneer99]

The Boy Scouts of America has a Model Design and Building merit badge.  I earned it as a boy with a wooden racing car.

Garet