Amstat Online Editorial Board
The Amstat Online Editorial Board was established in 1999 (see
History of Amstat Online) to
distribute the task of intellectual oversight of www.amstat.org. The original vision
included about a dozen positions, but this number has condensed
slightly as needs have become more apparent.
Return to Amstat Online home page.
The Amstat Online Editorial Board
consists of the Editor and a collection of Associate Editors.
Each Associate Editor on the Editorial Board might spend a couple
hours per week on this, and should consider how to delegate tasks to a
selected team of Assistant Editors to be most successful.
That's right, let's build a pyramid scheme to get work done.
This whole process of online editing is new, for me, for ASA, and for
many societies. There are not many precedents. The main precedents
we have are (a) journal editorial boards and (b) webmasters. My
understanding of the intent of editing the ASA web site is to draw on
the skills of the ASA Webmaster and ASA Staff while providing the
intellectual direction one would expect in a journal.
The JASA
Editorial Board has a Coordinating Editor, an Applications Editor,
a Theory and Methods Editor and a Review Editor. They also have a
large team of Associate Editors allied with appropriate editors. In
some sense I wish to adopt this type of scheme, with a few
modifications. First, the Editor shall serve as Coordinating Editor,
with primary responsibility for the intellectual content of the site.
The Editor shall delegate responsibility for subject areas to
Associate Editors, who will have considerable autonomy, along the
lines of Review Editor and T&M Editor for JASA. For
instance, I expect Amstat Online AEs
to develop their own "job descriptions" and missions. In addition,
AEs would each recruit their own team of Assistant Editors to
accomplish their mission.
The Amstat Online Editorial Board is
responsible for the intellectual content of amstat.org.
As such, an Associate Editor may benefit from technical skill, but
need not per se be a web expert, in the same sense that a journal
Editor need not be an expert in the mechanics of paper journal
publication. The most important features are a vision of what is
needed, and a commitment to build the written content with the
assistance of a hand-picked team.
The new ASA Program Director for Services, Mary
Fleming, is taking a leading role in the service end of ASA's web presence.
Editors will work closely with Mary and me on many projects. The ASA has a Webmaster
on staff--his name is Ryan Bell. Ryan runs
the web site, and has front-line responsibility for the operation of the site.
There are other staff that work with her on this, but that can wait until an
Editor has specific needs. In a sense the webmaster and ASA staff provide the
infrastructure support. In another sense, they want to use Amstat Online Editors
to help do their job better.
- Sections
- Oversee web matters of interest to Sections as a whole. Counsel
Web Editor on the web perspective of the Sections. Communicate to and
from COS Governing Board. Keep in touch with needs and wishes of
Section Webmasters, and ensure smooth working relationship with Amstat
Online Webmaster.
- Chapters
- Key role in developing a "sense of place". Provide a
unified voice for Council of Chapters in terms of web matters that
might be of interest to the COC Governing Board and to Chapters as a
whole.
- Committees
- Help envision mechanisms for ASA Committees
to function more efficiently
using web resources. This concerns communication among committee members
(e.g. e-conferences vs. travel), and sharing ideas with members, with
possibly open or restricted access to material.
- Education
- Build linkages to web resources for K-12 teachers and pupils.
Coordinate with NCTM and MAA and others on web educational materials
for teachers.
Explore and develop the use of distance education and web-conferencing.
Work with and ASA Staff in Education.
Coordinate with Stats and JSE Editors,
Section on Statistics Education and ASA Center for Statistics Education.
- Careers
- View career information on the web from the perspective of a
member or potential member. Work with ASA Staff and Committee on
Career Development and educational units to build useful career
information material.
- Governments
- Develop communication networks for statistical information useful
to and from federal, state and local government agencies. Anticipate
how ASA can better serve, inform and work with governmental
institutions.
- Op-Ed
- Increase the pubic awareness of statistical issues. Coordinate
news releases with the Amstat Online Editor, as well as Scientific
and Public Affairs Advisory Committee (SPAAC) and the
ASA Office of Public Affairs.
- Books
- Coordinate reviews of statistics-related books on the web. Work
with journal Editors (JASA, American Statistician, Technometrics) to migrate some or all reviews to the web
for timely dissemination. Design interactive, moderated system for
quick informal reviews.
- Software
- Coordinate reviews and demos of software on the web. Work with
American Statistician Editor to consider migration of part of
reviews to the web for timely dissemination. Design interactive,
moderated system for quick informal reviews. Interface with
JCGS Editor as appropriate.
- Archives
- Several major electronic archive/portal sites for the statistics
profession (e.g. StatLib and the
Virtual Library: Statistics)
developed before Amstat
Online came on board.
How do they fit together in ways that might benefit the profession?
- Technologies
- Explore emerging technology-capabilities, costs and benefits.
Report on what's new in statistical computing. Find ways to use
statistical computing and statistical graphics to enhance AmStat
Online as a public resource. Coordinate with JCGS Editor.
- Industries (discontinued)
- Connect statisticians across the private sector. Explore ways to use the
Internet to promote sound statistical practice in industry, and to convey new
Developments in statistical issues in industry to the broader statistical
Community.
- Sciences (discontinued)
- Develop linkages to other scientific societies. Encourage web
venues for inter-disciplinary teaching, research and service involving
statistical science.
- Coordinator (Editor)
- Brian Yandell, 1999-2002
- Sections
- Thomas Devlin, 1999--
- Chapters
- David Hunt, 2001--
- Linda Quinn, 1999-2000
- Committees
- Thomas Boardman, 1999--
- Education
- William Duckworth, 1999--
- Paul Myers, K-12, 1999-2000
- Careers
- Tony Olsen, 2000--
- Governments
- Al Tupek, 1999--
- Op-Ed
- Howard Fienberg, 2000--
- Books
- Eric Ziegel, 2000--
- Beth Chance, 1999-2000
- Software
- Stephen Kaluzny, 1999--
- Archives
- Michael Conlon, 1999--
- Technologies
- David James, 1999--
- Industries (discontinued)
- Randy Tobias, 1999-2001
- Sciences (discontinued)
- Paige Williams, 1999-2001