In recent months the American Statistical Association has installed a computer server and established a direct connection to the Internet (with domain name amstat.org) thus enabling the Association to provide electronic services to its members and electronic products to members and other users of statistics across the globe. The server will be a repository for both scholarly and professional information that can be made available by such means as the World-Wide Web (WWW).
At the 1995 Joint Statistical Meetings, the Association unveiled a prototype "ASA Home Page" on the WWW at Uniform Resource Locator (URL) http://www.amstat.org. This "top" page currently has primary links to thirteen other hypertext documents concerning ASA activities and services including sections, chapters, publications, membership, calendar and so on. The ASA presence on the WWW must be thoughtfully designed to insure its attractiveness, accuracy and functionality. The myriad decisions required are best described as editorial, so it is here proposed that the Association establish an Editorship with responsibility for setting and enforcing editorial standards for the site. The first Editor should be in place by July 1, 1996, the date on which the ad hoc committee developing the prototype is to disband.
The WWW is but one of many computer based means for sharing information. Others are gopher, FTP, Telnet, listservs, and newsgroups. In addition, there are telephone based technologies such as FAX on demand and voice-mailboxes. The collection of services and products to be provided electronically by the ASA is an entity that we here term "ASA-Online." It is for "ASA-Online" that an Editor is being proposed. The "ASA Home-Page" on the WWW is a proper subset of these services.
Electronic communication is evolving rapidly as the technology matures and as innovative applications are developed. As more ASA activities add electronic elements the role of the Editor will have to be reviewed. For example, if ASA establishes an electronic preprint service as do the American Mathematical Society and others, a decision will have to be reached as to whether it would come under the purview of this Editor or whether additional editorial sub-structure would be required. Early decisions include determining appropriate roles for the ASA in existing electronic publications and in StatLib.
The structure of this editorship should in most regards parallel that of the current ASA journal editorships. Thus, the ASA Journals Management Committee should provide oversight similar to that provided for the current print journals; e.g. budget, pricing (e.g. of on-line advertising), and editorial succession. As with the print journals, the Management Committee would consult with the ASA treasurer and staff regarding financial matters. In addition, ASA-Online and its editor would bear the same relationship to the Committee on Publications as do the other journals and their editors.
The editorship of ASA-Online would be similar to the present editorships in its organizational relationship to the Association and in its primary function being assurance of the quality and relevance of ASA publications. However this position requires additional skills in computing and likely more hands on work with the production process than do the other editorships.
The ASA computing staff will provide hardware and software maintenance of the ASA-Online servers in consultation with the editor. The editor will decide what is to appear and when it will appear and be removed.
The Editor will, in consultation with the Management Committee and Publications Committee, set editorial standards for graphic design and content for ASA-Online and will insure adherence to these standards. The design of ASA-Online should be sensitive to the range of levels of accessibility of potential users.
The Editor will decide what kinds of material should be included in the ASA-WWW site, will select and develop the logical architecture of the hypertext links, and will communicate about questionable cases and matters of policy with the Management Committee, Publications Committee, and other committees with responsibility for policy matters in this area.
The Editor will monitor use of the ASA-WWW site and modify the design and logical architecture of the site to efficiently serve the users. [Other professional organizations have already established WWW sites, and the first editor can benefit from their experiences. e-MATH, the World-Wide Web site of the American Mathematical Society offers such an example (see URL, http://www.ams.org).] The editor will also ensure that the online servers keep appropriate usage records and that periodic usage reports are made to the ASA.
The Editor will be alert to new opportunities afforded by information technology and will seek advice from the sections, chapters and appropriate committees on other electronic products and services deemed valuable to the membership. The Editor will make proposals to the Management Committee and other appropriate committees for initiation of such products and services.
Under the assumption that systems maintenance will be provided by ASA staff and that graphic design will be contracted for as necessary, qualifications of candidates for the Editorship will be expected to include the following:
Applicants should send materials to
David Morganstein
Westat, Inc.
1650 Research Blvd
Rockville, MD 20850-3195
morgand1@westat.com
chair of the search committee. The search committee will make a recommendation to the ASA Board which will appoint the ASA On-line editor.
(Above information is informational, but not current as of 1997.)