For the past several years there has been some discussion over the possible establishment of an official OK web site. Many o' clubs have such things and they can be quite useful as an introduction or advertisement for the club. Would it be a good thing if OK had such a site? There are plenty of places that can host web pages for free (although many require the addition of commercials).

There are already quite a few OK web pages out there, maybe more than any other club, but these tend to serve slightly different interests than what an official web site might. Is there a need for more? An official web site could be used to introduce new people to orienteering that could potentially turn into new club members or more active members. This would be a good thing.

There are a whole lot of email addresses associated with the mailing of the OREADs, but I suspect that many of the most active OK members wouldn't recognize many of these people. The discussion board was intended in part as a way for new people to become more familiar with orienteering, but we haven't yet heard anything from them. Since OK is a "large umbrella" club perhaps there is some sort of introduction or incentive that would help get more people involved. Do the beginners' meets help (ie. do the same people return and then become more active orienteers)? Do new orienteers view orienteering as something that they might do a few times each year, paying a little money then having fun (like going to a minigolf course) or do they see it as potential lifestyle that they can work on, improve, and eventually contribute to the future of? While there is room for different people, I hope we can attract some of the latter. Perhaps by asking different people to help out with organizing club stuff it would give them more stake in (and a better feeling for) OK. There are a lot of things a person could help out with without knowing anything or just a little about orienteering. How about a printed and snail-mailed version of the OREAD. It could be expensive, but possibly a net benefit as well.

Ideas or criticisms?

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), September 08, 1999

Answers

A couple of quick comments.

"The discussion board was intended in part as a way for new people to become more familiar with orienteering, but we haven't yet heard anything from them."

It is my hope that the discussion board will get more and more use as people become aware of it. Ultimately it is a very good source of information because it has the potential to combine the knowledge of lots of people -- that is excatly the sort of "collaboration" that makes the Internet interesting.

I also hope (and think) that people are using the discussion board even if they are not necessarily posting messages. In fact, I discovered the software that runs this system by looking at a forum about photography (photo.net/photo/). I look at the photonet page every couple of days, and I have learned a lot from it. But, I have never posted a message.

"How about a printed and snail-mailed version of the OREAD. It could be expensive, but possibly a net benefit as well."

Gene mails a printed version of the OREAD to a few people. Obviously it is easier (and cheaper) for people to get the OREAD by e-mail.

-- Michael Eglinski (meglin@juno.com), September 08, 1999.

"For the past several years there has been some discussion over the possible establishment of an official OK web site. Many o' clubs have such things and they can be quite useful as an introduction or advertisement for the club. Would it be a good thing if OK had such a site? "

The official USOF pages (www.us.orienteering.org) has a link to The OREAD on the clubs pages. So, The OREAD is almost an official site.

-- Michael Eglinski (meglin@juno.com), September 18, 1999.