Members, Colleagues and Friends,

When we launched our new website a year ago, we had administrative goals for MANY like improving financial management and streamlining membership renewal. Being a bit of a techno geek about human/computer interface design, I was also interested in how the website could help build a community. I wanted to build a website that was responsive and dialogic, that could move valuable information easily from passive to interactive, and help MANY equalize member access and sharing no matter their location, budget size, or discipline.

In this profession, we are connected by our cultures, our natural and built environment, and the history of our use of the land, water, and sky. We are also separated by distance. MANY's website is a way to ameliorate that isolated feeling we sometimes get from being stuck at our desks as the snow flies.

On January 2 we launched our new job board with the goal of making it much easier (and free!) for MANY members to post position openings and for job seekers to find them. Our member discussion forum is the ideal place to post opportunities like the N-YHS poster exhibition. Or the member news forum update from the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor about the progress on the Matton Shipyard. Are you doing an event this spring that you are proud of and would like your colleagues to know about? Share it on our event forum. Not a member? Join today and join the conversation.

If this way of communicating interests you, but it seems like a bit of a challenge to figure out how to make it happen, we will be hosting website "how-to" sessions for our members in February and March. Watch for emails and sign up. Our new high speed WiFi connection will make it easier than ever.

Although we would love to see everyone at our annual conference, or at programs like The Museum Institute at Great Sagamore, we know that some years it just isn't possible to get us all in the same place. So please post exciting news, events, and opportunities, reach out to colleagues, and contribute to our website forums. And if you haven't checked out all the great things happening on our social media feeds lately, take a minute, click on over and share something good!

Hope to see you soon, virtually or IRL, e

Erika Sanger

Executive Director