The steering committee sends a huge thank you to everyone who donated
funds to support the migration of the website and the mailing list. Thanks
to your generosity, we quickly exceeded our goal and we now have funds to
cover the hosting fees for the next two years. For now, we don't need any
more donations.
For those who were unable to attend the AMMRL meeting, here is some brief
context. Note: the AMMRL meeting was recorded and the recording will be
posted to the website soon.
1) The steering committee has been working on how to migrate the AMMRL
website (i.e., the archives) and the mailing list to a new location. Walt
retired 6 years ago and has graciously continued to maintain the website
and mailing list through the University of Hawai`i; however, this solution
is no longer viable.
2) For reasons that were presented in detail at the AMMRL meeting, a
university hosting solution is no longer viable. That means we need a
commercial hosting solution and that involves annual hosting costs (e.g.,
annual domain name registration, website hosting fees, mailing list hosting
fees).
3) Migrating the website is relatively straightforward. Walt is already in
the process of migrating the archive to a commercial web server.
Updating/modernizing the website will require some work and Raj Paranji (U.
of Washington) is spearheading this effort. If you're interested in helping
with the website, contact Raj.
4) Regarding the mailing list, the steering committee has chosen groups.io
as the best long-term solution for hosting. Note: the mailing list will
continue to function as a mailing list for AMMRL members and the website
will continue to be the public-facing website with an archive of the
discussions from the mailing list.
5) The annual hosting costs are currently estimated to be $500 to $600. The
steering committee set up Venmo and PayPal accounts to accept donations
from AMMRL members to cover these expenses. Thanks to your generosity, this
was extremely successful.
6) The success of the fund raiser gives the steering committee a year or
two to look into the pros and cons of different approaches moving forward.
For example:
"Is it worth the effort to formally incorporate AMMRL into a non-profit or
do we prefer to remain an intentionally unofficial organization that relies
on individuals to move things forward?"
Do we continue holding a brief fund-raiser each year to pay the hosting
fees to avoid the hassle of dealing with the logistics of membership dues?
etc.
Again, thank you all for the input and discussion and we look forward to
more discussion in the coming year.
-Scott
AMMRL Steering Committee Member
--
Dr. Scott Burt
Professor
NMR Facility Manager
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Brigham Young University
C414 BNSN / C008A BNSN
Provo, Utah 84602-5700
Phone: (801) 422-2404
Fax: (801) 422-0153
chembio.byu.edu/nmr-facility/
email: scott_burt_at_byu.edu
Received on Tue Apr 18 2023 - 17:35:26 MST