David Byrd reported that there were five items on the silent auction table, and a raffle; the total gross receipts were $540 ($400 for a David Weber redshirt). Costs were $6.16 for raffle tickets, and $2.40 for copying. David will supply names of the volunteers to the Chair. The Board thanked David, and he left the meeting.

Office of Treasurer

On December 7, 2002, Mike Preston resigned as Treasurer, resignation effective December 31, 2002.
Dorsett suggested that, whoever we selected, the bank account should require two signatures on checks (suggestion prompted by general paranoia). Poggiani suggested that at least three people be authorized as signers, in case payment was required to one of the signers.
Boyes nominated Dorsett, declaring that he had heard Dorsett volunteer, adding the two-signature suggestion to his nomination after some discussion.
Dorsett was declared Treasurer by acclamation, effective January 1, 2003. He will establish a bank account, with checks having to be signed by any two members of the following group: Jody Dorsett, Judith Lasker, Virginia deMarce, Mike Spehar. He will also rent a post office box, and notify everyone immediately.
Mike Preston will transfer funds to Dorsett for deposit in the new account, and register a change-of-address card at the post office.
ReadAssist's Address:
1. The brochure will need two edits, to the address and to the list of officers. Poggiani and Dailey will consult.
2. The website will need to have the address changed. Poggiani will send revised page(s) to Cedeno as soon as she hears from Dorsett.

Future of ReadAssist

Boyes suggested that ReadAssist provide scholarships for disabled people who want to go to a science fiction writers' school, like Clarion. (Chair asks, "Or conventions?" Comments from the floor suggest that conventions are perhaps too much to cover.)
Mayerle moved that a study be done of cost of writers' schools. Poggiani seconded. Chair called for vote. Unanimous in favor.
Boyes has Clarion's costs: classes $1400, housing $1200. Dorsett suggests a stipend rather than a scholarship.
Boyes will do a mailing to the full Board, which will discuss the issue by e-mail.

Website

Chair approves submission of the URL to dmoz.org for registration. Poggiani will handle as soon as the latest updates are done.

Next meeting

The next meeting will be held on January 25, 2003.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:10 p.m. CST. In the absence of Janet Dailey, Commo, these minutes are submitted by Pam Poggiani.

Committee Reports

Website Report, December 7, 2002

Website Update

A number of pages have been updated and are ready to be put up - has anyone heard from Luis? He's not answering e-mails, sent to either of the addresses I have for him. (Note: he has answered, and loaded several pages. pmp, 12/09/02)

Links and Reciprocal Links

A couple places e-mailed ReadAssist asking for links! One, a webstore, found us by surfing sff.net; the other, a non-profit service much like bookshare, found us by searching to see who all had links to bookshare.

A number of sites have links to ReadAssist, including Analog, Asimov's, and Locus magazines, sflovers, several regional groups of fan clubs, small publishers, and bookstores. And we've been mentioned here and there, by folks recommending us to others.

Organizations for and of the disabled (like Arthritis Foundation, United Cerebral Palsy, American Stroke Association, International Eye Foundation, Thalidomide Victims Association, to name a few) might be willing to link to ReadAssist. May I make this request of them?

Cost of Listing with Search Engines

My recommendation: list with dmoz and forget the rest! Prices are nuts; besides, all the well-known oft-used ones use dmoz. Details:

dmoz Open Directory Project:: This one is free, and is used by AlltheWeb, AltaVista, Google Usenet, Google, HotBot, Lycos, NorthernLight, Yahoo, and many more (complete list is available at their website). As soon as the updates are up, I'll apply; it may be several weeks before the ODP editor gets to the app, and once he approves it, it may take anywhere from two weeks to several months for the actual search engines to start listing ReadAssist.
Yahoo!: $299 (nonrefundable) to apply for listing and be listed for one year. Every year thereafter, another $299.
Excite:: Metasearch; doesn't seem to have an actual list of its own.
Dogpile:: Search Partner Network - $49.95/yr; Excite Web Search - $24.98/yr.; Total Package - $74.93/yr
Lycos:: Insite Select (for small sites). FAST - $35/yr.; Inktomi - $39/yr
HotBot:: part of Lycos?
AltaVista:: Basic Submit is free. Evaluation for inclusion within 4 to 6 weeks. Express Inclusion guarantees inclusion within 2 days and apparently offers other services that Basic does not - $39 for six months, so that's $78/yr.
Ask Jeeves:: Netscape; says link will appear on 400 search engines.
Basic plan - $129.99/yr (once a month, Netscape will submit our link to a group of search engines - so we stay near the top, they say)
Professional plan (list on 100 of the 400 within 2 days + 12 monthly submissions) - $169.98/yr (in addition to Basic plan above, Netscape will guarantee listing on 100 of the 400 search engines within 2 days)
Google:: Metasearch engine?
AOL Search:: uses dmoz Open Directory Project (see first item).
Webcrawler:: same as Dogpile.
TrafficMagnet:: has e-mailed ReadAssist 3 times now, trying to get our business. "You'll be surprised by the low cost," their Sales and Marketing person says. Monthly submission to 300,000 search engines (how many???) for $19.95/mo. Billing is $59.85 every quarter, which works out to $239.40/yr. "Low cost," sure.

/s/ Pam Poggiani, Website Designer

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