Review of April 2006 Items

List of April 2006 Internet Meeting Attendees

Webmaster Tasks Completed/Pending since April 2006

Recommendations for Article/Pix Submission to L-USA Website

Webmaster (Landesverband Website) Maintenance Lists

Webmaster (Landesverband Website) Recommendations

Landesverband Clubs Issue/Website Report

The Internet Working Group met in general session at the April 2006 Jahreshauptversammlung in Cincinnati. Approximately 10 members, representing five clubs of the Landesverband, were in attendance. (American Aid Society Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Mansfield Liederkranz, and Rochester). A number of topics regarding the national website and individual club websites were discussed. Following this was an open discussion and an author PowerPoint presentation was made.

The initial discussion was outlined and compared to proposals previously made in 2005 to aid in establishing the progress of the group.

In 2005 it was recommended that each club should designate 1-2 person(s) to be responsible for providing the Landesverband Webmaster (LWM) with timely information to be placed on the site. However, since that time only 2-3 clubs have put the national webmaster on their mailing lists. The (LWM) had to initiate most of the contacts regarding specific events, etc. The American Aid Society newsletter, Walter Scheffrahn, has provided some information regarding the establishment of a national newsletter. However, no contributing authors have participated in this endeavor.

A committee of volunteers was recruited at the April 2005 meeting in Detroit. However, no articles have been submitted for display on the website. Subsequently, this committee remains inactive. Also, to date, the list of the volunteers remains lost!

The minutes from the April 2006 meeting as well as information from the Landestrachtenfest in Anaheim and pictures were received by Eckhard Blaumüller and were immediately placed on the website.

Additional Pages planned for the website include:

Jugend Pages

Sports Pages

Culture Pages

Archival Pages

Kinder Pages

Contact has been made with individuals involved in the above topics. However, no information has been received to date. Thus, these pages have not as yet been added to the website.

Of course, additional ideas for website topics are always welcomed and encouraged.

At the Detroit meeting in April 2005 and again in Cincinnati, April 2006, it was recommended that a number of additional items be included on the national website. These included:

a. Landesverband officers provide an activity report for each office on the website for the benefit of the membership.

b. Begin a national website newsletter and table of contents. (#)

c. (LWM) report be added to the website regarding new additions to the site, updates, corrections, etc. (#)

d. Landesverband activities. (#)

e. Reader comment section. (Letters to the Webmaster?)

f. Donauschwaben speaker bureau activities.

g. Individual club activities and promotions. (#)

h. Specific format instructions on the website for submitting information, as well as defining the clearing procedures, to the national website.(#)

i. Solicit suggestions for an official name for the national website newsletter. (#)

All of the above suggestions are still recommended and encouraged. Six of the nine 2005/2006 suggestions have been initiated by the (LWM). These items need to be actively supported by the membership. The other items still need to be acted upon. It was also suggested that a reminder system be set up to encourage the individual club informational contributions to the national website. However, no consensus was established regarding this matter.

In April 2005, approximately 13 people attended the Internet Working Group meeting in Detroit. No meeting was held in Anaheim, except for what the (LWM) presented at the President’s meeting. Ten (10) people attended the April 2006 meeting in Cincinnati. It is hoped that the group will continue to meet once or twice a year.

The most popular 4 sections of the site include:

Donauschwaben History

National Calendar of Events

Internet Links

Donauschwaben Clubs

Events Advertisements

Thornton, Thomas Mansfield webmaster

Thornton, Sharlene Mansfield webmaster

Kopp, Hans Cleveland author

Walter, Michael Chicago Aid Soc

Ippach, Magdalena Chicago Aid Soc

Filippi, Liz Cleveland

Marsil, Fred ? Rochester, N.Y.

Schwagel?, Adam Detroit

Grotloh, Carston Detroit archivar for Landesverband

Eggar, Michelle Detroit mnet1206@aol. com

(*) listed by order on sign-in sheet.

1. MS Word or MS Works for word processed documents.

2. Sender to do viral check before sending material/files to (LWM).

3. Send pix in Jpeg format

Keep resolution low (but good enough) to minimize memory usage. They need to be kept within monitor field size for best and easiest presentation.

4. Send information, pix, etc. as attachments and not in body of email message, if possible.

5. Be as current and early as possible (timely manner) to allow for (LWM) time to place on website. Don’t wait until the last minute?!

6. Do spellcheck, etc. before submission to (LWM).

7. Title information or article as it needs to be displayed before submission.

8. Notify (LWM) if any information already submitted needs to be modified for correctness, currentness, clarifications, etc.

9. These recommendations are listed on the L-USA website on the "Help" page.

1. Check all LUSA club links validity.

2. Check all current LUSA website calendar events and eliminate past event information if possible to keep site "Clean"

3. Check all events for current information and specifically highlight any current changes.

4. Check newsletter for current items; those to be added, kept or discarded, etc.

5. Check specialty pages (e.g.Jugend, Sports, Kinder, Kultur, Archival pages) information current and correctness status.

6. Other?

1. Always give information as it is to be displayed.

2. Notify Landesverband webmaster (LWM) ASAP of website changes (URL, calendar, etc.)

3. Specifically notify (LWM) of who, at each club, is responsible for each club’s activities, corrections, and participations, etc.

4. All Donauschwaben Club links on each site needs to be kept current (report to LWM monthly?)

5. Notify (LWM) of all officer changes ASAP.

6. Get pix of all LUSA officers? Can be emailed or mailed for scanning; submit similar to passport type of pix 2x2?

7. All LUSA officer emails or telephone numbers need be kept current to (LWM). To be listed on website?

8. LUSA secretaries need to keep (LWM) updated.

9. Hosting Vereins need to keep (LWM) updated for events and related information, etc.

10. What action (if any) needs to be taken if individual club websites remain non-compliant to guidelines?

11. Each club WM should notify (LWM) and other LUSA clubs if links need to be updated.

12. Always address each item in correspondence, so as not to keep them "up in air". If responses are to be deferred to later date, indicate this as so with expected time frame.

13. Recommend each LUSA member club webmaster place webmaster contact information in a readily accessible area on its own website. (Preferably on each page and "clickable")

14. Recommend LUSA presidents establish a consensus as to how "all" of the Landesverband der Donauschwaben, USA member clubs should structure their Donauschwaben Clubs Internet links page.

15. Other?

Earlier in 2006 the Landesverband webmaster received several inquires regarding Internet links on the "Donauschwaben Clubs" web page. When the new website was initially designed it was decided to incorporate ideas that seemed to already be in use on the previous L-USA website and member clubs. No specific designation of "Landesverband der Donauschwaben, USA Clubs" was made. Since some of the functions of a website is to provide access, information and ease of communication to its members and site visitors, any club or organization site termed "Donauschwaben" was included on this web page. However, since some members requested a reconsideration of the structure of this particular page, an investigation into the prevalent structures of member club’s websites was made. The results of the initial investigation and follow up investigation are listed below. Also, an example of a test structure for the "Donauschwaben Clubs" webpage is listed.

Methods used in investigation:

L-USA Clubs, Danube Cultural Society, Verband der Donauschwaben in Kanada,

and Donauschwaben Stiftung websites were included.

The clubs’ websites were visited at least twice. The DS-Stiftung and Verband der Donauschwaben in Kanada were added in the second website investigation visit.

Each website’s designation for the Donauschwaben club URL’s was noted.

Each website was tested for:

a) presence and working status of link to present L-USA website.

b) presence and working status of link to Mansfield Liederkranz website.

c) presence and working status of link to United Donauschwaben of Milwaukee website.

d) presence and working status of link to Danube Cultural Society website.

e) presence of email contact information for each club’s webmaster.

(+) Not tested

During the initial investigation into this matter the LWM observed the following Internet links designations on the various member clubs websites.

a) "links to other Donauschwaben sites"

b) "other Donauschwaben clubs"

c) "North America"

d) "USA links"

e) "Donauschwaben links"

f) "Sister Cities"

g) "related Donauschwaben sites"

h) "Donauschwaben in USA"

i) "Danube Swabian"

j) "German and other Donauschwaben clubs"

k) "Donauschwaben Welt"

l) "Danube Swabian Groups and Clubs"

The initial investigation showed no Landesverband member club with the Internet links designation: "Landesverband der Donauschwaben, USA Clubs" It appeared that each and every club had its own way of describing its "Donauschwaben" Internet links.