By Phil Ticknor, Washington College (MD) SID
CoSIDA Technology Committee
NCAA Rules Regarding Scrimmages v. Exhibitions ... Volleyball StatCrew ... InDesign Tip: Resizing Objects and Viewing Pages ... Schedule Card/Media Guide Collectors ... The Joys of Mobile Broadband.
Those are just some of the topics posted at The SID Board, the new online, moderated forum for Sports Information discussion. The SID Board, which officially opened for posting in early August, is already approaching 200 registered users from all divisions and across the continent.
In the past, I had often wondered why there wasn't a discussion forum for sports information somewhere on the Internet. (After all, there are online forums out there for pretty much everything else.) Many sports information professionals only get the opportunity to talk shop outside of our closest circle of colleagues at the annual CoSIDA Workshop. What better way to ask questions and share tips and ideas year-round than through a message board?
I decided to stop wondering and start acting. In July, I began considering different free message board providers and finally settled on ForumsPlace. I set up different discussion boards under three broad headings General Discussion, Division-Specific Discussion, and Technology. I wrote and posted a Terms of Use/Rules. I experimented with some of the options ForumsPlace gave me in the Administration Panel. Most importantly, I decided to take steps to shape The SID Board into a professional, constructive, forum.
The first thing I decided was to keep the forum private. The only section of the forum open to be read by the public is the Terms of Use/Rules. Only registered users may read and post to the rest of the forum. Secondly, I made registration administrator-enabled, which means I must activate a new account before it can be used. This further protects us against spammers using the board. Thirdly, while their actual e-mail addresses are not automatically displayed, all registered users can be e-mailed from the board by clicking the e-mail button in their profiles. In addition, the Terms of Use/Rules prohibit the posting of any language deemed inappropriate and any posts which could be considered libelous. Finally, I decided to request that users register with a .edu e-mail address or another e-mail address which gives some indication of who they are.
In early August, The SID Board was ready. I made a comment about it on the Disgruntled SID blog and Mak Fleming, the SID at Moravian, sent an announcement about it out on his Division III e-mail list. Our first registered users then began spreading the word to their friends and colleagues.
The SID Board has quickly become an early success thanks to its active and dedicated members. In just a few short weeks, I have learned a lot from other sports information professionals and carried on dialogues with people whom I likely would never have communicated with otherwise. I am confident that other members of the forum feel the same way.
My hope is that The SID Board becomes a long-term medium of communication between sports information professionals. It is an effective tool for continuing the dialogue and discussion that goes on at the CoSIDA Workshop and our annual conference meetings. I also hope that it grows into a place where undergraduate students and those looking to switch careers can come for advice about getting started in the profession.
If you are a sports information professional or someone interested in the field, I encourage you to visit The SID Board and register with your .edu address. It can be accessed at:
http://sid.s10.forumsplace.com