This article summarises the facilities provided by the Sound Forum to our Community of Soundworkers who have the status of Authors. Authors on the Forum have access to one of the main places on the world-wide web where people can always find out what's going on in the world Sound and Soundworkers.
On the Sound Forum we have three categories of Membership:
- Featured Author
- Contributing Author
- Forum Member
FEATURED AUTHORS - appear on the carousel (the moving images at the top of the Forum) - we are limited to around 24 Featured Authors - Featured Authors will ALWAYS appear in the monthly newsletter providing they have submitted ONE item in the previous month. This can be a POST, an ARTICLE, a REVIEW of someone else's ARTICLE, or COMMENT on someone else's POST. A new VIDEO submission also counts.
CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS - do not appear in the carousel - can be unlimited in number - will USUALLY appear in the newsletter if they have submitted an ITEM (from the above list) space permitting.
FORUM MEMBERS - need to have registered - can submit their own events (free service) - can COMMENT on POSTS and can REVIEW ARTICLES - receive the monthly newsletter which contains a summary of activity by Authors and next month's events.
For each Sound Forum Author their information is now all together on their Author's page:
1. Events
2. Testimonials
3. Posts
4. Articles
5. Video
Authors should continously encourage their participants submit testimonials. Invite them not only to say positive things but to tell us the story of the difference they have experienced from prior to attending through to their return home.
The Author’s space includes a document management suite too and which means that they can submit everything directly to the Forum themselves providing they are logged in.
Logon for Authors is simple:
1. If you in the shop, look for the link ‘Authors’ right at the top, third link from the left (this is always present)
2. If you are in Community then look for the link ‘Authors’ in the red bar above the moving pictures (second link from the right)
3. If you have already logged in then clicking these links again will return you to your Authors space so that you can add/edit material.
Our strategy for the foreseeable future will be to continue to grow strongly the Sound Forum’s presence on the web. We want to do this in a manner which is fully sustainable with the way we use the facilities of the web to work co-operatively together. Our own membership will hit 10,000 active sound people worldwide very soon and this, tied in with the potential future growth in digital publishing (now 6% of the market), means that the future for all of us in Sound is healthy. So with Social Networking, our Sound Forum structure and our willingness to co-operate together as a Sound Community means that whatever lies ahead on the economic front, in the long-term Sound and its People are becoming a powerful source of healing and sustainability.
This facility will always be free, and with our spirit of co-operation we will together be able to have an impact on the world far greater than our numbers might suggest.
