Welcome to Your New Newsletter!
by Debra DeRuyver
Debra DeRuyver is ILA's Communications Director. She has been a part of ILA's story since 1999 and can be reached at dderuyver@ila-net.org.
The Nuts & Bolts
Many of our members now receive news and magazine articles digitally in email messages instead of via print. Even pdfs seem so clunky and outdated. Seeing this, we contemplated: Is the e-magazine, pdf format of the Member Connector newsletter the best way to communicate relevant and timely information to ILA members? The conclusion we came to was no, it’s not. While members frequently expressed appreciation for the Connector and its role in the association, we also heard that some became overwhelmed by the lengthy pdf, were uncomfortable reading it onscreen, or felt they needed to print the entire Connector to read the articles that touched their interests. How 20th Century!
Welcome to the 21st Century!
Welcome to 2017 and the next iteration of your ILA newsletter. Every second and fourth Thursday of the month, we will Interface with you — sharing links to articles highlighting association news and work being done by other ILA members. Much of Interface's content will be familiar as we continue popular columns such as our behind-the-pages leadership Author Interviews, PAUSE for Pedagogy, Method Moments, Member Spotlights, and Field Reports. But, with this new format, you’ll be able to see — at a glance — the articles that will best support your own leadership work. Hosted on our Intersections website, each article will live on its own unique mobile-friendly webpage making it easier than ever to access by simply logging in to Intersections to read special members-only content. We are also taking into consideration that many folks want to share or tweet about interesting articles so some pages will be publicly accessible.
What’s in a Name?
While we could have left the name the same and just changed the format, we wanted to take the opportunity to see if the name, Member Connector, really fit the role the newsletter was now playing in the association. After all, with the launch of Intersections in 2016, our members are now able to independently connect with one another using the Member Directory and with the membership as a whole through HubILA and other community discussions. Thus, the title Member Connector no longer captured the purpose of the newsletter as conceptualized when it was created in 2003. After more than a dozen years, it was less about connecting members and more about mixing and mingling ideas drawn from our multidimensional member body — ideas that might jump start and give rise to new and emerging advances. Hence Interface was born.
Interface. The name evokes those spaces and boundaries where our work touches each other’s. Where theory and practice meet, shake hands, and learn from one another. It honors the fact that the ILA’s membership includes people located in many, and often multiple, independent systems — scholars and researchers, educators and students, coaches and consultants, NGO and public leaders, administrators and executives — who all Interface in the ILA around their commitment to fostering better leadership worldwide.
We hope you enjoy Interface! If you have any questions about this change, please contact me at dderuyver@ila-net.org or 1.202.470.4818 x102.