The Electronic Communications Committee [e-comm]

The Electronic Communications Committee oversees interface changes, public relations and policy changes that ASD has with the public through the computer mediated communications such as the ASD web site, mail lists, and postings to other Internet venues.

History of e-comm and the ASD website

The original ASD website developed from the parallel visions of many ASD members in the mid 1990's. I proposed starting with an online conference site to two board members, Alan Siegel, Ph.D. and Kelly Bulkeley, Ph.D.  Kelly shortly thereafter was at a dream conference in Canada and discussed the idea with Jane Gackenbach, Ph.D. who felt that ASD could simultaneously develop an ongoing website.

The original permanent site was hosted by Grant MacEwan Community College, (GMCC). It was organized and managed by Jayne Gackenbach, Ph.D. and many people contributed to the contents and design, including Fred Sawka, Manager of Computer Literacy Outreach, Joyce Nethercote of GMCC, Sarah Richardson, Alan Siegel, Nancy Grace (Gazells), Karen C. Pierce, Joanne Rochon, Ernest Hartmann, Don Kuiken, Rita Dwyer, Helen Carter, Tore Nielsen, Richard Lloyd Smith, Charles Winstead and Ad Christiaensen and myself. Many of the forms online, such as the Common Questions & Answers, would not have been possible without projects coordinated by Johanna King. I would like to thank my web design team for Conference XIII, especially James Wood, for contributions to the first 1995 art design of the splash page (homepage) and many of the internal graphics.

The funding for this project has been possible due to the foresightedness of the ASD 1995 Board, and continuing support of the 1996-2002 Board of Directors. Alan Siegel, ASD President 1999-2000, and Dream Time Editor for a decade, has given time and support to the online project since the very first days and has continued to be the main representative of the project to the ASD board of directors. Alan has also provided space for me in the Dream Time magazine for a continuing column on dreams and the Internet in the Dream Time Cyberphile which is a chronicle of the development of the Web itself, as well as dream sharing online.

Formal Electronic Communications Committee

The Electronic Communications Committee (E-comm)  was empowered by the October 1996 ASD Board to:

"...make links, to include the ethics statement and a disclaimer (we prefer the short one), and that we request they explore the arrangements for third party linking (such as the Yahoo list of links and AOL sleep and dream sites) as a means to control this, and that any advertising links would have to be consistent with the general ASD advertising policy." (ASD Board Minutes, section #1310/12-8/14, 1996, Cape Cod, MA, USA)

The abbreviated ethics statement was developed by the ethics committee and installed on the GMCC web site in 1995, then transferred to the www.ASDreams.org site in 1997 when I became the web manager.

The committee has functioned since that time to review links that have been requested by unaffiliated dream related sites and to suggest links and link categories, such as sleep research links, dreams and film making, dreams and art and other categories. see www.ASDreams.org/links.htm for the full list of categories.

The procedure has been for requesting sites to send the link and a short statement or summary about the site to the committee chair.  Other committee members may also submit link requests via e-mail [e-comm]   to the rest of the committee.

If there are no objections, links are then added after two to three weeks with an annotation that is added by the Web Manager or one of the volunteer web staff. The linking parties may request more than one category for their links and may submit new annotations and change of address links.

If there are objections to the link by one or more of the members of the committee, a discussion is initiated by the chair and a vote is taken. If the committee elects to veto the link, the requesting site is sent an explanation of how the site does not conform to the ethical standards required of links from the ASD site.

Current Status of the E-comm and ASD website

The committee's responsibilities have grown as the Internet became a cultural phenomena and one of the primary means of communication in the modern world. The quarterly reports to the board commonly have  ten pages of activity and project summaries. Some of the major project area include the information and registration for the annual International Conference, the regional conferences, updates of articles and abstracts from the ASD journal Dreaming and magazine Dream Time, bulletin board discussions among members and with students of dreaming and dreamwork, live chat room meetings with famous dream researchers, authors and pioneers, study groups via mail-lists (listserv), online conferences, member pages, and a wide range of educational projects.  The E-comm now supports many other committees who have projects online, such as the Education Committee and the ASD FAQ, the Development Committee and ASD funding and many other committee projects. 

Online reports are available through the ASD Board Secretary.  See Who's Who

 - Richard Wilkerson

Original ASD Splash Page, 1995

The Computer Hub
at the 1996 Berkeley Conference

Rita Dwyer at the 
2002 Conference at
Tufts University 

How to become and ASD online volunteers

ASD Electronic Volunteers: Anyone may be an ASD Electronic Volunteer. (Minors need permission from parents. You don't have to be a member to volunteer). Volunteers are first requested to read the ASD Ethics Statements and Mission Statement, as well as fill out a form (request from E-comm Chair). The range of activities varies widely. Some ASD volunteers check for broken links, some visit the site each day and promote conversations and dialogue, others host particular areas of interest, such as the research request page or the dream arts newsletter, and some contribute programming and networking skills. 

ASD online volunteers watch over and take care of various parts of the ASD website and online projects. The parts of the website include the magazine section, the journal section, the bookstore and so on. The projects include general FAQ projects, online conference and the like.

To become a volunteer, contact the Chair of the Electronic Communications Committee, Richard Wilkerson, and request the volunteer information form. Fill that form out and return it to Richard Wilkerson, and he will contact you about the projects available. Also, you can watch the News and Information Bulletin Board

The Global Dream Congress
Berkeley Conference, 1996

The Web Team is responsible for the maintenance, update and special projects related to the ASD web site www.asdreams.org.

Thanks again!

Jayne Gackenback, Ph.D.
presenting ASD's first website
1996 Berkeley Conference