When PIRA was first formed, the newsletter was the important, if not completely necessary glue that held it together. The web in 1985 was in its infancy (if not still in-utero) and PIRA's members were scattered across the country. During this formative time we published as many as eight issues of the newsletter a year and it was filled with useful articles, tips and tricks, job postings, items for sale and/or trade, election information, etc.
While we remain physically scattered, the incredible increase in communication pathways during the last 20 years has brought us all closer together. Once, our options were the mail, the phone and the newsletter, each carrying a real monetary cost. From email (email addresses made their first appearance in a 1991 newsletter!) and list-serves (all hail TAP-L!) to web, pages, instant messaging and now blogs and youtube, it is now possible to instantaneously post a job opening, share an idea, picture or video, or ask a question, and have that information reach far more people, far more quickly than any newsletter at essentially zero cost!
However, this constant stream of information coming in over the computer has become akin to drinking from a fire hose. Merely to keep up with this deluge is daunting enough, but finding time to add something to it is equally challenging. As an example, one could spend an entire day fruitfully searching Youtube alone for useful video clips. We then happily with the best of intentions add to everyone else's input by posting a link to whatever we've found. What has happened is all these new technologies designed to make us more efficient and give us more free time paradoxically seem to have done the reverse. A single year of ideas described on TAP-L could keep one working for the following ten, so we feel busier than ever. The problem has changed from one of access to information to one of finding the relevant piece amid the ocean of other information that is very likely to also be useful if not merely interesting, or wrong!
All of these changes have I believe, made the newsletter anachronistic in its current form, if not obsolete. Tips and tricks are traded more efficiently and more widely on TAP-L, which supports multi-threaded, multi-participant conversations (that a newsletter cannot). Job openings are now almost exclusively posted and searched for online. News and upcoming events can be kept current more easily in an online format. As far as elections are concerned, we are already beginning to handle them online and participation would increase if we made online voting the standard. Furthermore, since many of our members do not regularly attend the summer meeting, they must vote remotely if the vote at all. It seems clear that an annual, or even semi-annual newsletter cannot compete in this environment.
At the moment, the newsletter is still officially necessary as a venue for publication of demo descriptions prior to their accession to the DCS. However, judging from the number of manuscripts I have received in the last four years (exactly equal to the number published), there is not the burning need there once was. In my four years as editor, I have only received two manuscripts describing a demonstration that might require a new DCS number. Perhaps this is the fault of the editor, but I suspect it is more likely from distraction due to information overload. We need a new way of organizing and controlling the massive amounts of information that is now at our fingertips.
I would like to propose that, in place of our newsletter, we create a multi-faceted forum within the PIRA web site. In this space, members could post pictures, files, videos and other information. There would be an elections area where candidate's statements could be posted and voting could be conducted. I would also propose an area where members can post to thematic, threaded and searchable bulletin boards, such as Demonstrations, Upper/Lower division labs, Professional Development, PIRA News, PIRA related conference information, etc. It remains to be seen whether these venues could compete with the established convenience of TAP-L. However, being email based, TAP-L is difficult to search and archive and sometimes goes off-topic. Furthermore, these fora can serve as incentives to join PIRA. Because we are virtual community we need a virtual PIRA-centered meeting space that complements TAP-L. Perhaps most importantly, all this information can be searchable and easily archived.
To handle the problem of DCS references, I suggest we establish a Wikipedia style demo database that contains (eventually) all the concepts in the PIRA Demonstration Bibliography. This would have a number of advantages. First, it would be a current, dynamic, evolving, and expanding repository of demonstration ideas and information created and maintained collaboratively. Each entry would be edited and updated by all those with a particular interest in that area and variations on a particular demonstration would be viewable on the same page with authorship information also available. I can already imagine Dick Berg's entry on the Bernoulli effect! Pictures (and perhaps movies as well) could be posted along with links back to university demonstration web sites and references to published material(such as TPT, Sutton, Meiners, AJP, etc.) can also be listed.
Second, the creation of new PIRA numbers can be quickly handled by allowing the individual who uploaded the information to propose a number and then have the DCS committee review and subsequently validate it, or determine an alternative.
Third, cross-referencing (already a problem) could be handled naturally with active links to other pages in the Wiki. The DCS committee has rightly rejected independent web links as inadequate referencing for DCS inclusion due to the risk of link rot. By establishing a site under our own control, PIRA can directly ensure every reference is accurate, current, and up to date. It would also be of great utility to our Annual Lecture Demonstration Workshops. This wiki format could be potentially extended to the cataloging of introductory, intermediate and advanced labs.
Not only would this wiki be useful to those of us directly involved with demonstrations, publicly available via the PIRA web site it would serve as a vehicle for the promotion of physics education and further raise PIRA's visibility. Furthermore, we can make membership in PIRA a condition for contributing to the wiki, which would be another real incentive to join. At the moment, joining is essentially an act of altruism.
Creating this expanded web site and wiki will require a lot of commitment and work and will take some time to implement. Aside from the initial work of setting up the framework, the approximately 9000 entries in the PIRA Demonstration Bibliography will take a sustained effort to enter into the database. I believe, however, that since this will be a collaborative effort, it will go faster than we expect. Having been in discussion with Michael Thomason, PIRA�s web master, he has created a prototype demonstration wiki, with a two sample entries. You can view it at:
http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/Category:PIRA_Demonstrations The newsletter editor could become the administrator for the wiki and fora. With the demise of the newsletter (the funding of which was the primary reason dues were collected), a portion of the dues could now go toward supporting this expanded web site in the form of contracting out some or all of the web design and maintenance. Given the increased importance of the web site, it seems appropriate to elevate the PIRA web master to an executive position.
In closing, I would add that PIRA's visibility has been growing rapidly due to the combination of its dedicated members and the advantages of the internet and the connections it so easily fosters. If we redirect the energy that is expended in creating the newsletter to further expanding our online presence, I think PIRA will grow even more.
