2020 means it's the beginning of a new decade. Think about that for a minute. The past 10 years has seen lots of change in our lives. Personally, my wife and I saw our daughter grow up, graduate from college, and get married. I went back to my first love of working with children, this time in a school setting. The fact that I am in a Special Needs classroom makes it that much more awesome!
There have been changes in the R.I. Science Fiction Club too. In the beginning of this decade we changed the format of 'Graffiti', from a paper newsletter that we actually mailed to our members each month, to the online presence we see today. Admittedly, it's just a shell of what we offered in the past. You can largely blame technology and being able to access immediate information on your phone for that one.
I was looking through old paper copies of Graffiti, and noticed one common thread; members enjoyed writing articles about favorite TV shows, or books, or movies, and a couple of us contributed some pretty neat artwork too. We contributed to writing forums, presented 'The Adventures of The Gang', and members eagerly waited each month to see their part of the stories in print. It was 'tons of fun', and I miss those days.
But our advancements in tech, that gives us the ability to access information immediately as fore mentioned, has also isolated us. In the world of SF, if you are a Dr. Who fan, or a Star Wars aficianado, or live and breath Trek, you don't even have to leave your house to communicate with like-minded fans. They're accessed in seconds on your phone, tablet, or computer. In opening up the world to everyone, we have also isolated ourselves to the Tribe of Trek, or the Tribe of Firefly, etc. Differences of opinion, or even different Sci-Fi genres, are now rejected or even scorned upon.
So what does this mean for the next 10 years, and the RISFC? As I write this in late December, we have around 16-20 active members. We used to have close to 30-50. For the Club to have a future, it needs to adapt to the times. I see us working more closely with other fan clubs in Rhode Island, uniting the tribes, and there are quite a few of them. Collaborating with these organizations on things like meeting places, shared events, our presence at Conventions, will benefit the members of all these groups.
As Chairman, expect me to reach out to these clubs in 2020. I'm also going to review what activities we currently offer: some traditional events we'll keep, because members like them, but let's expand into new territory. That means everything from reviewing how we produce Sci-Fi Journal, to starting new projects.
So here's to a new decade, one where I'm admittedly excited and apprehensive. But when you are surrounded by family and friends like we share in the RISFC, the next 10 years will be great.
Happy New Year!
Marc
There have been changes in the R.I. Science Fiction Club too. In the beginning of this decade we changed the format of 'Graffiti', from a paper newsletter that we actually mailed to our members each month, to the online presence we see today. Admittedly, it's just a shell of what we offered in the past. You can largely blame technology and being able to access immediate information on your phone for that one.
I was looking through old paper copies of Graffiti, and noticed one common thread; members enjoyed writing articles about favorite TV shows, or books, or movies, and a couple of us contributed some pretty neat artwork too. We contributed to writing forums, presented 'The Adventures of The Gang', and members eagerly waited each month to see their part of the stories in print. It was 'tons of fun', and I miss those days.
But our advancements in tech, that gives us the ability to access information immediately as fore mentioned, has also isolated us. In the world of SF, if you are a Dr. Who fan, or a Star Wars aficianado, or live and breath Trek, you don't even have to leave your house to communicate with like-minded fans. They're accessed in seconds on your phone, tablet, or computer. In opening up the world to everyone, we have also isolated ourselves to the Tribe of Trek, or the Tribe of Firefly, etc. Differences of opinion, or even different Sci-Fi genres, are now rejected or even scorned upon.
So what does this mean for the next 10 years, and the RISFC? As I write this in late December, we have around 16-20 active members. We used to have close to 30-50. For the Club to have a future, it needs to adapt to the times. I see us working more closely with other fan clubs in Rhode Island, uniting the tribes, and there are quite a few of them. Collaborating with these organizations on things like meeting places, shared events, our presence at Conventions, will benefit the members of all these groups.
As Chairman, expect me to reach out to these clubs in 2020. I'm also going to review what activities we currently offer: some traditional events we'll keep, because members like them, but let's expand into new territory. That means everything from reviewing how we produce Sci-Fi Journal, to starting new projects.
So here's to a new decade, one where I'm admittedly excited and apprehensive. But when you are surrounded by family and friends like we share in the RISFC, the next 10 years will be great.
Happy New Year!
Marc
