Ross Haines, Robert MacKenzie and Wayne Gulden worked on the basic design and functions that we think the AIMS web site ought to have. We see the web site serving two major audiences: the public, where our goal would be to give them an idea (presumably a favorable one) of what we are about; and our members, where our goal would be to facilitate communications.

We decided there should be a public part of the site which anyone could access, and a private one that would be password protected for members only. The private part might contain a member's list, with pictures and contact info, unedited minutes, a discussion (or blog) area and project/committee reports. The public part might contain a calendar, mission statement, public contact information and so on.

We decided to get our own name, as opposed to putting the site on another AI-related site. This gives us the ability to move the site around as conditions warrant. Robert came up with "aimsociety.ca" (aimen.org was Wayne'e first choice, but after some thought we figured it might be seen as a porn site, kinda scary when you look around at us, but it might have gotten more hits!). Wayne registered the name (about $11 per year) and proceeded to put a basic 'test' site online (free, on spare server space).

The three of us will certainly continue to meet, but we'd like to know from the general membership if: (1)the site will be useful, and (2)what changes you would like to see. If nobody is going to use it we'll just update the public areas periodically just for PR's sake and get rid of the members' area.

You can look at it online by typing "aimsociety.ca" (you don't really need the http or the www) in the url window in your browser, typically located in the top part of the browser's window. Here is a picture of what this looks like on my browser. You might want to bookmark the main page. (Or in some browsers, make it a favorite.)

Most of the public areas are self-explanatory. No information can be entered into any of the public pages, with the exception of the calendar. The info that is there now is just a sample of what it might look like, and we are eager to get other ideas from all of you. The calendar can be quite useful and it's easy enough to use, but you have to be willing to mouse around and find the hot spots. Here is a picture of the main calendar screen, with some of the hot spots circled in red. Once you are done with the calendar, you can either use your "back" button to return to the main menu, or use your bookmark. One question - should this calendar be open to the public?

The private area is reached by using the "For AIMS members" link. You will then be presented a userid/password screen. If you don't have the userid and password, let one of us know and we'll let you in on it. Almost as good as a secret handshake. Depending on what you are doing, you may be asked again for the same id and pw. If so, just enter the same info again.

Once you get the userid and password entered correctly you will see the members menu. Here's a screen shot of the minutes, where you can then select the unedited and presumably official minutes of our meetings. The minutes are almost complete and if you happen to have any of the missing months please lend them to one of us. Here's a screen shot of an old membership listing. Note the hot spots on the email addresses, allowing most browsers to open up your email program if clicked so you can send that person an email without having to copy down the address. The hot spots on the names can lead to whatever a member might want to say about themselves, including a picture.

A small introduction to the forums area is included on the members' page, but the use of a forum goes beyond what can easily be included in a paragraph. This forum software isn't hard to use, but there are a few things you have to know before doing any posting. But it's easy enough to just wander in and look around. If there's enough interest, a 15-minute class should suffice to get everyone started. UPDATE - I took the forum software off the site, sensing that there wasn't enough interest in using it to justify keeping it.

1) We could include other information on the membership listing, like personal web page links, children, interests and so on - all at the individual's discretion. That's why it was placed in the private area.
2) If you are tired of changing your email address every time you change ISP's (or you just want something more personal), you could get a "yourname@aimsociety.ca" email address.
3) The forum and calendar programs could be expanded to include other users. If you wanted your own calendar, that could be done as well.
4) We could maintain the "official" AIMS email listing here, allowing any member access to it.
5) We can provide links to other web sites, including member's own personal sites.
6) There's enough space on the server to allow pictures and picture albums, and a decent software package to manage all that is available.
7) Any other ideas?