Per Rusty Toft:
"AERC membership committee strongly believes the AERC horse and riders
data base should remain open for public viewing. We have crafted a
motion for the next Board Meeting to be voted on to reopen. If you have
strong feelings about this issue we encourage you to contact your
regional directors, directors at large and the AERC office with your
thoughts.
AERC Board of Directors
MOTION PROPOSAL
Motion Name: Return to AERC Open Database Policy
Proposing Committee: Membership Committee
Date of Motion: October, 2014 BOD Telecon Meeting
Classification of Motion Request: This Motion requires that recently
implemented restrictions on access to the AERC rider and horse records
be removed, returning database access policies to be the same as they
were before these restrictions were implemented.
Proposed Motion:
Resolved, that access to the horse and rider records in the AERC
database be free and open to all who visit the AERC website.
Background, analysis and benefit:
In August, 2012, the AERC Board of Directors (BOD) approved a
Membership Committee Motion to limit AERC database access for
non-members. Implementation of the 2012 Motion took a long time. During
this period, a new Membership Committee concluded that the proposed
change would compromise success in its initiatives to increase
membership. Thus, at the July telecom BOD meeting the Membership
Committee offered a Motion to rescind the data restriction policy prior
to its planned implementation. This Motion was defeated by a vote of
11-10, and the policy was fully implemented in September.
The
central issue is, do the database restrictions enhance or hamper efforts
to increase membership? The 2012 MC and BOD foresaw enhancement while
the 2014 MC foresees significant negative effects. The current BOD is
nearly evenly divided on the issue. At this stage, all is speculation,
and relying on experience to prove the case either way will be very
difficult. From the MC perspective, retaining the restriction is
damaging AERC. Thus, the MC is offering this Motion for three reasons.
First, this is a significant issue, and the BOD is so evenly divided
that there is legitimate uncertainty about what the majority actually
supports. Second, there have been many thoughtful member comments that
describe the many ways the open database has been used to support
membership recruitment (the personal testimonials support the point that
the open data are indeed used to attract members). Third, the MC
believes that our image as the most open and transparent equine
organization is too important to discard without very strong reasons.
In summary, the Membership Committee is offering this Motion to return
to the open-database policy and thus remove what this Committee believes
to be a negative impact on its efforts to increase membership.
Budget effect/impact: Depending on how the restriction was implemented,
it might be straightforward (i.e., inexpensive) to roll back to an
earlier version of the relevant software. Or it might require a
significant cost.
Benefit and/or Impact to Membership and/or the AERC Organization
In 2012 the Membership Committee and BOD concluded that restricting
database access would encourage some to join AERC. The 2014 Membership
Committee has the opposite opinion; that is, that restricting access is
likely to have negative effects that far outweigh any positive effects.
Impact on AERC Office: Expected to be negligible.
Committees consulted and/or affected: None consulted.
Implementation Plan: As soon as practical, remove the data access restrictions."
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I would like to express my support of keeping the records open on the
AERC website. The greatest value of those records is the inspiration
they give to new riders, the validation they give concerning
mentor-ship of new riders, and the information related to fast/slow
ride times on upcoming rides.
By closing off this vital information we alienate the very group of
people we desire to attract. Please consider the validity of this
motion and the desires of the membership at large.
Contact your directors please in support of this motion. HERE.
Jacke Reynolds
M37288
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