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Re: (meteorobs) Is NAMN and the ALPO Meteor Section needed?
At 12:10 PM 6/27/99 EDT, George wrote:
>
>Can anyone tell me why that either NAMN and the ALPO Meteor section are now
>needed or should exist?
Perhaps it's appropriate to turn the question back on you, George... Why
shouldn't they exist? They fulfill quite different functions. NAMN
continues in the vein that it was started, as a dues-free, strictly
electronic organization that attracts quite a few new observers via the
Internet. ALPO is another fertile group for recruitment, and if we were to
disband the ALPO Meteor Section, we would be cutting ourself off from a
valuable group of amateur observers.
We did have some discussion among the various players a year or so ago
about folding the various groups into one - establishing a dues-free,
Internet-only membership category in AMS, and grandfathering ALPO
memberships into AMS. We didn't see any advantage in doing that, though.
>Initially NAMN was created to fill the void created
>by an inactive AMS(American Meteor Society). ALPO's meteor section channels
>everything to AMS and also ultimately to the IMO(International Meteor
>Organization). So does NAMN. The person tied to ALPO's meteor section
(Robert
>Lunsford) are also officers of AMS and IMO <...yada, yada, yada>
Mark Davis' role in the organization is a very important one, and is not
"redundant" at all. He acts as a clearinghouse for data submitted to the
three prime organizations in North America, NAMN, AMS, and ALPO, and
insures that data are submitted to IMO, archived with AMS, and he does
preliminary analysis which is published in Meteor Trails. Prior to this,
we had a catch-as-catch-can situation where observers might submit their
data to one, two or even three separate organizations individually... THAT
was redundant, and led to the possibility or duplicate observations
residing in common databases. We now tell our observers to submit ONE copy
of their material to Mark Davis, and that hard-working guy does the rest.
As for Bob Lunsford, his primary duty is publishing Meteor Trails. He has
discontinued the separate ALPO publication, and we send Meteor Trails to
those that were receiving the ALPO publication. Bob indeed wears another
hat in IMO, but it's a complementary hat to what he does in AMS, necessary
in its own right and not duplicating anything he does in AMS.
This would be a good place to plug the AMS and Meteor Trails. The AMS
continues to communicate with its members largely by postal mail. There
are quite a few individuals out there that are not on the Internet for
various reasons, and they should not be excluded from participation. Last
year we started an AMS journal, Meteor Trails, and it is an excellent
publication, and cheap! AMS dues are still one of the bargains on the planet:
Students and Observers: US $6.50
Associates: US $8.00
Groups: US $10.00
Groups receive three copies of our publications, sent to one address. Bob
sent out a message detailing the contents of the most recent issue of MT, I
won't reiterate that here.
We are all fairly busy individuals in our lives, and have jobs and families
that take priority over the fun stuff, like meteor observing. We that are
involved in these organizations are the last ones to tolerate redundant
tasks... we are way too busy to waste our time.
JB
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