ASJA PACIFIC NORTHWEST NEWSLETTER
For ASJA members in
Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon and Washington
December 2024
https://asjapnw.org
In This Issue
From the Prez, The Pathless Path, M. Carolyn Miller, ASJA PNW President
Find Your Missing Items in An Archive, Bruce Miller
Repurposing Content into an LMS, Bruce Miller
Member News and Announcements
Our December chapter meeting at 11 am:
M. Carolyn Miller is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Time: Wednesday, December 18, 2024 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87898612924
Meeting ID: 878 9861 2924
Please dress in your holiday finery for this month’s Zoom!
This newsletter publishes the first day of each month and welcomes article submissions and photos. Please email the ASJA PNW Newsletter Editor, Maxine Cass, at maxinecass@gmail.com .
From the President
by M. Carolyn Miller
ASJA PNW Chapter President
The Pathless Path
In the November/December issue of Poets & Writers, editor Kevin Larimer tells of poet Garth Greenwell, who labeled the writer’s life as “the pathless path” that too often leaves us bewildered and lost. And even if you achieve some modicum of fame, notes Larimer, American novelist, essayist and short story writer Jonathan Lethem says “[you] are still just an insecure animal who likes to make things out of words, and every day, if you’re doing it for real, you wake up as confused and helpless and insecure as ever.
I find these words comforting. They also carry a truth that resonates regardless of the type of writing I’m doing, be it a chapter for a memoir, or a client article on a business topic. Depending on the day, I am either lost and “insecure” as I find my way to the story below the words or I’m buoyed by dreams of fame and fortune.
This is the writer’s life, and I count myself lucky to have it, and to be sharing that “pathless path” with all the members of our local chapter. When we gather online to share our “news and needs,” and in person to celebrate and socialize, the “pathless path” widens and deepens with community.
Happy holidays.
Carolyn
M. Carolyn Miller, MA, spent her career designing narrative- and game-based learning. Today, she consults and writes about narrative in our lives and world, the inextricable link between the two, and the critical role of self-awareness in transforming both. www.cultureshape.com
by Bruce Miller
Find Your Missing Items in An Archive
Libraries are obvious places for finding information and past issues of magazines.
But what if you misplaced a booklet you wrote or don’t have a copy of an article you wrote? Think about archives.
Over the years and through a few moves, I somehow misplaced copies of my writing.
My “Non-Smokers Assertiveness Guide” had disappeared. It was on my list of credits, but the actual booklet itself was nowhere to be found. And this had been produced on a typewriter! So, there was no digital copy of it on a hard drive anywhere.
One day I was searching around on the Internet with the booklet’s title, and it showed up in a library’s personal archive of a Shape magazine editor. (I had had communications with that editor and apparently had sent her a copy of the booklet.) I got in touch with the library that had the archive and sure enough, a copy of my booklet as published was in the archive. I provided the library with evidence that I was, indeed, the copyright holder and arranged for the library to photocopy the booklet for me. Missing item replaced.
In 1998 I wrote an article for Editor & Publisher magazine. For reasons lost to me, I did not have a copy of this article. Over the decades I would check a library every once in a while for the specific back issue with my article, which I knew was April 25, 1998. No luck. No library had that issue.
Then in 2024, I was searching the Internet for media mentions of awards given by the Society of Magazine Writers — the original name of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. This led me to a text version of a mention in an old Editor & Publisher Magazine issue. That led me to the scanned version of the magazine. I thought, maybe, that my article might be available. That led me to the exact issue with my article. I promptly took a screen shot of the two pages. The title and focus of my article were, ironically, “The Power And Value Of News Archives”.
The Editor & Publisher Magazine archives were not available before 2019. How they became available is a story in itself. See the link below for that story.
One of the most unlikely places for personal archives is in Laramie, WY. The University of Wyoming has a facility and operation called the American Heritage Center. Archives of Mort Weisinger, one of the founders of the Society of Magazine Writers — is at AHC. The AHC has LOTS of personal archives.
Editor & Publisher Magazine archives story:
https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/test,184640
Seattle Resident Bruce Miller is a true believer in the value of archives.
by Bruce Miller
Repurposing Content into an LMS
Squarespace understands the idea of repurposing content, with an obvious headline on one of its web pages: “Turn expertise into revenue with an online course”.
For example, content in the form of how-to books and magazine articles, following the Squarespace suggestion, can be converted into a paid course.
Online courses are frequently and commonly put on platforms called Learning Management Systems. A single Learning Management System is commonly referred to as an LMS. An LMS is one tool in the vast landscape of e-Learning tools.
An LMS is different from content creation software such as Articulate 360. The LMS delivers the content and tracks student progress. Content creation software focuses on creation of the course content.
Different LMS platforms have different features. Some platforms provide a mechanism to charge for a single course or a group of courses. Some provide tests or quizzes at the end of a course.
Squarespace, like many LMSs, allows for diverse types of assets incorporated into courses, such as video, image, text, audio, and downloadable files.
AI is now merging into e-Learning tools and into LMS. For example, Absorb LMS claims its AI tool can help produce and streamline course material to eliminate a lot of the time-consuming manual structuring of the learning modules.
The links below can help you get a grip on the vast e-Learning and LMS landscape.
e-Learning Simplified from eLearning Partners:
Overview of LMS on YouTube:
Example of AI integration into LMS:
Squarespace Courses
https://www.squarespace.com/ecommerce/online-courses
Seattle Resident Bruce Miller has used fleeq.io as a way to create short technical instructions with screen shots.
Black–tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) doe, Gold Hill, Oregon. © Maxine Cass
Member News and Announcements
Bruce Miller says,”A 1975 radio discussion on magazine writing by early members — and a founder of — the Society of Magazine Writers (SMW; now the American Society of Journalists and Authors, ASJA) have insightful comments about writing and being a writer. Some of these interesting points include: believe in yourself and keep plugging away; knowing that a professional writer is one who writes for others. Additionally, there are comments about early writing conferences created by the SMW.
Listen to the discussion here:
Joanna Nesbit (joannanesbit@comcast.net) is seeking ideas and contacts for future ASJA PNW meeting speakers.
NEWSLETTER PRODUCED BY
EDITOR: Maxine Cass
PROOFREADER: Catherine Kolonko
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE: Bruce Miller
*All stories are copyright by their respective writers.
*All photographs and illustrations are copyright by their creative makers.
*All rights are reserved to each of them for their own material.