The Focus Fusion Society Forums Building a Better Focus Fusion Society FFS Newsletter Protocol: Feedback please!

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #1311
    Rezwan
    Participant

    As some of you are aware, we’ve switched over to a new newsletter format (Sign up if you haven’t already). We hope you are having as much fun receiving our emails as we are generating them. Let us know what you think about our emerging email plans:

    Baseline: We plan to send one “Focus Fusion Society Newsletter” each month to all the folks who have signed up to the mailing list.

    [em]Feedback request: [/em] We’d appreciate your suggestion for themes (one a month).


    Dues Paying Members:
    We’ve had a practice of sending out the LPPX Updates to dues paying members in advance of publication to the broader internet audience. We can continue to do that and send out dues paying members an additional email each month (the “LPPX Update Transmittal Letter”).

    [em]Question: [/em]Should we end this practice and make the information available right away to everyone?

    Proliferation:
    Those of you who updated your mailing list preferences might find yourself getting “Fusion Energy League” emails as well. You can unsubscribe at any time, and you can also sign up for more. Generation of this “more” is dependent on the continued growth of the organization, of course! And also of more involvement by members in generating content. More on that in the upcoming general newsletter, and we invite your feedback here as well!

    #11392
    Ivy Matt
    Participant

    I don’t know about themes. I’d imagine the themes ought to be determined by the issues or successes that crop up during the month’s research. One thing I would like to see is some continuity between updates. As it is, it seems that various figures (e.g. pinch voltage, neutron counts, energy output in joules, ion temperatures, electron temperatures) are mentioned in one month’s update and then ignored for the next few months. I realize that part of the reason for that is likely due to the delays caused by various mechanical issues, and maybe it doesn’t make sense to give new figures when they haven’t changed lately. Still, I’ve found it helpful to keep my own list of figures (based on largely on the milestones) and update it according to the information given in the monthly updates.

    I am not currently a dues-paying member, but I have no problem with the dues-paying members receiving the updates a bit early. Plus, it gives me a bit of incentive to become a dues-paying member.

    I’ve signed up for most of the mailing list categories, just to see what it’s like. If the volume is too great (something I don’t anticipate for now) I will probably unsubscribe from some of them.

    Also, according to the January update most readers thought last year’s year-end report was too detailed? o_O Who are these people?

    #11397
    Rezwan
    Participant

    Hey Ivy Matt! Thanks for the response! Yes, pay your dues already. You’ll get/be part of a warm (10Bn degree) fuzzy feeling. How much more incentive do you need? 🙂

    Ivy Matt wrote: I don’t know about themes. I’d imagine the themes ought to be determined by the issues or successes that crop up during the month’s research.

    Yes! And this speaks to the issue we’ve been grappling with for some time – that FFS and LPP are seen as the same entity, and that FFS is exclusively about LPP research. (This affirms the need to spin off the Fusion energy League as a separate organization. It really does detract from the FFS core focus).

    OK, let’s work with that. You are actually referring to the LPP reports in your comment – but they call them Focus Fusion reports so the conflation is understandable. The takeaway here is, why fight it, coordinate better with LPP. And keep in mind, we have to do this, but in a way that makes it clear we’re not the marketing division of LPP (unless we really are, in which case we should just accept it and merge).

    We could indeed go into more depth about the research results and keeping track of the context as you suggest here:

    One thing I would like to see is some continuity between updates. As it is, it seems that various figures (e.g. pinch voltage, neutron counts, energy output in joules, ion temperatures, electron temperatures) are mentioned in one month’s update and then ignored for the next few months.

    Could the theme be continuity and tracking? One month is all about “the Pinch” and one about “neutron counts” and so forth, until we build up a framework that people can better understand the experiment with?

    I realize that part of the reason for that is likely due to the delays caused by various mechanical issues, and maybe it doesn’t make sense to give new figures when they haven’t changed lately. Still, I’ve found it helpful to keep my own list of figures (based on largely on the milestones) and update it according to the information given in the monthly updates.

    Great! This is even better than cash contributions! You’re keeping track, and you probably have a wish list of things you’d like to see. Can you start an article stub on the wiki and develop this, and then when you guys think it’s good, we’ll include it in the newsletter to the masses? That would be AWESOME!

    I’ve signed up for most of the mailing list categories, just to see what it’s like. If the volume is too great (something I don’t anticipate for now) I will probably unsubscribe from some of them.

    Yep. For now there will be no volume : ) Those are placeholders for an imagined future when the Fusion Energy League has a staff of writers or a great platform with regular contributors. For now, the lists help us see what areas people are interested in and who is interested in what more specifically.

    Indeed, the purpose there is for outreach to the broader public, for coalition building. The time will come when we try to build coalitions with other groups – for example, when we go to woo the space enthusiasts. We’d send folks from those communities a fusion/space themed newsletter. Also, we’d like to find out who the people are already in our community who are also connected to those communities, so that we can work with them on tailoring pro fusion messages to their other group.

    Also, according to the January update most readers thought last year’s year-end report was too detailed? o_O Who are these people?

    This was the LPP update. They said it, not us. I don’t know who these “most readers” are. Perhaps LPP investors.

    #11445
    Ivy Matt
    Participant

    Well, the good news is that I’m making money now. The bad news is that it’s not in U.S. dollars. I realize that’s not a show-stopper, but I haven’t yet decided the best way to go about getting the money across.

    I think I understand what you’re asking now. Every month the FFS will be sending out a newsletter that will include a link to the LPP update, but should also include some other stuff not directly related to LPP research. Correct? In that case, I think the thing I would be most interested in is news from other fusion projects, including but not limited to such mainstream projects as ITER and NIF. I guess the big question is how to filter what is newsworthy and what isn’t. Is it worth mentioning that Tri Alpha is looking to hire a computer programmer with a degree in either computer science or plasma physics?

    Regarding my list of figures, unfortunately I haven’t maintained it for a number of months, but I’ll see what I can do to get it updated to the end of January, 2012. Looking at the last few updates, I will probably need to add some new categories.

    #11448
    Rezwan
    Participant

    Ivy Matt wrote:
    I think I understand what you’re asking now. Every month the FFS will be sending out a newsletter that will include a link to the LPP update, but should also include some other stuff not directly related to LPP research. Correct? In that case, I think the thing I would be most interested in is news from other fusion projects, including but not limited to such mainstream projects as ITER and NIF.

    Yes. Think of it as part of the FFS social media strategy. What is the organization trying to accomplish with newsletters? What is the organization trying to accomplish, in general? If our newsletters are all about LPP news, plus a few other fusion projects – that would make us a news aggregator: FFS as a media outlet reporting on fusion, mostly LPP, and stochastically a few others. Is that our purpose? We’re a nonprofit, a charity. Seems like there should be a deeper purpose and it should come through in the newsletters.

    Rule of thumb, no more than 5 topics per newsletter. One paragraph per topic, linking back to our website. We don’t have to do it this way, it’s just a suggestion from other social media practitioners.

    Regarding my list of figures, unfortunately I haven’t maintained it for a number of months, but I’ll see what I can do to get it updated to the end of January, 2012. Looking at the last few updates, I will probably need to add some new categories.

    Thank you! Much appreciated! Better than Money. Congratulations on the job, by the by!

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.