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Fig. 2. Twitter post showing an example of a summary and a shortened link to a web article.
Community of Science). In addition, social network users can form, join, and interact in common-interest groups. There are already several groups on these sites for connecting people interested in acoustics; we are aware of groups of acousticians that have created interest groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Having members of the acoustics community align their online identities with groups like these is a great first start. However, the acoustics community can use the social net- works for more than simply maintaining a badge of affilia- tion—it could also harness the capability of these networks as a means of distributing acoustics content. Members of the millennial generation may feel underserved by a monthly newsletter, which often appears to them as slow and already outdated by the time it is published. Instead, the acoustics community may be better served by instantly disseminating acoustics content amongst its membership, taking advantage of the built-in ability of social networks to broadcast infor- mation. For example, if a web link to an acoustics news item such as might appear in the ECHOES newsletter were posted on a Acoustical Society of America Group Page on a social network, the information would be delivered to members of the group. Distribution is automatic, nearly effortless, world- wide, and very effective.
Perhaps an even more radical departure from traditional communications comes in the form of the increasingly pop- ular social micro-blogging services. Twitter is a high-profile example—it allows members to send out messages of 140 characters or less to a group of other users that have elected to receive the sender’s messages. Because of the space limita- tion, more in-depth content is usually distributed with a brief headline followed by a shortened link to an external website. An example of such a message is shown in Fig. 2. The poten- tial also exists for using micro-blogging services to spread relevant content to the acoustics community. For example, Twitter feeds could be used to distribute the “Acoustics in the News” section from the ECHOES newsletter; already the Society’s Student Council uses a Twitter account (@ASAStudents) to quickly spread the word about student events at society meetings.
It certainly would benefit the acoustics community to have the tools in place to harness social networks, thereby exposing its members to the latest events in the field and increasing the visibility of acoustics in general. However, for the success of such a social networking presence, content must be supplied by an apparent authority on the subject, such as the Society, or the feed may not be considered reputable.
Dedicated acoustics sites
Up to this point, we have addressed online opportunities without fully discussing the need for infrastructure. As has been mentioned several times already, we feel there is a criti- cal need for the establishment of strong, dedicated resources to unify and anchor the online acoustics community. There are two major sites sponsored by the ASA that act as hubs for the acoustics community: asa.aip.org and acoustics.org. Since these appear among the top 5 results under “acoustics” in most search engines, there is significant potential to use these websites to expose new Internet users to acoustics. The Society’s Home Page is the central hub for all things related to the Acoustical Society of America. We understand that major revisions of the asa.aip.org site are currently underway to upgrade the look and functionality of this site and it will be released very soon.
The acoustics.org site is another valuable hub for the general acoustics community. It houses information on acoustical news, textbooks, upcoming events, academic pro- grams, demonstrations, employment, and a number of other great resources. It has the potential to be an excellent refer- ence and outreach page. However, there are several aspects of the page that must be improved to maintain its effectiveness. The design is outdated, giving the impression of a neglected page. There are also far too many broken links and dated sec- tions. Subpages should be expanded and modernized to include links to related wikis, shared multimedia, online maps and professional networks. The acoustics.org site should carry the reputation of the Acoustical Society so that their members feel comfortable that materials retrieved there are trustworthy and of excellent quality.
In short, we believe that it vitally important to health of the Society that these pages not only be updated and mod- ernized but maintained on a continual basis. Unlike other efforts outlined in this article, the changes we advocate for these central sites are not likely to be successfully realized without official and significant effort by the Society; we anticipate these initiatives will require the full-time support of one or more individuals. Once established, these resources can connect to the existing informational resources, multi- media, and social networking discussed in previous sections to provide a comprehensive online resource for acoustics which we feel will be much more successful in promoting the Society and attracting new members.
Conclusion
Our vision is to see a renewed student interest in acoustics. The Millennial generation, having embraced a cul- ture of internet-enabled connectivity, likely includes prime candidates for the acoustics community. With the new com- munications technologies that this generation has embraced comes multiple opportunities that we must recognize and use to our advantage. Ignoring these resources will limit the abil- ity of the acoustics community to connect and outreach, both now and in the future.
We feel the most crucial item on the agenda is to create and update central hubs for acoustics on the Internet. These would serve as go-to resources for anyone interested in
22 Acoustics Today, October 2010