IFAS Committee

Folks - does anyone know if the IFAS committee as listed on this site is up-to-date? If its not, can anyone provide me with a list of the updated committee and their various contact details?

Cheers

Dave

This list will only be relevant until next Sunday, Dave, for it is then that the elections will be held for new officeholders.

David Bell

Chair

Any idea what time that meeting is scheduled for? It would be nice to have some kind of nominations process/procedure in place for before the meetings. Perhaps this is something we can discuss.

Folks - does anyone know if the IFAS committee as listed on this site is up-to-date? If its not, can anyone provide me with a list of the updated committee and their various contact details?

Cheers

Dave

The list on this site is at least one year out of date. Getting contact details for the entire committee is incredibly difficult. Only two or three of 'em use this forum for instance. We had a bit of a time getting in touch with the committee last year before the Ob Challenges went live, but it all worked out in the end.

Is it just me, or does IFAS need a bit of a revision?

Is it just me, or does IFAS need a bit of a revision?

I blame the secretary. Failing that I blame the PRO.

We need a more active committee. Or at least a mechanism that we can actually make decisions a lot more regularly. To that end I'd like to have all committee reps listed on the board to make decisions in the IFAS committee board. That list should also include, in a non voting capacity the more active members of IFAS clubs who would be interested in helping organise and run IFAS events.

The observing certs are a great example of where if we waited for official IFAS sanction we would have been at least 6 months later getting anything out, by which time the momentum would have gone. Even trying to organise getting some sort of co-ordinated observing is problematic. Believe me getting viewing details from clubs to put on the Irish[1] and ESO[2] site was like pulling teeth in most cases.

The first thing to do at the IFAS meeting on Sunday morning should be to work out who exactly the reps for each club are and get email addresses. I appreciate that not everyone is online, but in terms of organising IFAS events and making decisions on a more than twice yearly basis this forum is the best option[3].

Cheers,
~Al

[1] netsoc.ucd.ie/~albertw/venustransit.ie/w...ansit.ie/clubs2.html
[2] vt-2004.org/vt-net/vt-net-ireland.html
[3] Somehow we will get Mr. Mosley on here!

I agree about the sluggish trend IFAS has had of late. At last Cosmos' AGM, it was said by one committee member that this sluggish behaviour was so that it did not appear that we were in any form of competition with Astronomy Ireland, for an example. We are not, there is no competition, or bad blood, its just the way certain constitutions have been drawn etc etc etc (lets not get into THAT argument again!).

IFAS does need to buckle up and take a more positive, in your face approach. There are only a handful of members ere that (almost) constantly keep the boat afloat (Venus Transit, Astronomy Day, Observing Challenges, Arcturus, site "maintenance" to name but a few).

This website needs to be updated, more sections added (Observing Certs, more ILPAC, even Upcoming Events of all sorts) - its an umbrella that has never been opened fully. And it DOES NOT need to be left to one person aka Bart to do all that. There are quite a few of us here adequately proficient in web stuff to lend a colourful hand.

If suggestions for Sunday morning are needed, let me know and I'll add my 2 cents worth. Otherwise, I can only attend on Saturday of the event, so I'll accept backlashes there!

Seanie.