Over the past year, several governance units – the Board Committee on Professional and Member Relations (P&MR), the Committee on Divisional Activities (DAC), and the Committee on Meetings and Expositions (M&E) – have been reviewing the Society’s policy regarding recording content delivered at ACS meetings. The committees are primarily interested in assessing whether the policy continues to meet the needs of the Society, including those who present and consume information delivered at our meetings.
The policy reads as follows: “The use of any device to capture images (e.g., cameras and camera phones) or sound (e.g., tape and digital recorders) or to stream, upload or rebroadcast speakers or presentations is strictly prohibited at all official ACS meetings and events without the express written consent from the ACS.”
As 2014 drew to a close, P&MR endorsed recommendations from DAC to undertake the following in 2015: (1) Maintain the current policy for the time being, (2) Increase efforts to publicize the existence of the policy to national meeting registrants, and (3) Conduct a survey of recent national meeting attendees to obtain their perspectives on the current recording policy -- in their distinct personas as speakers, and as members of the audience.
ACS is interested in learning if presenters and audience members differ in how they view the current recording policy. If it turns out they do indeed differ, the committees will investigate how they differ, and whether the competing views can be reconciled with one another, and other Society interests on this topic.
Among other things, the survey is also expected to provide insights into national meeting attendee awareness of the recording policy, and how much recording is currently occurring (in violation of the policy).
The final survey results will be reported to P&MR in June by DAC and M&E. Subsequently, the three committees will consider how the new data impacts the review of the current recording policy.
