(1985). Levine's Atlas of Corporate Interlocks. Connections ... - INSNA

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THESTATEOF THE NETWORK:AREPORTTOABB$ERS--BarryWellman
PEOPLE
We're undergoing some changes in personnel and administrative philosophy Jack Richardson, who's worked
hard (as Associate Editor and Coordinator) in administering INSNA is cutting back heavily in order to be
Assistant Prof . at McMaster University . While he's still available for editorial consultation, Sharon Bolt
is our principal administrator . Sharon is the administrative secretary at the Centre for Urban and Community
Studies here, and a whiz at books, dealing with subscribers, etc . She's already whipped our chaos into shape
this past year, and our complaints have dropped way down . Because Sharon is not a scholar helping INSNA as
a labour of love, it is only fair that we pay her a modest honourarium . On the other hand, the saving in
mental costs to me (B .W .) -- and the gain in efficient service to INSNA members -- makes it worth it .
We've also switched to a paid basis in several other areas . The Sociology Department here cut back its
typing support several years ago, and for the past two years we've had to pay typists (anywhere from $300 to
$500 -- please note, these are depreciated Canadian dollars) principally to do the abstracts and book stuff .
We're also paying very modest sums to chase up abstracts and get mailings out . All told, these changes mean
that INSNA is paying out about $2,000 a year (about $7 .50/member) more than it was a few years ago .
So far we can handle it . Our recent dues increase from $12 to $15 helps (decided on at the last Sunbelt),
we've picked up a few more institutional subscriptions (@ $25), subs, to SOCIAL NETWORKS are picking up (and
we get a nice fee for everyone we handle) and most importantly, we have benefited from the strength of the
American dollar (US$15 =C$20) . Right now, we have a cushion in our bank accounts to help hold dues at current
levels .
DIRECTORY
A big project this past summer was moving our directory/mailing list from a mainframe/APL program to a
microcomputer . This had to be done because the Sociology Department's new mainframe doesn't support APL . In
any event, the program was very expensive in terms of computer time ; while we hadn't been paying for it, the
powers that be were unhappy .
Fortunately my research project was buying a microcomputer anyway . While my research had no need of a
hard disk (we use a mainframe for SAS), INSNA did for efficient use of the mailing list/directory and for our
proposed new abstract service . Hence I took it upon myself to contribute $2,500 of INSNA funds to an upgraded,
hard-disk microcomputer (IBM AT) .
I thought long about this because of the substantial commitment of INSNA money, but I consulted informally
with a number of you who said "Sure, go ahead!" The $2,500 just about covers the cost of the hard disk and
database program (CORNERSTONE) . (For those of you appalled by these prices, please note that these are
Canadian dollars, that Canadian prices are much higher than American, that 47th St . Camera does not have a
branch here, and we got probably the best price available in Canada .)
After the usual adventures in computerland, we've implemented the directory/mailing list (Alicia Van Der
Meer, an undergraduate working on a federal summer grant did most of the work, and did it well . She's staying
on, at INSNA expense, to maintain it .)
The new program also gives us more capacity to do flexible searches -- answering such queries as which
organizational analysts live in California . Most likely we'll expand our keyword list for the next directory
so that we can develop this service .
ABSTRACT DATABASE
Alicia & I also worked this summer on preparing a database for abstracts, books and theses . Our hope
is to move from typing (or even word processing) this stuff for CONNECTIONS to preparing them with a database
program . In this way, not only would the entries be published in CONNECTIONS but they would be available online
for future searches (e .g ., studies of gerontology and social support in 1985) .
We're proposing to edit each abstract, etc ., for keywords as well as entering its text directly . In
this way we can do standardized and more rapid retrievals, albeit at the cost of increased editorial time .
Our draft list of keywords is appended . PLEASE COMMENT ON THEM BY MARCH 1 . Note that increasing the number
of keywords will increase editorial coding time (but also give more retrieval capacity) . The current list
is a tradeoff . Besides content keywords, we also propose codes by discipline (e .g ., sociology), source (e .g .,
journal article), type (e .g ., computer application) .
We think we need a better database program than CORNERSTONE to implement this . The problem is that
CORNERSTONE only takes 255 character fields . While it can have multiple fields (thereby giving us the 4K
characters or so we need for an abstract) it insists on starting each of these fields on a new line . This
would produce unsightly holes in the text, and CORNERSTONE does not have much word processing/formatting
flexibility .