IVOA Media Group Charter
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The IVOA Media Group aims to disseminate the latest news and information about Virtual Observatory developments to both VO [experts] and the general astronomy community. To achieve this, the Media Group will cater both VO experts and novices through targeted messages which:

- inform the VO community of Virtual Observatory developments, applications, standards, workshops, meetings, etc.
- show the general astronomy community the benefits/advantages of VO for their science on small and large scales

via various channels including social media. The Media Group's major areas of work to accomplish this goal are:

1.	Social Media
2.	IVOA Newsletter
3.	IVOA Web pages
4.	Outreach

1. Social Media

Social media are an effective channel for communication, and are becoming increasingly important for professional information. The IVOA Media Group will be the primary responsible party for enacting the IVOA social media presence, pending Exec comments and approval. The social media presence will aim to provide as much of a global coverage as possible, in particular, covering the countries of the IVOA member organizations. 

Procedure:

The Media Group will setup official accounts on widely-used social media platforms. At the time of this writing, these will be a Facebook (specifically a Facebook Group) and Twitter, and the Chinese-counterparts Weibo and WeChat.

The Media Group will setup official accounts on the widely-used social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. Since these two platforms are banned in China, the Media Group will also setup accounts on the Chinese counterpart platforms Weibo and WeChat.

Social media accounts may be controlled with a social media management tool (e.g., Hootsuite) to help schedule and post messages. [Add procedure for distributing social media in China. Hootsuite has a plugin for WeChat, but it might only be for the Hootsuite Enterprise (not free) edition.]

The Media Group will write a set of scheduled posts per media platform for a TBD amount of time. The scheduled posts will be sent to the Exec for approval prior to publication.

For posts whose relevancy is time-sensitive, (e.g., interesting discoveries / conclusions mentioned at a conference), posts are referred to the Media Group Chair for approval. This mainly applies to Twitter and WeChat posts. The Media Group will set up a policy on what material can be posted without Exec approval.

[other stuff -- how to add this in? is it too detailed? more importantly, what do you guys think of these ideas?]
Management within Media Group
  - have scheduled time periods for each member where one person is in charge of doing the official media group posts for a period of time
    - person-in-charge can and should ask for other Media Group / VO-contacts on community feedback/comments that the person in charge is not comfortable answering
  - have a list of VO-experts and scientists willing to help out answering the community's questions

Engagement with the community:
  - advertise a VO tool for a week with scheduled posts
  - have guest tweets / facebook posts

2. IVOA Newsletter

The IVOA newsletter aims to bring the latest news about Virtual Observatory applications to astronomers by drawing upon developments throughout the international VO community and the national projects linked by the IVOA. It is composed of short (~100 word) articles highlighting new VO capabilities, together with a list of recent papers and upcoming events. It is compiled by an editorial team within the Media Group (with a chief editor assigned for each issue) and is reviewed by an oversight group from the IVOA exec. It is to be published twice per year on the IVOA web pages, and distributed by IVOA members to their respective astronomer communities, as well as posted to IVOA social media accounts.

Procedure:

Editors solicit short articles from VO projects via the interop@ivoa.net mailing list, and also from presentations given at IVOA interop meetings. Articles are to be submitted to newsletter-editors@ivoa.net.

The list of VO papers is generated from searches on ADS, and lists compiled by VO projects (currently SVO provides the list).

The common style based on the original HTML template is to be used. The short articles can include typically one figure/image which is shown as a thumbnail image in the newsletter and links to the full size image.

Distribution:

Distribution is intended to be done by IVOA members advertising the newsletter by providing the link to ivoa.net/newsletter e.g. mailing to science community mailing lists saying: 'The November 2017 issue of the IVOA Newsletter is now available at ivoa.net/newsletter', followed by a short list / paragraph of topics covered in the news letter. 

In addition there is an email notification from the IVOA document coordinators via the interop mailing list (interop@ivoa.net) with the message 'New issue of the IVOA Newsletter', as well as an announcement on IVOA social media accounts.

Feedback from the newsletter and submission of articles is to be directed at news-editors@ivoa.net .

(This distribution proposal puts the onus on IVOA members to distribute it via their own science community lists. It avoids the issue of compiling and managing a big mail-out list, but it does provide the option of direct email or RSS notification. )

3. IVOA Web pages

The IVOA web pages at http://ivoa.net require a major redesign to increase interest in and provide clear, common [obviously-adventageous capabilities] advantages [or 'use cases'?] of VO for the general astronomer. The IVOA Media Group will be responsible for redesigning the IVOA web pages with a goal of showing how VO helps astronomers do science. The group will also regularly review and propose updates to the site's content and look-and-feel.

Procedure:

a. Website redesign

The Exec will provide the key points to highlight in the redesign, and the Media Group will review, organize and implement the changes locally with support from the CSP. Then, the Media Group will present the proposed changes to the Exec for approval and iteration. Once agreed, the Media Group will ask the IVOA document coordinators to make these changes.

b. Website maintenance:

The Media Group reviews the pages and sends suggested changes to the Exec for approval and iteration. Once agreed, the Media Group will ask the IVOA document coordinators to make these changes.

4. Outreach

The Media Group outreach activities aim to get the Virtual Observatory out to the VO [astronomy] community and scientific community at large. 

The outreach activities will be done in coordination with the IVOA Interest Group in Education (Edu IG).

>> I thought the Edu IG was more about engaging educators and the  broader public?

[List types of outreach activites? 
Mention publicity material? ]

>> having individual members do user stories on how science has been done in the VO and posting them on web pages would be useful
>> Announcements through professional society newsletters.
>> I wonder if the Media group cold play a role in community outreach workshops and tutorials? Advertising them is one approach, but also maybe collecting information - best practices, use case examples ,…
  - yes, agreed. As

Aim at getting undergraduates

- we can develop a couple slides to give to summer internship programs that highlight VO-enabled tools/services. Usually there's some intro presentation given to summer interns, and we could ask those institutions to add those slides to the presentation
  -- similarly, we can provide them handouts developed by the Edu IG (or make our own if that's more appropriate)
- at AAS, we can have someone at the Undergraduate Fair to talk to students and hand them VO materials -- a business card with a pointer to a website with VO use-cases and a booth number, pens, stickers

Current IVOA Media Group members:

Deborah Baines
Bruce Berriman
Jamie Budynkiewicz
Theresa Dower
Giulia Iafrate
Simon O'Toole
Li Shanshan
Yihan Tao

Members are to be identified/volunteered via all WGs and the IVOA Exec.

-- end of charter

The following is just some other little bits that could replace other sections of the charter.

The IVOA web pages at http://ivoa.net require a major redesign to increase interest in and provide clear, common advantages [use cases?] of VO for the general astronomer. The IVOA Media Group will be responsible for redesigning the IVOA web pages with a goal of showing how VO helps astronomers do science. The group will also regularly review and propose updates to the content, as well as maintaining a modern look and feel.
Procedure:
1. Website redesign
The Exec will provide the key points to highlight in the redesign, and the Media Group will review, organize and implement the changes locally with support from the CSP. Then, the Media Group will present the proposed changes to the Exec for approval and iteration. Once agreed, the Media Group will ask the IVOA document coordinators to make these changes.
2. Website maintenance:
The Media Group reviews the pages and sends suggested changes to the Exec for approval and iteration. Once agreed, the Media Group will ask the IVOA document coordinators to make these changes.
Other Intro ideas which showcase the two audiences we want to cater to:
The IVOA Media Group is a [working group? what's our place in the IVOA infrastructure?], whose aim is to disseminate the latest news and information about Virtual Observatory developments to both VO [experts/insiders] and the general astronomy community via various channels including social media. To achieve this, the Media Group will cater both [VO experts and novices - OR - VO and non-VO scientists] through targeted messages in the following major [media/mediums]:

1.	Social Media
2.	IVOA Newsletter
3.	IVOA Web pages
4.	Outreach

The IVOA Media Group aims to disseminate the latest news and information about Virtual Observatory developments, applications, standards, workshops, meetings, etc., to astronomers via various channels including social media. Messages will be catered to IVOA members and/or the general astronomy community, with the goal of showing the benefits of VO for their science. To achieve this, the Media Group's major areas are the following:

1.	Social Media
2.	IVOA Newsletter
3.	IVOA Web pages
4.	Outreach