Certification

Assuming that the vote will have a positive outcome, since it seems
that even many people with reservations want to move ahead, I expect
that this discussion will continue.  I suggest that a new part of
the AIC web site be created (or a new mailing list), with an
archives of the current discussion and with the texts of various
documents. This should include the recent ones and ones listed on
the front of the November 1984 Newsletter (yes, children, we did
know how to write back then in prehistoric times, even without
computers!).  The list includes "Certification: a discussion paper,"
a transcript of a session on certification at the 1984 annual
meeting, and a follow-up session the following year, continuing
dialogue in the newsletter, a document "defining and clarifying the
current meaning of certification" scheduled for 1985, and several
others.  Some of these came from the Committee on Accreditation and
Certification, which operated from 1977-1986, some from the Paper
Board of Examiners, and others from the AIC Board.

I know this is a lot of material, and I don't expect people to
memorize it, but given the number of younger members and the
complexity of the topic, it would be helpful.  People could search
it on their computer so they could, for example, read about the
difference between licensing and certification, and other issues
which are a matter of fact and legality, not opinion.

Having this material easily available, and having an open forum for
all AIC members similar to what the OSG and the Cons DistList
provided in the last couple of weeks, would go a long way toward
erasing any feeling that people are not being heard or that access
to information is being managed in a limiting way.

Barbara Appelbaum


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:39
                Distributed: Tuesday, December 10, 2002
                       Message Id: cdl-16-39-015
                                  ***