Dear all, I am pleased to announce that AoIR has now commenced the process of electing a new Executive Committee to take office in October of this year to serve until October 2013. We are seeking members' interest in nominating for the new executive and providing notice for everyone of the voting timeline and procedures. I should also note that we have moved the election cycle up in time, in order that more people can participate in the process. Here is an overview of the election timeline, procedures and positions for nomination, as determined strictly by the Association's by-laws. Voting instructions will be provided later and separately. **Please note the different timing for officers and other positions** TIME FRAME OF THE ELECTION: 1. Call for Nominations: opens April 4, 2011 2. Nominations close for the 5 officer positions: April 18, 2011 Nominations close for the 3 open seats on the executive: May 3, 2011 3. Ballot sent to members May 24, 2011 4. Voting begins: May 25, 2011 5. Voting ends for 5 officer positions: June 3, 2011 Voting ends for 3 open seats: June 23, 2011 The new committee is formally announced and assumes its duties at the end of the Annual General Meeting during the AoIR conference, 10-13 October 2011. (Specific time of the AGM to be announced soon.) During the period of voting, a forum will be available for discussion with candidates. Candidates' statements will also be made available with the ballot sent to members. A QUICK ORGANIZATIONAL PRIMER: The organizational structure of AoIR is simple. There are 5 officers (President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Graduate Student representative), 3 open seat representatives and 2 appointed positions who together with the Immediate Past President make up the 11-member executive committee that runs the association. Elected officials hold their positions for two years. In this election, you are invited to nominate yourself or anyone else whom you think would do a good job, for any position other than the President - the current Vice President assumes the Presidency. Here are brief descriptions of positions 1. President: the "CEO", supervises the organization, performs certain legally required duties. [The Current VP becomes the President] 2. Vice President: "back up" for President, various duties as they arise; *becomes President after 2 years* 3. Secretary: Handles records and membership matters. 4. Treasurer: liaises with Secretary to maintain membership records; takes care of financial and related administrative duties (e.g., annual report to membership and U.S. tax authorities), including close attention to the annual Internet Research (IR) conference budget. 5. Graduate Student Representative: responsible for running graduate student activities. The Graduate Student Representative must be actively enrolled in a degree program at the time of nomination and election. All members can vote for the grad student representative. 6-8. Open Committee Seats: Three open Seats on the Executive Committee Represent membership of AoIR, contribute to decision making. Take responsibility for specific projects or activities to promote the association within their term. 9-10. Appointed positions to manage systems and email lists 11. Immediate Past President Candidates should also familiarize themselves formal statement of duties and responsibilities in the Association's by-laws: <http://aoir.org/about/bylaws-statements-and-policies/bylaws> NOMINATIONS AND ELECTION PROCESSES Only a member of AoIR can run for a position, nominated by anyone. If nominated for more than one position a nominee must choose to run for one (and only one) position in this election. You may nominate yourself or another person (or people). Self Nominations: Email AoIR Secretary Catherine Middleton < catherine.middleton@ryerson.ca> and indicate the position for which you are nominating and you will be added to the list of nominees. Please provide, in your nomination email a short candidate statement addressing the questions below. Nominating Others: Email AoIR Secretary Catherine Middleton < catherine.middleton@ryerson.ca> with the name of the person you want to nominate, the position for which you are nominating this person, contact information for that person, and an indication of whether you know if this person would accept this nomination (if you don't know, we'll contact them and ask). All candidates for election will be required to provide answers to the questions listed at the end of this email, have the answers posted to the AoIR election forum website, and participate in an online candidate forum. In addition the Graduate Student candidates must confirm in their response that they comply with the by-laws: the Graduate Student Representative must be actively enrolled in a degree program at the time of nomination and election. The voting system used by AoIR is one vote per member for each of the eight positions for election listed above. Votes are counted by a ballot counter who is a member of the Association but not a member of the executive. In the case of the five officers, the candidate with the highest number of votes shall be declared the winner; in the case of the open seats, the three candidates with the highest, second-highest and third highest votes shall be declared the winners of the open seats. In the case of tied results for the officer positions, the winner shall be determined by the ballot counter, by drawing of lots, using a method that ensures each of the tying candidates has an equal chance of success and witnessed by at least 1 person independent of the association. In the case of tied results for the open seat positions, the drawing of lots shall be used only when there are more tied candidates than seats available. QUESTIONS FOR CANDIDATES 1) What is your interest in this position? 2) What are your qualifications for this position (including prior experience and participation in AoIR)? 3) What are two or three short-term goals you would like to achieve through membership of the executive (include a rationale for each and how you would contribute to their achievement)? 4) What is your long-term vision for AoIR? 5) What else should voters consider when deciding whether or not to vote for you? In answering the questions, please be concise and give information specific to the position for which you are nominating and which will permit voters to assess your case for election to that position. In closing - please consider carefully contributing your time and energy to making AoIR even better in the upcoming years! I would also encourage persons interested in running for a specific position to contact the current office-holder(s) with any specific questions, etc. Many thanks in advance to all who will consider running and serving AoIR in this way. Mia -- Mia Consalvo, Ph.D. Visiting Associate Professor Comparative Media Studies Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Building 14N-226 Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 USA consalvo@mit.edu 617.324.1868