Information – areacommittees.cometgold.com

Notice of Motion Approved

I am pleased to announce,

(to virtually no one yet…), that the Edmonton EGSC committee approved, and with a vast majority, the notice of motion put before them to include a line item on our budget dedicated to the support of this website.

Over the course of the last few months, God has placed me in positions that allowed me to tell my story, and to explain to several what I hope to make possible with the use of this site. It is strange how life develops, because many of those were present to support the initiative this evening with their votes. I thank you, very much, for your support.

Over the course of the next several months, I will attempt to transition from the old WordPress.com blog, to this WordPress.org site. The differences are many, most notably the elimination of pay-walls, but not the material of this post. The adoption rate of our current speaker base is a prime consideration, as they have been through a lot of changes over the past year.

New speakers coming into service through our upcoming speaker workshop will significantly change the group dynamic going forward, as they will be the first round of speakers I will have a chance to talk to in person regarding the use of our blog and website.

At this point, I’m unsure if this site will be ready enough for introduction to this new round of speakers, or a different type of roll out will have to be adopted. I will have to sleep on this and ask for the answer.

Use as a communication tool for the Edmonton PI/CPC committee will be the primary focus for now, and that will help write the policies and procedures that will be needed as the site grows, if indeed that is what God has in store.

The A.A. Guidelines for Internet have been read over many times. Save for the formation of a committee dedicated to its use (which is forming now), there is little in that regard that this site has not taken into account. However, I encountered significant difficulty in getting the word out past our committee regarding our intentions because I am not a GSR*, and rather than sit idly by, I decided to donate the funds needed to get the site to this point ($25 CAD).

Pictures are more than a thousand words, especially when it comes to the internet. Upon reflection, I can find little cause for concern where it comes to the Traditions, Guidelines, and Concepts I have spent the last 16 years of my life trying to adhere to. ** Edit – A global password now protects this site from outside eyes during development. **

Perhaps, that may be proven false, but here is your chance to create an informed opinion yourself — a right our traditions demand.

Here it is, in all its imperfection….

* I joined PI/CPC as a speaker looking to get into service in spring of ’16, and attended a committee meeting in the fall to inquire why…. and the rest is history. Perhaps, after this settles down, other service positions…

Berth of the Blog

Generally, this area will be used for news and upcoming major events rather than posting monthly events as in the past. Our calendar is intended as the “goto” place for those events, and can be committee specific.

Admittedly, not all aspects of this space have been entirely thought out. Thus the use of the term “berth” in the title. The concept for this site was borne during the trial period of our blog, where many lessons were learned, and there is much work yet to be done prior to prime-time.

Development began in the last week of August, 2017, with the purchase of the domain name ~~www.aaservices.org~~ *changed to www.areacommittees.org* It was pointed at a server space, and I began putting the pieces together that you see here. My knowledge of web-design is growing daily.

As has been mentioned in other areas of this space, collaboration is the purpose of this site, and I am only one person. Daily, I remind myself to not be “the director”, thus possibly excluding the vast experience and ideas of our members, which could bring in ideas and concepts previously not thought of. I look forward to those discoveries.

All aspects of this site are open-source software, with user-friendly administration areas, so rotation (passing it on) is not accompanied with a steep learning curve. Consultations over a term of some weeks should set an incoming member on course with comfort.

Next on deck is finding beta-testers to “run amok” and find the flaws and operational bottlenecks every site has but cannot be found until put out into the wild. The important concept here is that it does not have to be perfect at first, it just has to work as a tool to reach the alcoholic that still suffers.

God willing, it will gain acceptance and support, and with that, become what it is intended to be. The best our community has to offer.

RY,

Mike R.

*While in my opinion the original name remains entirely appropriate given the scope of what this site may become, www.areacommittees.org was deemed less “confusing” for users during the growth cycle. It was anticipated develop into subdomains such as edmonton.aaservices.org, or calgary aaservices.org, but on its own, it simply wouldn’t survive the peer scruitiny long enough to require the addition of the subdomain, and thus remove any question of association with aa.org. So be it.

Group conscience is what it is, and it was changed. Sadly, this controversy transpired immediately preceeding the November Speakers’ Workshop, hampering a long anticipated launch to a large round of prospective speakers, but such is the learning curve, not to mention Gods’ will. Retention of the domain name is inexpensive, should it ever be desired to change it back. ***