[AJames]

Iceman and all,

I agree very much of what you say here.

There is a very useful adage here; "For things to change, I must change" - perhaps a useful forewarning to the amateur astronomical organisations that exist in Australia.

What I do find more interesting is regarding the lack or misdirected "terms of service" that our astronomical societies commonly have not and do not continue to offer its members.

Indeed, the core essentials of any such group;

1) The cost of public liability and the costs of somewhere to meeting somewhere are the bare essentials of any interest groups.
2) To offer good communication and knowledge to all the group’s membership. This might be through some journal or via the spoken word, or during gathered meetings or demonstration of methods of observational astronomy. It might also be towards the management or managerial skills of the Society.
3) Develop social and personal interactions between its members.
4) To commit to promoting the ideals of astronomy to the general public.

Of the advice to join up with some Society in your local area - advice I would have given without hesitation ten or twenty years ago. Now I'm no so sure.

Sadly, the socialist ideals are the very Achilles heel of these Societies and Associations in Australia. I do not mince my words in this regard. The non-associative behaviours of many of the elected management often are to the detriment of the Society - which become worst with either long-histories or money. Power corrupts absolutely - as they say - and giving authoritative Committees some semblance of power can be - and is - a common form of abuse against the needs of the membership. Members cannot even really complain about this - except for standing up at the AGM and voting the noncooperative ones out. It has been the now legalised enforcement now overseen by your local government authority - in New South Wales the Department of Fair Trading - who require information on the financial position and democratic mechanisms of the Society via presented Constitutions.
This in recent times has been made quite unworkable and destructive, and it is for this reason the vast majority of people (perhaps 90%) who are interested, say in astronomy, but do not participate in incorporated societies or associations. Those that do decide and take the plunge and join, find that only 10% will be involved in the organisation directly - either as the managing board or as the mentoring individuals providing the Q&A needs of the group.

This is why I say the astronomical society, as we know it, is dying - dying because of the slow and poor changes in the way we communicate knowledge about the subject. The reality is that nearly all astronomical societies are not responding to these liberating changes - and instead of opening there minds and allowing the membership freedom to find their own directions - are becoming more insular and irrelevant to what they traditionally provide.

If you were ask for my advice, if you are presently considering joining an established Society or Association think carefully about what their "terms of service" and whether you're annual fees are really worth it. Frankly you can probably get more out of groups like this one (blogs) or at least find someone to point you in the right direction to find the information you seek.

I would very much like to hear of both the good and bad experiences from all Ice in Space members here who do not post to these threads.

Andrew

NOTE: Another problem on the heavy reliance and burden on several mentors within the group to do the "free" advice and training for the new members - but I'll leave that to another future post...