Inside the AMS: The Work of the Communications Committee

The scope and media of AMS Communications have changed drastically in recent years. As recently as three years ago our committee’s remit included the hard copy of the AMS Newsletter, AMS-L, AMS Web pages, Musicology Now (identified at that time as “the AMS blog”), and the Committee on Obituaries. Now the newsletter is E-News, and electronic only; the AMS-L has been replaced by lively conversations on Twitter and Facebook as well as a burgeoning repository on Humanities Commons; and Musicology Now has moved to the purview of the Publications Committee and relaunched as a vibrant new “online platform for sounds, words, and ideas.”

The Communications Committee retains oversight over the newsletter and the website, and a subcommittee still does the important work of marking the passing of AMS members. The rest of our labor is evolving to better meet the changing needs of our Society. We collaborate with Executive Director Siovahn Walker and Communications and Programs Coordinator Alison McCarty on social media content and policy; we work with Office Manager Katie VanDerMeer and colleagues at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and at the Library of Congress on the Society’s joint lecture series with each institution; and we administer the Humanities Commons AMS group. We have also begun reviewing issues of access and inclusion in all aspects of Society communications.

Is there something you’d like the Communications Committee address? Please email me and let us know! Our committee of dedicated colleagues will do our best to assist.

Joy H. Calico
Director-at-Large and Chair, Communications Committee