Goodbye AOS

[shakkai]

I have a rather basic question... What primary purpose is the AOS trying to fulfill? Is it primarily education? conservation? awards & judging? what?

I think one thing to think about is why online forums (like this one) are so successful/popular with people. Some reasons I think they are: they are quick and easy in most cases, they are on demand, they allow for any/all levels of expertise, they are not limited by physical geography, they are a place for people to connect and exchange ideas and information, they require as little or as much committment as a person is willing to give. Can any 'Society' or organization compete with that? Not likely. Granted there is sometimes a credibility question about on-line information from 'unknown' sources, but this is quite often overcome quite quickly.

Should orchid societies in general (AOS included) compete with providing these types of services? Or perhaps they could serve the orchid community in other ways that people will find valuable.

Just some random thoughts, really, but following this thread, and seeing similar things written in gardening magazines here about the RHS, it makes one wonder what is the future of 'Societies' in general...

[ronaldhanko]

Originally Posted by shakkai

I have a rather basic question... What primary purpose is the AOS trying to fulfill? Is it primarily education? conservation? awards & judging? what?

Perhaps this is the heart of the problem. Both the articles and the ads in the original AOS Bulletin will show that the primary purpose of the AOS was to provide a forum and information for ordinary orchid growers. That does not appear to be its primary purpose any longer, but perhaps the problem is that it is trying to be too many things to too many people.

[shakkai]

Originally Posted by ronaldhanko

Perhaps this is the heart of the problem. Both the articles and the ads in the original AOS Bulletin will show that the primary purpose of the AOS was to provide a forum and information for ordinary orchid growers. That does not appear to be its primary purpose any longer, but perhaps the problem is that it is trying to be too many things to too many people.

It may be that the world has changed and a print magazine is not the best way to fulfill that purpose any more. However, it seems that many members still want it to fulfill that purpose - which creates a problem.

I assume the AOS has a forum on its website? How many people use that forum & how useful is it?

Perhaps as the AOS sees its role changing, it is trying to find its new place and function. Rather than compete with other things that have taken over this role of providing basic information for ordinary growers. Perhaps that new role is to encourage more people into the orchid hobby, perhaps it is education, perhaps it is conservation, or advocacy (as Susie points out, this is an important role for national organizations), perhaps it is something else. Whatever it is, it needs to be very clear and direct and it then needs to consider the best form of communicating that mission to members and to the public, and the best means to achieve that mission, and then the best way of communicating what it has achieved.


There were several threads here on OB that had participation from people within the AOS administration. (Since AOS is such a common 'word' here, the search wouldn't work without other keywords, so I couldn't find more than one.) From what I recall one thread revolved mainly around education. Going to the AOS webite to look up their 'mission' it states:

The American Orchid Society's mission is to promote and support the passion for orchids through education, conservation, and research.

Now, does the magazine (one of the primary topics of debate in this thread) directly achieve one of these three key goals of their mission? Can it? Or is it there primarily to inform members of what has been achieved in these areas by other methods?

Is there a major research article each month? Is there an educational article each month? Is there something about orchid conservation each month? (i.e. are they fulfilling their stated aims?)

These are all really just random thoughts. And in fact, aren't necessarily about the AOS in particular (as I mentioned in my previous post, the same problems as being discussed here are problems for all membership based societies, especially gardening/plant ones). I am actually 'thinking aloud' and hoping to get some thoughts and ideas that can be applied by any such society.