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FOUNDATIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATION
stakeholders. The year 2008, therefore, was a transformative
one for the website and database through the efforts of the
steering committee. The mammoth project for the website
was completed within its time frame and it progressively
became more and more operational in the latter half of
2009. In anticipation of its success, Dilthey said ‘The new
website will thereby facilitate improved communication
within the ranks of the IIW and help to improve the image
of welding and to promote the aims and objectives of our
organisation’.
29
Mayer, in extending her sincere gratitude to
key persons, made special mention of Ms Sheila Thomas
(UK) for her assistance and sterling efforts in making the
website the success that it was. Mayer was also to reflect on
the past means of distributing information within IIW and
drew comparisons to a time when she first became associated with IIW in 2001 as the
French delegate to Commissions IV
Power Beam Processes
(C-IV)
and VI
Terminology
(C-VI). ‘When I started it was not surprising
to see a Chairman with a second suitcase containing hard copies
to be shared with the delegates. Now we have a robust electronic
management system and we are using modern communication
tools (online meetings, Facebook, news on website).’
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Lingering disappointment with the earlier
versions dissipated with the introduction of
the new website and database. It was a key
marketing and communication tool which led
to a significant increase in visitors accessing
the site. According to the new Chair of WG-
COM&MARK, Mag. Sylke Kanits (Austria),
the website had a staggering 60% increase in
traffic in its first year of operation.
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Kanits, who came from a marketing
background, took over the Chair of the Working Group from Mayer in 2009
and in doing so was to bring about significant changes in the promotion of
IIW and the way it was presented to the world as a scientific organisation.
The database, which was incorporated into the website, was another aspect that
required continual updating and improvement and considerable effort was expended in
doing so. For example, in 2013, around 7 000 papers from the period 1980-2000 were
retrieved from microfilm and transferred to the IIW database. By 2015 it was reported that a
further 15 000 papers had been transferred to the database and that the number of downloads
had increased by 26%.
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Sheila Thomas
Sylke Kanits