Technology and the internet: Its impact on APA and its members of all ages

How are rapid changes in technology and the internet impacting the APA and its members?  Does such changing technology alter how older and younger psychologists “mentor” one another? This pair of questions is part of the 2008 APA Membership Board’s Strategic Plan now under consideration.  On the positive side, technology surely makes all sorts of communication easier and more powerful–including publications and information retrieval.  On the negative side, technology adds new financial and communication challenges. Moreover, as APA members’ average age inches above 60 years, many older psychologists are internet-illiterate, unfamiliar with Facebook and iPods, and welcome a younger “mentor” to reconnect with their own field. In just the past 10 years, it has become inconceivable to picture an APA officer who has no email address. 

At the 2008 APA in Boston, the APA Membership Board and the APA Society for General Psychology convened a symposium and conversation hour to bring together several experts from different areas to review the age factor in the embrace of technology, and the significance of this for APA and its membership.  This includes six presentations by eight leaders in the field. **  

 

 

1. Pressing issues of age and technology applied to psychology

Harold Takooshian, Fordham University

               In his science fiction novel Childhood’s end (1953), Arthur C. Clarke foresaw an odd future world where roles would reverse, as children had to explain bold new technologies to their elders.  Of course that world is now here, for anyone who has seen a savvy five-year-old at their computer, patiently trying to explain email and the internet to not-so-savvy grandpa.  As futurist Alvin Toffler warned us in his documentary Future shock (1970), the personal computer changes everything—including psychology. 

               APA knows this. In 2008, APA shifted from a smaller Membership Committee to a now-larger APA Membership Board, in part to apply empirical methods to probe increasingly complex issues of APA membership.  On 6 April 2006, Membership Chairperson John Robinson hosted the first-ever APA Membership Summit in Washington DC, where over 50 leaders of U.S. psychology convened for two days to focus on membership issues, including age: Why is APA “graying,” and how can APA adapt to attract younger psychologists, whose increase in numbers is not reflected in APA membership rolls?  As a result, APA is now considering a detailed 40-page Membership Strategic Plan to address such issues. 

               Similarly, APA Division One, the Society for General Psychology (SGP), has faced the age factor since 2005, when then-President George W. Albee discovered that out of 2,000 SGP members, the number under age 30 was one—Matthew Goodwin, who kindly agreed to become the Society’s webmaster.  When SGP officers Bonnie Strickland, Susan Whitbourne, and Harold Takooshian conducted focus groups with Early Career Psychologists (ECPs) and students at University of Massachusetts in 2006, the age factor was unmistakable at several points.  For example, young people said not only they did not value hard-copy journals as a benefit of APA membership, but they saw this as a deterrent, and joked they would pay extra to NOT receive journals.  The APA website and internet access were all these young psychologists need or want.  At the other extreme, President Albee encouraged APA to offer some sort of tutorial for elder leaders like him who need help to use the internet to stay connected with their own changing field.  SGP appointed a task force on “coping with technology,” and chairperson Richard Velayo published a practical report on how to avoid email overload (Velayo & Blank, 2007). 

2. www.apa.com: Reshaping the portal into APA

Tony F. Habash, American Psychological Association

APA past-CEO Raymond Fowler noted that when the APA first registered its domain name in the 1980s, www.apa.org, only 400 civilian websites were registered on the internet. Of course, the internet and technology have greatly accelerated the past 25 years, to become a defining feature of all organizations, including psychology.  After many years, the APA in 2006 created a new executive position of Chief Information Officer (CIO), to coordinate this crucial function (Cynkar, 2007). As of 2006, the APA website was actually a set of 39 semi-connected websites, each using varying descriptors that made searching imperfect.  APA made it a priority to develop one seamless website, and allocated an estimated 7 million dollars for this renovation.  This revamped website has become a major element within the APA Strategic Plan.  There seems to be a clear age factor at work here, as the increasing importance of www.apa.org to all psychologists and others seems especially true of younger users, who are more accustomed to using web technology.  The next major revision of www.apa.org is set for early 2009.  The APA goal is to position www.apa.org as the trusted source for psychology content for our members, institutions and the public at large, and to be a community hub for anyone with interest in any aspect of psychology through relevant use of Web 2.0 community solutions.

3. Psychology on the Internet: New challenges and solutions

Scott Plous, Wesleyan University, and www.socialpsychology.org

The conveners of this symposium asked panelists to address two key questions about psychology and the Internet, and also asked me to briefly discuss new challenges and solutions. My response appears below.

Question 1: “How are rapid changes in technology and the Internet impacting the APA and its members?”  Changes in information technology have long had a significant impact on APA—on its budget, internal coordination, publications, policy, and revenue—and this impact will only grow over time. Indeed, just as the Internet has profoundly affected commerce, news media, and presidential politics, it is now playing an increasingly central role in science and education. For example, next year’s estimated budget for the National Science Foundation’s Office of Cyberinfrastructure is $220 million―almost as large as the entire budget of NSF’s Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences.

Although Internet technologies are expensive, APA members expect the Association to: (a) keep up with other disciplines (even better funded ones); and (b) offer a leading web destination in psychology, if for no other reason than APA’s status as the world’s largest psychology association. Thus, APA faces challenges not only in dealing with rapid changes in technology and covering the expense of web operations, but in meeting the expectations of members and prospective members.

Question 2:  “Does such changing technology alter how older and younger psychologists “mentor” one another?”  Studies of technology adoption continue to find large generational differences in Internet usage, and APA must address these differences. Consider just a few recent findings: (a) Nine out of the top ten teen web sites are either Facebook-style social networking sites, or sites that offer some combination of social networking content and tools; (b) More than half of all online teens in the U.S. have created a social networking profile on sites such as Facebook or MySpace; and (c) online teens in the U.S. are 50% more likely to send daily messages through social networking sites than by email. Among these online teens―many of whom will be graduate students in five years―email is no longer the primary channel of daily electronic communication!

In light of such findings, I believe that the most important generational difference in psychology is not that young people are online and older people are not, but that young people are immersed in “Web 2.0” technologies such as social networking, blogging, and wikis, whereas older people rely more heavily on email and Web 1.0 technologies.

Recommendation.  Although any solution to these challenges will necessarily be complex, multifaceted, and subject to change as new technologies emerge, my general recommendation is for APA to embrace these new technologies and enlist young people to assist in the process. This is the approach I have tried to take in developing Social Psychology Network (SPN), a set of interlinked web sites that have collectively received more than 140 million page views (see SocialPsychology.org).

The latest example of our effort to embrace emergent technologies is “PsychWidget,” a free software utility, so new that its public debut is right here during this APA symposium on August 15, 2008. PsychWidget is a small software application that can run on your computer’s desktop rather than the web (a “widget” designed for students, professionals, and members of the public interested in psychology). With this widget, you can see the latest psychology-related news stories from around the world, search thousands of psychology web links and news items, visit interactive forums, and more. SPN just released PsychWidget on August 13, 2008, and within its first week, it was downloaded more than 2,000 times. To obtain your own free copy, visit:  http://www.PsychWidget.org/. Enjoy!

4. Mentoring: A two-way street

Ani Kalayjian, Fordham University, & Mathilde Salmberg, Georgetown University

Soon after the APA Division of International Psychology (52) was formed in 1997, it began to award an annual International Mentor Award, to recognize the importance of mentoring cross-nationally.  Like APA CEO Ray Fowler, many of us see mentoring as especially crucial in international work: “It is our hope that [APA]…will promote collaboration and interdependence among psychologists across national boundaries” (Fowler, 1996, p. 7).  In 2005, the division formed a formal international mentor program, to help develop mentoring relationships between psychologists, early career professionals, students and affiliates globally (Packard, 2007). The program aims to facilitate international connections, research, teaching, publications, outreach, career development, and networking by connecting mentors and mentees from different countries and regions based on professional interests, experience, cultural expertise, and location.  Since mentoring relationships have traditionally taken place between mentors and mentees in close proximity, this program illustrates how technological advances have changed the way psychologists of all ages and backgrounds interact and learn from each other.  The internet, e-mail, Skype, SMS, social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, have allowed mentors and mentees to easily establish and maintain productive relationships across great distances which have taken international psychology and mentoring to new levels. 

An annual questionnaire was given to all mentors and mentees, and revealed that the pairs met on an as-needed basis. The frequency of their meetings ranged from a single contact to daily contact online, over the phone, or in person.  Although some pairs met in person, online communications such as e-mail was identified as the most common way of connecting.  The members reported that they had focused on identifying resources for research and collaboration, securing doctoral and post-doctoral training and internships, improving language and research skills, leveraging I/O background to international experience, forming international networks and other forms of professional development.  The ease of developing and sustaining such fruitful relationships has been simple, inexpensive, and effective thanks to current technology.  This has markedly altered the way mentors interact, and has assisted in implementing the program’s motto: “When one helps another both are made stronger.”

5. Collaborating across generations

Nabil H. El-Ghoroury, Metrohealth Medical Center, &

Vicki V. Vandaveer, The Vandaveer Group

6. Discussant

Sandra Tars, Chair, APA Membership Board

I thank our panelists for these thought-provoking presentations, along with Sonja Wiggins of APA and my co-chair Harold Takooshian for pulling together this unprecedented panel. One of the first benefits and challenges represented by today’s technology is embodied in this publication – from convention presentation to Division publication in less than a month. What does this mean for conventions of the future?  Do we still need conventions, in the sense of gathering together in one place in a large city, especially if the sessions most important to any given participant are available in either print or on-line form within a month?  What options does the internet present for providing wider access to our conventions, or for creating a different sort of gathering place?  Some questions for the Membership Board and Board of Convention Affairs to ponder in conjunction with our CIO.

Yes, the APA Membership Board is in the midst of a strategic planning process, emanating from the 2006 Membership Summit.  Internet technology plays such a central role in APA member recruitment, retention, and engagement, that three of the five strategic plan recommendations listed as critical and implemented in advance of the rest of the planning process focused on technology.  These include the development and launch of the new APA web site and associated efforts which Tony Habash has referenced in his discussion; the development of a variety of web features targeted to serve ECP’s; and making the web site accessible in Spanish and other languages (in process).  A critical future element, as noted by Habash, is to experiment with how best to use Web 2.0 solutions to address the needs of members across the age span.  One area for further exploration by the Membership Board and the CIO lies with how APA can best address the technological literacy gap among its members.  This gap is not only age-related, as suggested by our contributors, but is likely also related to employment setting.  Institution based members have access to training and support in use of new web technology which is not equally available to private practitioners and others who are self-employed or part of small workgroups. 

All of our contributors have highlighted various aspects of mentorship in relation to technology.  Kalayjian and Salmberg note how advances in internet technology enable rich mentoring relationships to develop across long distances, making cross-national mentorship possible.   Differences in technological literacy are definitely changing the nature of mentorship to make it much more of a two-way street.  Tech-savvy members of mentorship pairs or groups can bring much more than the teaching of how to use a given technology or web solution.  Each technological innovation also brings changes in how work is done, possibilities for conducting research, and information retrieval.  What each member of a mentorship pair or group contributes and receives will accordingly change in very complex ways.  El-Ghoroury, Vanderveer, Kayajian and Salmberg have all spoken to various aspects of these new relationships.  Again, this provides a focus for further exploration by APA governance, Divisions and SPTA’s.

In closing, let me turn to the generational differences in use of technology highlighted by Scott Plous.  The implications of this technology generation gap are enormous for APA and the profession.  One clear message to APA governance groups, is the importance of including APAGS members and ECP’s in planning and discussion.  Without their input, we cannot adequately develop member products and services to meet the needs of either this generation of psychologists or the future.

References:

APA Membership Board (2008). APA Membership Board Strategic Plan. Unpublished document, APA. 

Cynkar, A. (2007, April). Carving out a new technology path.  Monitor on Psychology, 38, 48-49.

Fowler, R.D. (1996).  Editorial: 50^th anniversary issue.  American Psychologist, 51, 5-7.

Packard, E. (2007, May). International alliances. Monitor on Psychology, 38, 86-87.

Velayo, R.S., & D. Blank (2007, Winter).  A profile of the efficient e-mail user.  The General Psychologist, 42 (1), 24-26.  http://www.apa.org/divisions/div1/news/Winter-Spring2007/Winter-Spring%202007%20TGP.pdf

Clarke, A.C. (1953). Childhood’s end. New York: Ballantine.

Toffler, A. (1970). Future shock.  New York: Random House.

**Note:  This summarizes a symposium and conversation hour at the APA in Boston 15 August 2008.  Direct any comments or inquiries to the individual panelists:

            Harold Takooshian, PhD (Fordham) is past-chair of the APA Membership Committee, and past President of APA Division One.  [ takoosh@aol.com ]

            Tony F. Habash, DSc is the Chief Information Officer for APA, overseeing the redesign of the new www.apa.org, launched in 2008.  [ thabash@apa.org ]

            Scott Plous, PhD (Wesleyan) is the founder and Executive Director of Social Psychology Network (SocialPsychology.org), one of the oldest and largest sites devoted to psychological science [splous@wesleyan.edu ]

            Ani Kalayjian, EdD, RN (Fordham) and Mathilde Salmberg, PsyD (Georgetown) head the successful new Mentoring Committee for APA Division 52, www.InternationalPsychology.net. [kalayjiana@aol.com , mas238@georgetown.edu ]

            Nabil H. El-Ghoroury, PhD (Metrohealth Medical Center, Cleveland OH) and Vicki V. Vandaveer, PhD (The Vandaveer Group, Houston TX) have worked together on early career psychology (ECP) and professional issues within APA.[ nelghoroury@metrohealth.org , v3@vandaveer-group.com ]

            Sandra Tars, PhD (APA) is the Chair of the new APA Membership Board, which oversees the pending APA Membership Strategic Plan.  [ sandratarsphd@gmail.com ]

Volume 43, No. 2 – Fall, 2008

 

Page

The General Psychologist

 

 

APA Convention Boston, 2008

 

 

Technology and the Internet: Its Impact on APA and

Its Members of All Ages

 

Edited by Harold Takooshian, Fordham University

with Tony F. Habash, Scott Plous, Ani Kalayjian, Mathilde Salmberg, Nabil H. El-Ghoroury, Vicki V. Vandaveer, and Sandra Tars

How are rapid changes in technology and the internet impacting the APA and its members? Does such changing technology alter how older and younger psychologists “mentor” one another? This pair of questions is part of the 2008 APA Membership Board’s Strategic Plan now under consideration. On the positive side, technology surely makes all sorts of communication easier and more powerful–including publications and information retrieval. On the negative side, technology adds new financial and communication challenges. Moreover, as APA members’ average age inches above 60 years, many older psychologists are internet-illiterate, unfamiliar with Facebook and iPods, and welcome a younger “mentor” to reconnect with their own field. In just the past 10 years, it has become inconceivable to picture an APA officer who has no email address.

At the 2008 APA in Boston, the APA Membership Board and the APA Society for General Psychology convened a symposium and conversation hour to bring together several experts from different areas to review the age factor in the embrace of technology, and the significance of this for APA and its membership. This includes six presentations by eight leaders in the field. **

 

1. Pressing Issues of Age and Technology Applied to Psychology – by Harold Takooshian, Fordham University

 

In his science fiction novel Childhood’s end (1953), Arthur C. Clarke foresaw an odd future world where roles would reverse, as children had to explain bold new technologies to their elders. Of course that world is now here, for anyone who has seen a savvy five-year-old at their computer, patiently trying to explain email and the internet to not-so-savvy grandpa. As futurist Alvin Toffler warned us in his documentary Future shock (1970), the personal computer changes everything—including psychology.

APA knows this. In 2008, APA shifted from a smaller Membership Committee to a now-larger APA Membership Board, in part to apply empirical methods to probe increasingly complex issues of APA membership. On 6 April 2006, Membership Chairperson John Robinson hosted the first-ever APA Membership Summit in Washington DC, where over 50 leaders of U.S. psychology convened for two days to focus on membership issues, including age: Why is APA “graying,” and how can APA adapt to attract younger psychologists, whose increase in numbers is not reflected in APA membership rolls? As a result, APA is now considering a detailed 40-page Membership Strategic Plan to address such issues.

Similarly, APA Division One, the Society for General Psychology (SGP), has faced the age factor since 2005, when then-President George W. Albee discovered that out of 2,000 SGP members, the number under age 30 was one—Matthew Goodwin, who kindly agreed to become the Society’s webmaster. When SGP officers Bonnie Strickland, Susan Whitbourne, and Harold Takooshian conducted focus groups with Early Career Psychologists (ECPs) and students at University of Massachusetts in 2006, the age factor was unmistakable at several points. For example, young people said not only they did not value hard-copy journals as a benefit of APA membership, but they saw this as a deterrent, and joked they would pay extra to NOT receive journals. The APA website and internet access were all these young psychologists need or want. At the other extreme, President Albee encouraged APA to offer some sort of tutorial for elder leaders like him who need help to use the internet to stay connected with their own changing field. SGP appointed a task force on “coping with technology,” and chairperson Richard Velayo published a practical report on how to avoid email overload (Velayo & Blank, 2007).

 

2. Www.apa.org: Reshaping the Portal into APA – by Tony F. Habash, American Psychological Association

 

APA past-CEO Raymond Fowler noted that when the APA first registered its domain name in the 1980s, www. apa.org, only 400 civilian websites were registered on the internet. Of course, the internet and technology have greatly accelerated the past 25 years, to become a defining feature of all organizations, including psychology. After many years, the APA in 2006 created a new executive position of Chief Information Officer (CIO), to coordinate this crucial function (Cynkar, 2007). As of 2006, the APA website was actually a set of 39 semi-connected websites, each using varying descriptors that made searching imperfect. APA made it a priority to develop one seamless website, and allocated an estimated 7 million dollars for this renovation. This revamped website has become a major element within the APA Strategic Plan. There seems to be a clear age factor at work here, as the increasing importance of www.apa.org to all psychologists and others seems especially true of younger users, who are more accustomed to using web technology. The next major revision of www. apa.org is set for early 2009. The APA goal is to position www.apa.org as the trusted source for psychology content for our members, institutions and the public at large, and to be a community hub for anyone with interest in any aspect of psychology through relevant use of Web 2.0 community solutions.

 

 

Harold TakooshianVolume 43, No. 2 – Fall, 2008 Page The General Psychologist

 

3. Psychology on the Internet: New challenges and solutions – by Scott Plous, Wesleyan University, and www. socialpsychology.org

The conveners of this symposium asked panelists to address two key questions about psychology and the Internet, and also asked me to briefly discuss new challenges and solutions. My response appears below.

 

Question 1: “How are rapid changes in technology and the Internet impacting the APA and its members?” Changes in information technology have long had a significant impact on APA—on its budget, internal coordination, publications, policy, and revenue—and this impact will only grow over time. Indeed, just as the Internet has profoundly affected commerce, news media, and presidential politics, it is now playing an increasingly central role in science and education. For example, next year’s estimated budget for the National Science Foundation’s Office of Cyberinfrastructure is $220 million—almost as large as the entire budget of NSF’s Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences.

Although Internet technologies are expensive, APA members expect the Association to: (a) keep up with other disciplines (even better funded ones); and (b) offer a leading web destination in psychology, if for no other reason than APA’s status as the world’s largest psychology association. Thus, APA faces challenges not only in dealing with rapid changes in technology and covering the expense of web operations, but in meeting the expectations of members and prospective members.

 

Question 2: “Does such changing technology alter how older and younger psychologists “mentor” one another?” Studies of technology adoption continue to find large generational differences in Internet usage, and APA must address these differences. Consider just a few recent findings: (a) Nine out of the top ten teen web sites are either Facebook-style social networking sites, or sites that offer some combination of social networking content and tools; (b) More than half of all online teens in the U.S. have created a social networking profile on sites such as Facebook or MySpace; and (c) online teens in the U.S. are 50% more likely to send daily messages through social networking sites than by email. Among these online teens― many of whom will be graduate students in five years―email is no longer the primary channel of daily electronic communication!

In light of such findings, I believe that the most important generational difference in psychology is not that young people are online and older people are not, but that young people are immersed in “Web 2.0” technologies such as social networking, blogging, and wikis, whereas older people rely more heavily on email and Web 1.0 technologies.

 

Recommendation. Although any solution to these challenges will necessarily be complex, multifaceted, and subject to change as new technologies emerge, my general recommendation is for APA to embrace these new technologies and enlist young people to assist in the process. This is the approach I have tried to take in developing Social Psychology Network (SPN), a set of interlinked web sites that have collectively received more than 140 million page views (see SocialPsychology.org).

The latest example of our effort to embrace emergent technologies is “PsychWidget,” a free software utility, so new that its public debut is right here during this APA symposium on August 15, 2008. PsychWidget is a small software application that can run on your computer’s desktop rather than the web (a “widget” designed for students, professionals, and members of the public interested in psychology). With this widget, you can see the latest psychology-related news stories from around the world, search thousands of psychology web links and news items, visit interactive forums, and more. SPN just released PsychWidget on August 13, 2008, and within its first week, it was downloaded more than 2,000 times. To obtain your own free copy, visit: http://www.PsychWidget.org/. Enjoy!

 

4. Mentoring: A Two-way Street – by Ani Kalayjian, Fordham University, & Mathilde Salmberg, Georgetown University

 

Soon after the APA Division of International Psychology (52) was formed in 1997, it began to award an annual International Mentor Award, to recognize the importance of mentoring cross-nationally. Like APA CEO Ray Fowler, many of us see mentoring as especially crucial in international work: “It is our hope that [APA]…will promote collaboration and interdependence among psychologists across national boundaries” (Fowler, 1996, p. 7). In 2005, the division formed a formal international mentor program, to help develop mentoring relationships between psychologists, early career professionals, students and affiliates globally (Packard, 2007). The program aims to facilitate international connections, research, teaching, publications, outreach, career development, and networking by connecting mentors and mentees from different countries and regions based on professional interests, experience, cultural expertise, and location. Since mentoring relationships have traditionally taken place between mentors and mentees in close proximity, this program illustrates how technological advances have changed the way psychologists of all ages and backgrounds interact and learn from each other. The internet, e-mail, Skype, SMS, social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, have allowed mentors and mentees to easily establish and maintain productive relationships across great distances which have taken international psychology and mentoring to new levels.

An annual questionnaire was given to all mentors and mentees, and revealed that the pairs met on an as-needed basis. The frequency of their meetings ranged from a single contact to daily contact online, over the phone, or in person. Although some pairs met in person, online communications such as e-mail was identified as the most common way of connecting. The members reported that they had focused on identifying resources for research and collaboration, securing doctoral and post-doctoral training and internships, improving language and research skills, leveraging I/O background to international experience, forming international networks and other forms of professional development. The ease of developing and sustaining such fruitful relationships has been simple, inexpensive, and effective thanks to current technology. This has markedly altered the way mentors interact, and has assisted in implementing the program’s motto: “When one helps another both are made stronger.”

 

5. Collaborating Across Generations – by Nabil H. El- Ghoroury, Metrohealth Medical Center, & Vicki V. Vandaveer, The Vandaveer Group

 

Like others in APA governance, we two have been able to collaborate and mentor each other with regard to technology and its uses. What is unique about our situation is that we differ so much in our generation and experience. One of us (Nabil) is an early career psychologist who completed his doctorate in clinical psychology six years ago, while the other (Vicki) has over 30 years’ experience in consulting and I/O psychology. We have discovered that mentoring regarding technology can be bidirectional, as each of us teaches the other what we know and use.

One interaction between us highlights the generational differences, but also what we can teach each other. At a break in one of our meetings, Vicki pulled out her new Blackberry and started typing away at the small keyboard. Nabil stepped up to her and inquired, “What are you doing?” “Checking my email,” Vicki replied. Nabil answered back, “That’s a difference between our generations. We’re texting each other instead of emailing on our phones!” Vicki said, “I can text. But I prefer e-mail because texting limits the number of characters I can use.” Nabil said, “That’s another difference!” He then coached her on essential shorthand acronyms for texting. Vicki now texts – especially to younger generations. She finds her own kids respond much more quickly and often to text vs e-mail.

Between us, mentoring has occurred in both directions. Traditionally, more experienced individuals advise less experienced colleagues. In this manner, Vicki has helped Nabil with typical mentoring issues. As Nabil has faced some career transitions, Vicki has been a great resource, and this communication primarily occurs via email, telephone and face-to-face. These discussions have included helping Nabil with decision making about his career, as well as negotiation and assertiveness. In addition, Nabil was able to see the utility of having email on his cell phone, and eventually purchased a smart phone to have that ongoing access.

Collaborating and mentoring has also developed in the opposite direction. Nabil has introduced Vicki to a variety of social networking sites, and the usefulness of being on these sites. For example, after an introduction to Facebook and a discussion of how the younger generations are using these sites more frequently than email, Vicki joined Facebook. Nabil has also encouraged Vicki to use Facebook by sharing posts with her, such as articles on how social networking sites have made job searching easier. Vicki had been on LinkedIn, a business social networking site, for several years, but had never actually used it. Nabil taught her how to use the features on LinkedIn, including how to join the APA group on that site. We have learned how much there is to learn from both generations, and current and future technologies will continue to enhance the opportunities for such collaboration. Maintaining relationships across generations ensures that both can benefit from each other.

 

6. Discussant Commentary – by Sandra Tars, Chair, APA Membership Board

 

I thank our panelists for these thought-provoking presentations, along with Sonja Wiggins of APA and my co-chair Harold Takooshian for pulling together this unprecedented panel. One of the first benefits and challenges represented by today’s technology is embodied in this publication – from convention presentation to Division publication in less than a month. What does this mean for conventions of the future? Do we still need conventions, in the sense of gathering together in one place in a large city, especially if the sessions most important to any given participant are available in either print or on-line form within a month? What options does the internet present for providing wider access to our conventions, or for creating a different sort of gathering place? Some questions for the Membership Board and Board of Convention Affairs to ponder in conjunction with our CIO.

Yes, the APA Membership Board is in the midst of a strategic planning process, emanating from the 2006 Membership Summit. Internet technology plays such a central role in APA member recruitment, retention, and engagement, that three of the five strategic plan recommendations listed as critical and implemented in advance of the rest of the planning process focused on technology. These include the development and launch of the new APA web site and associated efforts which Tony Habash has referenced in his discussion; the development of a variety of web features targeted to serve ECP’s; and making the web site accessible in Spanish and other languages (in process). A critical future element, as noted by Habash, is to experiment with how best to use Web 2.0 solutions to address the needs of members across the age span. One area for further exploration by the Membership Board and the CIO lies with how APA can best address the technological literacy gap among its members. This gap is not only age-related, as suggested by our contributors, but is likely also related to employment setting. Institution based members have access to training and support in use of new web technology which is not equally available to private practitioners and others who are self-employed or part of small workgroups.

All of our contributors have highlighted various aspects of mentorship in relation to technology. Kalayjian and Salmberg note how advances in internet technology enable rich mentoring relationships to develop across long distances, making cross-national mentorship possible. Differences in technological literacy are definitely changing the nature of mentorship to make it much more of a two-way street. Tech-savvy members of mentorship pairs or groups can bring much more than the teaching of how to use a given technology or web solution. Each technological innovation also brings changes in how work is done, possibilities for conducting research, and information retrieval. What each member of a mentorship pair or group contributes and receives will accordingly change in very complex ways. El-Ghoroury, Vanderveer, Kayajian and Salmberg have all spoken to various aspects of these new relationships. Again, this provides a focus for further exploration by APA governance, Divisions and SPTA’s.

In closing, let me turn to the generational differences in use of technology highlighted by Scott Plous. The implications of this technology generation gap are enormous for APA and the profession. One clear message to APA governance groups, is the importance of including APAGS members and ECP’s in planning and discussion. Without their input, we cannot adequately develop member products and services to meet the needs of either this generation of psychologists or the future.

 

References

APA Membership Board (2008). APA Membership Board Strategic Plan. Unpublished document, APA.

Cynkar, A. (2007, April). Carving out a new technology path. Monitor on Psychology, 38, 48-49. Fowler, R.D. (1996). Editorial: 50

 

^{th anniversary issue. American Psychologist, 51, 5-7.}

^{Packard, E. (2007, May). International alliances. Monitor on Psychology, 38, 86-87. Velayo, R.S., & D. Blank (2007, Winter). A profile of the efficient e-mail user}

 

^{. The General Psychologist, 42 (1), 24- 26. http://www.apa.org/divisions/div1/news/Winter- Spring2007/Winter-Spring%202007%20TGP.pdf}

^{Clarke, A.C. (1953). Childhood’s end. New York: Ballantine. Toffler, A. (1970).}

 

^{Future shock. New York: Random House.}

^{**This article summarizes a symposium and conversation hour at the APA in Boston 15 August 2008. Direct any comments or inquiries to the individual panelists:}

 

^{Harold Takooshian, PhD (Fordham) is past-chair of the APA Membership Committee, and past President of APA Division One. [ takoosh@aol.com ]}

 

^{Tony F. Habash, DSc is the Chief Information Officer for APA, overseeing the redesign of the new www.apa.org, launched in 2008. [ thabash@apa.org ]}

 

^{Scott Plous, PhD (Wesleyan) is the founder and Executive Director of Social Psychology Network (SocialPsychology. org), one of the oldest and largest sites devoted to psychological science [splous@wesleyan.edu ]}

 

^{Ani Kalayjian, EdD, RN (Fordham) and Mathilde Salmberg, PsyD (Georgetown) head the successful new Mentoring Committee for APA Division 52, www.InternationalPsychology.net. [kalayjiana@aol.com , mas238@georgetown. edu ]}

 

^{Nabil H. El-Ghoroury, PhD (Metrohealth Medical Center, Cleveland OH) and Vicki V. Vandaveer, PhD (The Vandaveer Group, Houston TX) have worked together on early career psychology (ECP) and professional issues within APA. [nelghoroury@metrohealth.org , v3@vandaveer-group. com]}

 

^{Sandra Tars, PhD (APA) is the Chair of the new APA Membership Board, which oversees the pending APA Membership Strategic Plan. [sandratarsphd@gmail.com]}

 

^{Technology Symposium}

 

Dr. Kalayjian chairs the Mentoring Committee Meeting,  APA Convention in Boston, August 2008