Hello and welcome to the new Civil Air website!
In my Activity Report for the National Executive Meeting last December I flagged my intention to embark on a revamp of our website. I wanted the site to become more of an aviation industry hub with news and articles mostly, but not exclusively, about things ATC. The content would be both member generated, drawing on our collective expertise, and articles sourced from industry publications the rationale being the more people that come to the website to get up to date, accurate, relevant and interesting material, the more integrity the site will have and the more influence we will have in our industry. Combined with a more polished and professional look, I see the website playing an important role in lifting the profile of the association allowing us to become an even more effective and influential voice within the Australian aviation community.
Of course, the website’s primary function is to serve the needs of our members. One of the main features of the new website is an area, “My Civil Air”, where members will have easy access to the most commonly requested material such as delegate lists, rules, policies and forms. We have also included a calendar that will keep members informed of the various Civil Air activities with links to relevant documents and material.
The website re-development has involved a substantial amount of work for some people. First and foremost has been our Internet Project Officer, Mark Wells. Mark has worked very closely with the website developers over the last few months making sure no detail has been overlooked. It has been a steep learning curve for Mark but he has risen to the occasion superbly and the final product is largely due to his hard work.
Mark was ably assisted by what he refers to as the Brains Trust, particularly Mark Buchanan in Adelaide and the ever-reliable Paul Willet in Brisbane. They have been a great resource for both Mark and myself and their contributions are always welcome.
Finally, we have to thank the team at Joomstore (formerly Viperfish - www.joomstore.com.au), and in particular Noah Greenstone, for their efforts over the last few months. They are a truly professional outfit and I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone looking to design a website.
As with any major project, there are bound to be a few teething issues. If you come across anything unusual send Mark and email and we’ll combine a list of issues to address. We will also be adding and organising more content over the next couple of weeks.
Finally, as with the old site, a lot of the content on the site is user generated. We always welcome any contributions from members and associates. This can be an article written by a member to highlight a particular issue or it may be a reference to an article you have read and think other members may benefit from.
Enjoy our new website.
David Perks
VP Communicaiton.
21 June 2010