August 2004 Newsletter
www.shafr.org: A Resource and an Opportunity
By Robert S. Robinson
The official website of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) recently moved from the Ohio State University server to a commercial server, and in the process it acquired a new, streamlined URL: www.shafr.org. This new web address is intuitive and easy to remember, and SHAFR can retain it indefinitely. As the one responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of the new web-site, I see it as a resource and an opportunity for SHAFR members.
As a resource, the website is designed to make broad-ranging information easily available to the society's members and the general public. The links provided on www.shafr.org can be divided into five categories:
General Information: The website contains a wide variety of information related to the society. There is a frequently-updated News page that reports significant events and announcements, and a Calendar that provides notice of upcoming SHAFR meetings, events, and deadlines.
SHAFR Governance: A number of pages provide information on the structure of the organization itself. The Officers page gives an updated roster and brief biographies of SHAFR leaders including the President, Vice-President, and Council Members. A list of the current assignments for SHAFR's 15 standing committees is displayed under Committees. Finally, there is a link to the recently-revised version of the By-laws of the organization
Conferences and Prizes: The Annual Meeting page provides information on SHAFR's annual meetings, including links to the official conference sites maintained by the host institutions of recent and forthcoming meetings. Also, the Conferences and Calls for Papers page has information on opportunities for SHAFR members to present their research. Lastly, the requirements and deadlines for SHAFR's fourteen research fellowships and prizes are found on the Prizes and Fellowships page.
Publications: The website includes a link to the homepage of Diplomatic History, the journal of record in the field, which is maintained by Blackwell Publishing. It also contains under Newsletter a full-text archive of the SHAFR newsletter Passport (and its predecessor) since September 2000. Finally, under the link American Foreign Relations since 1600: A Guide to the Literature is information on this benchmark publication, including instructions for ordering a copy.
Links: the Links page provides links to reviewed, external websites that are potentially important to those interested in the history of American foreign relations. There are links to academic journals that focus on international affairs, to non-governmental organizations, to area-specific research tools, and to a number of archives. And there are links to other web-sites devoted to international history topics. For example, there is a link to a site created by Nathan Citino at Colorado State University, which itself has links to books, journals, newspapers, and primary sources about the Middle East.
I have been pleased to notice that many SHAFR members and other web browsers have already uses the resources of www.shafr.org. Since the transition to its new location, the website has averaged more than 45 visits and more than 300 hits per day, and these numbers have been steadily increasing.
SHAFR members have the opportunity to enhance the SHAFR web-site in three important ways. First, members are encouraged to contribute to the Links page. Any member who maintains a web site with information about or links to important research tools in diplomatic history is encouraged to submit links to these pages. Adding such links to the SHAFR web-site will enhance the quality of the site, promote professional cooperation among members, and advance the Society’s goals of promoting excellence in scholarly research.
Second, SHAFR members are encouraged to submit links to their graduate programs in diplomatic and international history. The Links page on the SHAFR web-site includes space for links to web-sites on M.A. and Ph.D. programs in the field. Currently, however, this site is woefully under-populated. SHAFR members at universities granting graduate degrees can enhance the visibility of their own institutions and serve the needs of potential students researching their educational options by publicizing their programs through the web-site. Submitting such links could pay real dividends.
Third, SHAFR members are encouraged to help launch the so-called Syllabus Initiative. This initiative envisions posting on the web-site, behind a Syllabus Initiative link on the home page, a dynamic collection of syllabi for undergraduate and graduate courses in diplomatic history. When the Syllabus Initiative link gets up and running, SHAFR members will be able to click on a link for a course they will teach (for example U.S. Foreign Relations since 1945) and find a collection of syllabi used by their colleagues in the field. Such a valuable resource will assist new professors and instructors by providing a starting point in their course preparations. It will also allow more senior members to rethink the structure of their courses by comparing them to those of their colleagues.
Submitting links and syllabi is easy. To submit a link, simply e-mail to webmaster@shafr.org a message containing the URL and a brief description of the proposed page. These pages will be vetted for quality and professional content and posted promptly on the Links page. To submit a syllabus, e-mail it to webmaster@shafr.org or mail a paper copy to the SHAFR Business Office, The Ohio State University, Department of History, 106 Dulles Hall, 230 W. 17th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210. Submissions will be posted promptly on the Syllabi page.
The success of our efforts to enhance the SHAFR web-site in these three areas
is entirely dependent on the willingness of SHAFR members to submit relevant
materials. I hope that members take advantage of the opportunity to participate
in creating a valuable and dynamic reference work for themselves, their students,
and their colleagues. Please take a moment to consider how you can help.
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