The primary mission of the American Rose Society is education — education for our members and for rose lovers in general. In this age of enhanced electronic communication of all kinds (not to mention escalating postal rates), it is imperative that any national organization like the ARS has a comprehensive, informative and attractive website. A website serves as not only an educational tool — an avenue in which much more information can be delivered more quickly and more economically — but also a means of communication with members and non-members alike — a road map (or at least a sign post) to direct visitors to any number of other rose-related sites, a rose photo gallery and much more.
The hacking of the old ARS website last summer was unfortunate but started us on the road to a new and improved site, which had been in the planning stages for some time. In our efforts to get the new site up and running, we purposely sacrificed time for money, allowing the site builders more time in order to bring the project within budget, a decision for which we have taken some criticism. Our temporary site was not a thing of great beauty, but it was serviceable, and I apologize to those who found it unsatisfactory for their particular rose needs.
The new website is debuting today, but it is not complete. We will be adding new features to it as they become available, so check back here frequently to see what’s new, as well as what’s old, as we plan to provide an archive of some of our past material that is worth saving. As I write this, I, like you, have not seen the new site, so I hope your state of eagerness and enthusiasm rivals mine as we approach this too long-awaited debut.
As you view the new ARS website, please join me in thanking two people who have contributed a great deal of time and effort to our ongoing progress in this area. The first is our outgoing webmistress, now ARS Vice-President, Jolene Adams, who shepherded the old site from its creation to its demise and made it one of the premier websites in the rose world. The second is our new webmistress and ARS staff member Maria Scott, who has been working with our web designers to put the new site together, and will be doing much more work on it in the future. Thank you ladies!
And now, without any further ado, let the show begin!
Jeff Wyckoff
President
