Dear Sue,

As an 'ordinary' North American ARMA member, I vote for (d) other.

Why? Your questions are thought provoking and, as you said, deliberately
controversial. As you lament in your last posting, the response has been
sparse. For most of the people in North America, this is summertime,
school's out and a whole lot of people are on vacation, so you might
give them a little more time to respond.   

For a listserv question, your questions were a little long and too
complex to fully answer each one, as you wrote them. I think Carol
summarized your questions nicely and probably expressed the feelings of
most ordinary North American members.

I will add a few comments, speaking solely for myself. The world gets
smaller every day. Having access to the issues, concerns and experiences
of other records people, scattered around the globe can only expand my
own knowledge base and give me some comfort that I am not alone.
Opportunities to collaborate should not be limited to individuals or
organizations. That being said, I don't know if one single professional
organization is going to have the means and the resources to address
every issue in every Majority World country. Having national, regional
or local professional organizations, such as those in Australia, UK, and
Singapore that can approach an issue with all of the background
knowledge and an overall understanding of the world in relation to the
issue at hand also makes a lot of sense to me.

My non-English ventures are limited to Tourist Greek, Italian & French.
My more scholarly attempts are limited to Ancient Greek (Linear B) and
hieroglyphics. Unfortunately, I do not qualify as an expert in any of
them. ARMA translating all documents and publications that might or
might not be on point to records issues in other countries does not
sound like a viable proposition.  I would think that some publications
might be summarized and translated, but into which language? One
language for each hemisphere or each continent? Who gets Antarctica?
Perhaps there is the possibility of finding a business partner or
sponsor in the same language that would step up and absorb part / all of
the cost involved. That has worked well for ARMA.  What resources or
support do you see coming from these other professional organizations,
or perhaps some government? 
I frankly do not foresee any momentous changes being wrought by ARMA
across the planet, but I do think more and more people will connect one
way or the other through their jobs, family / school connections, the
internet, etc.  and that will foster communication and collaboration,
however slowly.

*******************************************
Thanks,
Sherry A. Lyons, CRM
Records and Information Management Technology Solutions

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