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Dear consulting section members,

Happy New Year!  Starting on January 1, I took over the position of Chair of CNSL, and I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself.  However, first I want to thank Eric Vance, who moves into the position of Past-Chair, for all of his hard work this past year.  I especially appreciate the guidance he has provided me to help me be as effective as possible in my new role.  I also appreciate the hard work of the other members of the Executive Committee.  Several people completed their terms on the committee last year: Walter Ambrosius, Ann Lazar, Stuart Gansky, and Thomas Short.  We welcome several new members to the committee this year: Chuck Kinkaid, Ralph Turner, Dean Johnson, George Luta, and Bruce Craig.  Several members continue to serve: Eric Vance, Kim Love, Isabella Ghement, Vaneeta Grover, Scott Berry, Ed  Jones, MaryJo Smith, and Ravi Makhija.

In 2016, I’d like to focus on a few initiatives that will provide benefits to the CNSL members outside of academia. I’ve identified three areas where I’d like to place my efforts:

1. Develop a collection of online resources useful for private consultants. The inability to access journal collections or attend conferences limits the ability of consultants to be apprised of the latest methodologies. Rather than run webinars, I’d like to create something more like a wiki that consultants can access at their leisure. In addition to technical information, I envision this resource containing documents or media that can assist with the consulting process. For example, it might include documents on best practices for communicating particular statistical concepts to clients with limited statistical knowledge or templates for proposals and memo reports. 

2. Broaden the base of participants in discussions of statistical topics. While the ASA Community forum works very well for internal conversations, it does very little to bring non-members into the discussion. Having an outsider perspective could provide valuable insight for some discussion threads. 

3. Improve the perception of statistical consulting’s usefulness in the broader business community. The perception of the field of statistics and how it can impact business varies widely from company to company (and often from person to person within a company). Creating a more positive view of statistical work and a more comprehensive understanding of what role it plays would benefit all private consultants. 


Over the next two months, I have two goals: (1) identify individuals interested in leading these initiatives and (2) develop an outline of the steps needed to turn these initiatives into a reality.  To that end, I’m asking you to provide me with answers to a couple of questions: 

1. Do you have interest or know someone who has interest in leading the charge on one of these specific topics?
2. Do you have ideas for specific tasks or components that should be included in any of these initiatives? For example, I’m open to suggestions on what sort of content the wiki should contain, so you might suggest something that you feel would help you (or would have helped you when you were starting out).  Or, for #2, you might be able to suggest some platforms that would integrate the community forum with more inclusive social media platforms.

In addition to these new initiatives, I want to be sure we strengthen the things we’re already doing right.  I hope to continue supporting the mentoring programs Eric established, and I hope you’ll all join me in keeping the newsletter at its high level of quality. I look forward to working with and serving you all in the coming year.

Sincerely,

Chris Holloman

I appreciate these efforts, particularly in regards to making research accessible to those of us no longer affiliated with academic institutions. But I'm curious as to what form this would take—is it really possible for consultants wanting access to articles in specialized fields to "get around the paywall" so to speak? As of now the only option seems to be to either cold email researchers or post questions on the internet and hope for the best...

I used a WIKI platform a few years back to provide a forum and repository for a class I attended (not directly related to statistics).  The good thing was that the security levels could be controlled (passwords, administrators, etc.) .   Some people found it very useful but others had problems with the interface.   I use Evernote now to keep track of articles and other ad-hoc items for a project I am completing.   I have a 'notebook' and put a link to the article or the pdf and a brief description.      Evernote is more for file sharing but might be good for this application.   I also have set up blogs in Wordpress which might be a good platform.   I think Microsoft One-Note might work the same.   

I am not sure how copyright law works, but there might be some way to share restricted articles within a closed password-protected forum.   We might need to set it up as a 'subscription' with a nominal fee.   

I am very busy now but should be able to help out in a few weeks.  I will be at CSP in San Diego.

Kind regards,

Georgette Asherman

Direct Effects, LLC