Office & Technology

Mission & Purpose

The committee serves as an advisory group on technology related issues at CMC. The committee reviews reports and recommendations from technology contractors engaged by the Technology Committee and Administrative Commission Chair. The Administrative Commission Chair must approve non-budget expenditures over $100. The committee will develop and submit an annual office and technology budget to Administrative Commission Chair. For the purposes of discussion technology refers to most things electronic that have to do with the functioning of CMC. This list includes: microphones and amplification system, telephones, copiers, printers, computers, PDAs, projectors, cell phones, etc. It does not include things like house lighting, heating, or other building functions.

Members

  • Justin Roth

The Office & Technology Committee consist of 3 members serving 2-year terms and CMC's Office Administrator. The committee chair can be reached at technology@cmcva.org.

Responsibilities

The committee will advise in acquisition decisions, purchase and support of technology equipment. Most functions of the Office & Technology committee are done on an as needed basis. Hence the committee does not meet on a regular basis except for the annual budget submission and accompanying computer review. It is the responsibility of the user of the equipment to bring to the Office & Technology committee’s attention that something needs to be fixed, improved or included.

Resources

The church administrator retains records (including login information as applicable) of all service providers including ISP, phone, and web hosting.

The site is hosted on AWS and runs on WordPress. If you would like more information or access to be able to post to the church site, please contact the chair of Office and Tech committee.

Policies

  • Everyone is welcome. Just as our Everyone Welcome campaign put a great deal of funding into ensuring that our building was accessible to people regardless of their mobility needs, our website and other technology will follow widely accepted norms for providing accessibility for people who have visual or auditory impairments.
  • Security matters. Tech committee members specializing in internet security will regularly review staff computers to update virus protection, as well as maintaining the security of the office network. Any staff members who receive a questionable email, call, or pop up should contact the chair of O&T before downloading anything, sharing information with third parties, or wiring money to Nigerian princes. The only dumb question is the one you don't ask.
  • Privacy matters. The church will not post any photograph or audio recording of any person without making a reasonable effort to request that person's permission. This applies to the podcast, the church website, and the church's Facebook page.
  • Email and Newsletter policy:
    • All messages distributed via the church's email system, even personal emails, are CMC's property. Employees and church members must have no expectation of privacy in anything that's created, stored, sent, or received on the church's email system. That said, O&T will consistently be respectful of sensitive information and will not invade privacy without due cause and consultation with at least one member of Pastoral Team.
    • It is strictly prohibited to:
      • Send or forward emails containing libelous, defamatory, offensive, racist, or obscene remarks.
      • Forward a message or copy a message or attachment belonging to another user without acquiring permission from the originator first.
      • Send unsolicited messages or chain mail.
      • Forge or attempt to forge email messages, or disguise or attempt to disguise your identity when sending email.
    • Messages sent from the church should generally be relevant to CMC activities, programs, and concerns. Avoid advertising and business requests that are of a personal nature.
    • Users must take the same care in drafting an email as they would for any other communication. Confidential information should not be sent via email.
  • Service audio is an area of overlap. While tech committee manages the budget for A/V equipment in the church, Worship Commission supervises the people who actually use this equipment. If you have a question about A/V equipment, please contact O&T first, but be prepared for a possible referral to Sound System Volunteers.
  • PDF bad. HTML good. For the purposes of posting material to the CMC website, HTML is preferable to PDF. We're currently transitioning the remaining PDFs to HTML, for the following reasons:
    • HTML is welcoming. PDFs are not always accurately interpreted by screen readers, which visually-impaired people sometimes use to navigate the internet. It can be interpreted through browser settings that a user customizes to accommodate their particular needs and preferences.
    • HTML is searchable using the search bar on every page of this website. PDFs are not.
    • HTML is easy to edit. With a PDF, you have to find the original Word file, edit it, export it, and re-upload it. HTML allows editing in the WordPress editor, with far fewer steps.
    • HTML is mobile-friendly. While many smartphone users have a PDF reader, PDFs are larger files than mobile-ready HTML and often are not as readable on a phone as HTML is.
    • HTML allows extra context. You can easily provide clickable links to relevant information in an HTML document. This is possible, but more difficult, in a PDF, and you have to re-export the file every time you need to update a link.

Updated by Aili Huber, April 2016, and revised by Ben Bailey January 2020.