Salve, Servilii Prisce, salvete magistri omnes -
Aurelius Timavus, in Comitiis, de nobis Curatoribus Novis quaesivit:
Primus Aurelius Timavus wrote:May I suggest that each of you consider posting a statement of your vision for the future of the Societas around that time?
Atque Marius, in Curia, ad rem dixit:
Aldus Marius wrote:... what the SVR needs most for the next couple of years is energy and ideas.
Taking the lack of active sodales as the major SVR problem, I have been thinking and offer what occurs to me. Please note, however, that I am coming to all this from a "front end" perspective and without the depth of familiarity many of you have. Please comment on these notions, half-baked as they are.
PROIECTA
As Curatores we wear multiple hats.
Curatores bear a responsibility for creating, requesting, nudging, cajoling (and ultimately approving) essays and articles from sodales or other enthusiasts in order to flesh out the SVR Collegia. Although already an officium of a Curator, it could also be a specific Honor for a sodalis, could it not? In so far as I can, I want to pursue this.
Another function is that of Promoter or Ambassador, as it were. My thought here would be about finding other Roman sites or groups (aside from NR) and seeking a sort of "sister city" arrangment by which we could promote the SVR there and they their org here. This could allow us to "cross-market" the SVR in the hope of attracting new sodales from elsewhere. It could also add to our own attractiveness by making us more of a hub or gateway. I am thinking of groups like the Gens Ambrosia, the YLE Colloquia Latina, I believe Marius mentioned The Roman Way in the Texas area, or any relevant Roman-enthusiast groups found on Yahoo and MSN and so on.
A Virtual Visual Tour of Rome, Ruins, and Reconstructions, here at the site. Couldn't we establish a sort of hub for images and info on surviving structures and sites, the ruins scattered all across the Mediterrenean and beyond, and on museums guarding the material remnants of Republic and Empire?
And how about some School and College Outreach? On the one hand, be a resource for students to whatever degree, and on the other a place for them to bathe, if you will, among neo-Romans such as we are. We could advertise the SVR in student news areas, in college student websites, in the actual college and university depts such as Comp Lit, Mythology, Religion, the Classics, Archeology, and so on.
What of vultus-vultum congregations or events? Our membership alone is basically too sparse and the distances too great, but to the extent we are linked to other groups and sites, it's more possible for SVR people to hook up with other Romani in our own areas. One regional Roman event, many grupistas; folk from SVR, locals from NR, some from, say, a "Kensington Legio XII" or a "Berkeley Classic Literature Society" or whatever.
A minor thing: I want to look at some improvement in our site's FAQs. Lurkers out there of my ilk, something less than a Scipio or Caesar in brain-power, might find it more welcoming to have some of the foggy bits explained more. Foggy? Exempla: How is it we have two sets of Collegia (one for the Forum (interactive) and another for the Society (where we publish articles)) yet don't differentiate them? What're all these references to Consuls or Praetors or Aediles when we only have Curatores? For message-board neophytes, disentangling the SVR (memberships, sodalitas, application for membership, organizational elements) from its Forum (the message board, simple registration, "subscription" in a simple sense, the separate "ranking" feature for posts) could help. Etc.
A lot of this has probably been hashed out before, but I may as well try to stir the discussion up.