Support SHOT – Help us Build an Exciting Future
Dear SHOT community,
It was a delight to see some 300 of you in Los Angeles! Despite many unexpected hurdles, everyone I’ve talked to agrees that the meeting as a whole was a huge success, in no small part thanks to the sheer joy of finally coming together. We were especially happy to welcome many first-time attendees from all over the world. Some of those who couldn’t make it were able to connect online (though we’re still working on making that a seamless experience).
The energy of the annual meeting also reflects SHOT’s efforts to strengthen our global community and increase its diversity, both necessary to ongoing intellectual innovation in our field. Those efforts include co-sponsorship of workshops and seminars in Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania), Montevideo (Uruguay), and Philadelphia (US). We’re all greatly looking forward to the 2024 meeting, held in partnership with ICOHTEC and the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Viña del Mar, Chile, from 9 to 14 July. This will be SHOT’s first meeting in South America – and its first bilingual meeting. November’s newsletter contains more information about this meeting and other SHOT plans.
SHOT has an exciting future. We’re doing a lot, but there is so much more we want to do. And for that, we need resources. Rapidly changing institutional landscapes mean that we’re facing the loss of financial support and sponsorship that helped sustain SHOT for over half a century. We’re turning to private donors and foundations, but these sources want evidence that members are committed to sustaining the organizations they support. So we need your involvement!
Your passionate responses to the situation engendered by the labor dispute showed how much SHOT matters to its members. Renewing your membership and responding to our annual appeal are at least as vital to ensuring that SHOT can adapt to the changing circumstances and meet the ever-evolving needs of its members.
There are three ways you can help:
- Please renew your SHOT membership if you have not done so already. You can easily renew your membership online through the SHOT website.
- If you are in a position to do so, please make a financial donation. Any amount is helpful! (Remember those foundations don’t know if you gave $25 or $2500.) If you want to help defray the financial loss incurred as a result of our mutual decision to move the 2023 meeting or contribute to SHOT’s overall work, you can give to the general fund. You can also choose to direct your contribution to one of our targeted initiatives. For example, donations to the Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion initiative will go directly to REDI’s yearly prize and travel grants. See below for donation instructions.
- Third, you can boost SHOT’s revenues by reading Technology and Culture online through Project MUSE, where downloads give SHOT income. You can do this either through your employer’s library subscription or your own SHOT membership link. If you assign articles from T&C in your courses, please ask your students to do likewise. Every download helps!
SHOT has stayed strong for 66 years thanks to its dedicated members, volunteers, and officers, plus generous donors and sponsors. My thanks to each and every one of you for being part of this community.
I hope to see you in Chile next July for an unmissable conference!
Very best wishes,
Gabrielle Hecht
SHOT President
Donation details:
You can easily donate online via credit card by going through the “Contribute to SHOT” link at the top of our homepage… or just click here. We also welcome donations via paper check, Paypal, or other methods; to arrange that easily, please email SHOT Treasurer Amy Bix at abix@iastate.edu. For those paying taxes in the US, SHOT is a fully qualified 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.