Computers and the Parliamentarian

Some are going to think that I have only one topic to talk about. That is not true but I do think that computers and parliamentarians just do not come together often enough. Yes, there are lists such as the Kain's list on Yahoo and the Robert's Rules of Order website, but these are not enough.

We are in the 21st century. The publishing-in-paper industry was fully developed in the late 19th and early 20th century. Paper books have not changed much since that time. Yes, they have faster and cheaper ways of inputting material into books. These have reduced the costs of making books. However, they have not changed books much.

The computer is the engine of the late 20th and early 21st century. This engine handles data (material) in a very different manner than books. The order of input is no longer important as the output is going to be governed by rules that the user sets up. Also, in a flash data can be recombined in new ways to give new answers to questions. Using the old paper method would lead to hours of intense work to recombine in the manner needed; computers do it in microseconds.

All of this is going to change the role of the parliamentarian. The parliamentarian will remain the adviser to the chair. Added will be a more direct role as adviser to the membership. In addition, the parliamentarian will most likely become the keeper of the rules (along with the secretary for a time) as these will need to be accessed immediately to solve questions.

The parliamentarian will be a user of databases. Notice that I used the plural as there will be more than one database in use. One will contain all the sections of the bylaws -- current and previous. The history will be available at all times to the organization with instantaneous searches. Another database will be motions and resolutions with many ways of sorting these. Even long expired will be available to help the membership in making decisions.

I could go on and on about this. Come to the Business Institute that AIP is having in July and learn more about using a computer as a professional parliamentarian -- and a lot of other things about doing business as a parliamentarian.