I think your observation regarding the name "Sections’ is an interesting one. There should be a part of the website dedicated to your idea of “resources”, but what I believe the Sections represent is slightly different. I think that perhaps there’s been some different ideas regarding the core purpose of Sections with regards to content. From my perspective ans as the Section VP, I don’t necessarily see the Sections as the primary generators of content specific to their Sections. Rather, I see them as possible aggregators of content (“Hey, where can I go to find info on X?”), but more importantly I see Sections as the creators of community and networking oriented around an area of interest as opposed to a geographical area like the Chapters. That’s why I don’t necessarily agree that Sections should be renamed to be merely Resources, although I agree IDSA should provide those as well.
I think you will find that some members join IDSA to plug into their local design community–which is tremendously important. But others are looking to connect with like-minded designers who share a particular interest or expertise. Furniture designers like to talk about furniture, UX designers have their own language and interests, same goes for folks involved in medical products… That’s what the Professional Interest Sections are intended to provide.
In addition, I see the Sections as ambassadors of design and IDSA’s message as those Section members engage other groups (like the medical product development community, or business community, or materials and manufacturing community). They have the opportunity to represent and be the voice of Design in the broader business community. That outreach is happening, but obviously not at the pace and scale that I would like.
BTW, which “Resources” aren’t loading? Send me the link that isn’t working and I’ll check it out.
FYI, anyone is welcome to submit their critiques of the website (e.g., what doesn’t make sense, what doesn’t load, what you can find, etc.)… Despite some of the broad swipes made at the website (it is a work in progress), we’ve received very little comprehensive and constructive design and UX reviews which are actually useful.
~w~