ONA’s membership has definitely been growing rapidly but I’d equate that more to the Internet’s rapid growth and not evidence of how great the organization is run. Despite what you say, I still haven’t seen any concrete evidence that ONA has done much in the way of technical training for their members beyond the workshop before the conference (which costs extra anyways, and couldn’t therefore really be considered a ‘membership benefit’).

Especially compared to what the three other groups highlighted here bring to the table, ONA is slacking. To be honest, I almost didn’t include them in the list. It’s a good group but not a really great group. Where are the membership fees going? There’s not even a monthly/quarterly publication that can be used to justify the fees.

I appreciate all the work you and Tiffany are doing for the upcoming conference and I hope it’ll be the best ever. I’m looking forward to it and hope the organization redeems itself or I may not be renewing my membership.

Cheers,
Will

The membership and board are both very diverse. There are indeed several women and groups that don’t quite fit into the old white guy category. (For more, see: http://journalist.org/about/archives/000011.php).

This year, the conference is being planned by two non-Ivories: Tiffany Shackelford and myself.

ONA is growing rapidly and we’re doing lots to both educate journalists about the future of online journalism and to spark innovation among everyone working digitally. I’d really encourage every journalist to join, to join the listserv and to attend this year’s conference in Washington D.C. Last year we had speakers from way outside of traditional journalism – folks who are developing software, aggregators, games and more. This year, I can guarantee you that the conference will include lots of hands-on training, opportunities to meet tech folks and many great networking opportunities…

I heart Journerdism, keep up the good work!

Here’s a current screen grab from the exclusive, member’s only online job listings. Not too much in there… Journalism Jobs and the Poynter Job listings are probably your two best allies for finding posted gigs.

As for networking and getting on important people’s radar, ONA could potentially help with that if you attend the conference and really work it. But you could probably get the same results from doing some awesome work, winning awards or volunteering for a workshop, journalism organization or event.

There are many ways to ‘bait that hook’ and it’s hard to say which will ‘snag the right fish.’

Thanks again for commenting and please let me know if you have any other questions!

Good luck!
Will