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Introducing SIAM’s New Online Member Community: SIAM Engage

This month, we are launching our new online member community: SIAM Engage! This new tool will help increase involvement among our members and foster a collaborative environment among existing communities within SIAM. While our initial launch specifically targets SIAM activity group members, the site will grow to include more subgroups of our community, such as industry members, student chapters, geographic sections, and perhaps even new communities.

The intention of this community is to replace the email listservs that are currently utilized by many SIAM subgroups. The listserv is good for distributing one-way information to many people via email, however, it can be difficult to manage these emails and is often a clunky user experience for everyone involved, especially if you're trying to have dynamic two-way conversation. The new online community functions in a similar way, but with much-needed improvements, such as:

  • Ability to select the frequency of the messages received. If there are several posts over several days, members can select to have them delivered immediately or in a daily or weekly digest format. 
  • A post and file archive. Everything will be stored and maintained on the site for continuity. For new members especially, being able to search and reference old posts can be very helpful.
  • Two-way communication. Members will be able to respond to posts in a threaded conversation, or they can reply privately to the individual posting.
  • Expanded file formatting. It is now easier than ever to share a conference announcement, uploaded lecture, job posting, or quick community announcement. 

Additionally, we have added some exciting community features beyond just the listserv replacement. Some of these features include:

Community-Level Features:

  • Specific community landing pages for activity groups. 
  • A searchable library of files uploaded via the community discussion. Items for the library include minutes from business meetings, announcements, and reports. These libraries are customizable at the community level, so each activity group library may look a little different.
  • Searchable communities within SIAM. Members can look for communities or individuals with certain keywords, names, demographics, etc.
  • Community calendars with events curated to specific SIAM membership subgroups.

User-Level Features:

  • A customizable profile page, where members can control what information is made public within the site. This includes the opportunity to add personal websites, social media, profile pictures, and a user biography.
  • The site will take advantage of Single Sign On (SSO) with SIAM’s e-business platform (where you join/renew) for a two-way data transfer and a smooth log in experience for you.
  • A searchable SIAM and activity group membership list. Members will be able to search for each other by name, employer, location, etc., but each member will have full control over which of their information is made available to others.
  • Networking with other SIAM members. Once a member has found someone to connect with, they will be able to message them through the site and add them to their personal network.

SIAM Engage offers many more features than we have listed here and we hope that you will explore! To get started, go to engage.siam.org. The credentials you will use to sign in are the same as your my.siam.org username and password. You can find the sign in button in the top right corner of the site, pictured below. 


Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions. 

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