# Bringing my Lodge into the 21st Century



## Brent Heilman (Jul 11, 2012)

At least that is what a few of us are trying to do. One of the first steps we are taking is digitizing Lodge records. Does anyone out there have some experience with this? What software is there to use and any specific programs? I am sure I can make my own database but I am also looking to save some time. I will welcome any suggestions. I was kind of thrown into this last night so I am just trying to get my ducks in a row before I start.


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## dhouseholder (Jul 12, 2012)

This sounds like a Herculean task. Let me ask you a few questions...

1) How many records do you have? 

2) Why do you want to digitize lodge records? To some this may seem like the best way to "get into the 21st century", but unless your lodge is constantly accessing 50 year old documents, why not leave them in paper format? Sometimes the best way to get rid of the clutter is spend a Saturday with your Secretary and clean out old file cabinets. 

3) If you must digitize everything, how will you store it? There really is no permanent solution to data storage, even stone tablets wear down. Even hard drives crash, or otherwise lose their data. USB drives have about a 10 year life span before files can be corrupted. So anything long term will needed to be backed up every few years. Also, what type of files will you use? .pdf? That file type might not be around for ever. These are just things to consider.

4) IF you still must, you might want to try and find a business that will do it for you. Hand-scanning documents is a very tedious process. I found a business years ago that offered to scan in my wife's old classroom worksheets (she's a teacher), and the price wasn't overly heart attack-inducing. I think it was PostNet, or some other post office place.


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## Brent Heilman (Jul 12, 2012)

We intend to keep both paper and electronic copies. Right now we have a Secretary that can barely use a cell phone and this is one of the things some of the other Brothers wanted to do. Electronic files will make some tasks easier such as our newsletter and who receives it. If something were to happen to the Secretary I don't know what would happen to some of those files. There are other reasons too like being able to better track members and whether they are about to go suspended or expelled for nonpayment. There really aren't too many businesses that do that kind of thing around here. I also realize that things happen to hard drives and such (been a part of the IT world in the past) but I also know that things can happen to paper copies and electronic tends to last longer in some regards. I know there are programs out there that can help with the task and be a virtual secretary I suppose. I was wondering if anyone here had experience with any of the programs out there.


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## Brent Heilman (Jul 12, 2012)

I really don't know how many records we actually have. The Lodge has been there since 1893 so there is really no telling and it will depend on how much of a hoarder some people were.


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## Blake Bowden (Jul 13, 2012)

I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, but there are probably other tasks that would benefit your Lodge more than spending hours upon hours digitizing old records, and trust me, once the process begins, it'll drag you down. All of our records are in pretty good shape, even our original 1847 charter is in excellent condition. Unless your records are rapidly deteriorating, I'd leave them be.


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## dhouseholder (Jul 13, 2012)

Brent Heilman said:


> We intend to keep both paper and electronic copies. Right now we have a Secretary that can barely use a cell phone and this is one of the things some of the other Brothers wanted to do. Electronic files will make some tasks easier such as our newsletter and who receives it.



Our lodge has the same problem, after we pulled our hair out trying to get updated lists from Grand Lodge (and not even then did we get 100% accuracy), we just had a a bunch of brothers sit down and physically call a bunch of members to update their information. Once this was done, we put it all into an Excel spreadsheet. Then, in our newsletter, we beg the brothers to keep their information with us up to date.



Brent Heilman said:


> If something were to happen to the Secretary I don't know what would happen to some of those files.



That is the worry of many lodges. I would get with Bro. Secretary and have him tell you what the "in-case-of-fire-grab" documents are, and make a couple of copies of those. 
As for an electronic secretary type program, I know of none. Good luck!


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## chrmc (Jul 13, 2012)

Depending on how much cost is of an issue, there are several companies out there where you can basically send your records and the'll scan them for you as PDF or similar, and return everything. 
There are also a number of smartphone apps etc where you take a picture of the record and it'll convert it to a pdf or similar file. That may be faster than typing by hand.


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## Brent Heilman (Jul 13, 2012)

Blake Bowden said:


> I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, but there are probably other tasks that would benefit your Lodge more than spending hours upon hours digitizing old records, and trust me, once the process begins, it'll drag you down. All of our records are in pretty good shape, even our original 1847 charter is in excellent condition. Unless your records are rapidly deteriorating, I'd leave them be.



Yeah I realize this and the thing is that this is but one thing we are doing. We are working on doing some remodeling of a couple of the rooms, getting internet in the lodge, fax, and few other things. The problem we have is that there are a few of the people there that are content to remain in 1960. Right now we are experiencing a influx of younger people and we need to step up into this decade. The digitizing of records was not actually my idea and was just kind of handed to me. The Brother that asked me to spearhead this deal donated a new computer and some other stuff. He and a few others thought it was a good idea and the pleasure of the Craft was to go ahead with it so I am going ahead with it. I am not really looking forward to it but since people want it done I will get it done.


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## Valions Vet (Jul 13, 2012)

Brother Heilman. We have a record keeping program on our Lodge website that is free to all Texas Lodges. It was developed in 2005 and has been updated several times. Hopefully, it will meet your needs. Our site is: allenlodge1435.org. The link to the program is on the left at the very bottom. Good luck!


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## Michaelstedman81 (Jul 13, 2012)

Brent Heilman said:


> What software is there to use and any specific programs? I am sure I can make my own database but I am also looking to save some time. I will welcome any suggestions.



Hey Bro, if you find a source for this outside of this site, please let us know back on here.  This idea was brought up recently at our lodge.  I haven't dived into it yet, but am very interested if you find out anything from elsewhere.



Valions Vet said:


> Our site is: allenlodge1435.org. The link to the program is on the left at the very bottom. Good luck!


 
I tried going to that site, but for some reason it doesn't open up.  I even tried putting ".com" at the end instead.  Nothing at all.  Is there possibly a typo?  Really interested to see what you are talking about.


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## dhouseholder (Jul 13, 2012)

Allen Lodge No. 1435


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## Valions Vet (Jul 13, 2012)

Try this link, I copied it directly from my browser.

Allen Lodge No. 1435


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## jhale1158 (Jul 17, 2012)

Brent would you happen to be related to David Heilman? And since your a brother of Duncan do you know Sgt. Kenyon? He's a Sgt. In my HQ unit. I'm out Of Chickasha lodge 94. Just a bit curious!


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## Spring TX MM (Jul 17, 2012)

There are some good, easy ways to bring your lodge into the 21st Century. This may sound silly or redundant but a good, updated website is one. A Facebook page or group for your lodge is another. An email system that brothers can subscribe to so weekly or however often you want, an email or lodge news letter can be sent to keep the brethren informed on lodge happenings and upcoming events. You may already do these things but if not, I would start there. We added internet and a wifi hotspot at my lodge. Its been well received by most everyone with a smartphone. 


S&F
Kyle
Spring Lodge #1174


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## Brent Heilman (Jul 17, 2012)

The answer to both questions is yes. David is my cousin. Sgt. Kenyon and I are both a part of the same Lodge and serve as the Stewards. We go out to lunch all the time and it was just last week I believe that he also asked me about David. David is good guy. I am also quite familiar with Chickasha since that is where most of my Dad's family either live or have lived. There are some from Rush Springs too. Do you spend a lot of time over at Ft. Sill?


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## Brent Heilman (Jul 17, 2012)

Spring TX MM said:


> There are some good, easy ways to bring your lodge into the 21st Century. This may sound silly or redundant but a good, updated website is one. A Facebook page or group for your lodge is another. An email system that brothers can subscribe to so weekly or however often you want, an email or lodge news letter can be sent to keep the brethren informed on lodge happenings and upcoming events. You may already do these things but if not, I would start there. We added internet and a wifi hotspot at my lodge. Its been well received by most everyone with a smartphone.
> 
> 
> S&F
> ...


 
I have actually started a web page but have not published it yet. There are still a few things I want to add. I also have a Facebook page ready to go but need permission first before it gets published also. The idea has been discussed to revamp our newsletter, add internet service to the building, and some other things. The whole records thing is one of the PMs ideas. It does need to be done sometime. I was reading through a short history of our Lodge and 3 separate times in our history have we lost everything. I will post a history of the Lodge that was made up a few years ago for our 100th anniversary sometime. It is an interesting story.


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## jhale1158 (Jul 17, 2012)

Yes I do Brent! David went to Desert Storm with my father. I was workin down at sill for a while but I have a civilian job now.


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## Spring TX MM (Jul 17, 2012)

Very good Bro Brent. Happy to see more lodges keeping up with the 21st century.

S&F
Kyle
Spring Lodge #1174


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## Michaelstedman81 (Jul 18, 2012)

Brent Heilman said:


> I have actually started a web page but have not published it yet. There are still a few things I want to add.



Hey, Brother.  What are you using to design and publish the website (when you do publish it)???


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## Valions Vet (Jul 18, 2012)

I checked at Lodge last night and it appears that question concerning the software should be addressed to our Lodge Secretary, Bob Black. He can be reached through the Allen Lodge #1435 web page.


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## Brent Heilman (Jul 18, 2012)

jhale1158 said:


> Yes I do Brent! David went to Desert Storm with my father. I was workin down at sill for a while but I have a civilian job now.


 
Just shows how small the world really is. I will have to get up to Chickasha sometime for a visit.


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## Brent Heilman (Jul 18, 2012)

Michaelstedman81 said:


> Hey, Brother.  What are you using to design and publish the website (when you do publish it)???


 
I have used 2 different things. The first I used was Google Sites. It makes it easy to do and you can use one of their templates to go off of. The 2nd I used and I like the best is Dreamweaver. It will give you a more professional look and you have more control over what goes where. Right now I am trying to figure out how to change to background color. It is all white right now and I would prefer to have something a little darker.


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## Brent Heilman (Jul 18, 2012)

Valions Vet said:


> I checked at Lodge last night and it appears that question concerning the software should be addressed to our Lodge Secretary, Bob Black. He can be reached through the Allen Lodge #1435 web page.


 
Thanks for the info. I will shoot an email to him and get his take on things.


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## Michaelstedman81 (Jul 19, 2012)

Brent Heilman said:


> The 2nd I used and I like the best is Dreamweaver.


 
I have used Dreamweaver before and really liked it.  I also used a couple versions of Microsoft's FrontPage.  I was looking at both recently cause I know that we really need to work on our site coming really soon.  Jeez, I never realized how expensive Dreamweaver was cause I always had a copy from a friend that was free.  And, it looks like FrontPage doesn't really exist anymore and Microsoft has rolled it into some other program.  Again, really expensive...lol  I really don't know if the lodge is going to want to part with that much money or not.  Don't know how much it costs for web design by a company, but int he long run you think it is cheaper to have the lodge buy a program like one of those two or pay someone to create and update the site all the time?


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## Brent Heilman (Jul 19, 2012)

Having someone create a page and administer it will cost some $$$. There are place like Google through Google Sites that allow you to create a page for free. Then when you secure a domain name you can add that info to your Google site and you are up on online under whatever domain name you pick. If you don't pay for a domain name then you are still on the internet with a web address of sites.google.com/whatever. If you don't want your site to have an address such as that you will have to pay for the domain. Weebly, 1 & 1 my site, and a few others are free web page design sites that give you the option to purchase a domain name through them to remove their branding from your site also. I will PM you something to look at.


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## Michael Hatley (Jul 19, 2012)

Keep us posted on what works out for you.  I used to be a programmer (C, Perl, PHP, HTML, SQL, blah blah), but I jumped around IT so much that I've always been a duct tape hacker at best.  I've been stuck with my HOA's website for almost a decade because I'm the only one who can code by hand, plus like I say I hack stuff together so its about the worst stuff I can imagine for someone who tries to pick up a book and learn it.  I think its pretty normal in volunteer groups to wind up like that, a byzantine website that you are dependent on that one guy to get stuff done, and if he goes afk a week or two right when you need something changed, oh crap.

I'm verrry wary of getting stuck in the same situation with our lodge website, so I'm interested what platform you guys can not just use, but get help from other brethren on content.  The idea I have is to be able to have an actual committee, where folks can do news updates, update the calendar, etc.  I used dreamweaver for about a day a few years back, but like all wysiwygs, I went back to a simple text editor pretty quick.  Just used to it.


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## Michaelstedman81 (Jul 19, 2012)

Years ago I taught myself how to do HTML and got into JavaScript, but that was pretty much it.  When I first jumped onto Dreamweaver and FrontPage, I didn't like it too much cause I would prefer just to hand type it all in.  But after a bit of using FrontPage and learning the shortcuts of things, I would go more with that.  Then I started getting a bit into DHTML, SHTML, XHTML and all that other stuff, but just barely skimmed the surface.  Life finally got busy enough for me to not stick with any of that stuff.

I gotta say, this Google Sites is really going to take me a minute or two to sit down and look at stuff.  I tried one of the templates to just get a "feel" for things, and having a hard time using the "editor" on there.  Gonna have to poke around and see.  Lol thankfully I just started up a "testpage" under my name instead of for the lodge haha


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## Brent Heilman (Jul 19, 2012)

I have dabbled with the programming side of the IT house and it just wasn't for me. I stick with the network side as much as I can. I think you are right it needs to be a committee thing. One person sometimes slacks but if there is a committee to share the load it will stay up to date much better. We have a few computer savvy individuals so I don't think it would be much problem for them if we use one the place like Google Sites or even Dreamweaver with a little instruction. I will keep posted on what works out or if I get shot down on this stuff. At this point either one is just as likely as the other.


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