IEEE MEMBERNET

http://www.ieee.org/web/membership/memberNet.html

It’s not quite Facebook, but a new online directory will let members discover IEEE colleagues they may not know but with whom they share a common interest. Want to know who in IEEE works with microelectro­mechanical systems? How about people in your section who are broadcast engineers or alumni of your university?

Being able to find and connect with other industry professionals is one of the key reasons people join IEEE. And with the new IEEE memberNet, members will be able to pinpoint people according to such criteria as technical interest, geographic region, and society membership. The network is available only to IEEE members at no charge.

“This is the first step in a series of new online tools that will enable our members to connect and collaborate virtually,” says Joe Lillie, vice president of IEEE Member and Geographic Activities, which developed the new service. “Members can now discover other members with similar technical and engineering interests—regardless of geography.”

GETTING STARTED The first step to using IEEE memberNet is to log into myIEEE (http://www.ieee.org/myieee) with your IEEE Web account. Next, you opt in to the system through the My Opt-In Preference link, which takes you to a page in myAccount where you can choose the information from your member profile that you want to display. Put a check next to what you want to share [see “Opting In to IEEE MemberNet”]. Once you’ve saved your check marks, memberNet gets updated in real time, so the information is as current as you want it to be. You can open memberNet by clicking on Launch the Network in myIEEE. MemberNet also creates networks for you with others who have common interests, in the myNetworks area.

You can search for individuals by entering their first and last names at the initial memberNet screen or in the myNetworks section. MyNetworks also has a search tool to find people whose names you don’t know. For example, you can find all the senior members in the Korea Section who belong to the IEEE Consumer Electronics Society and whose technical interest is telecommunications.  Or you can look for members in Detroit who work for the auto industry.

The success of IEEE memberNet will be driven by member participation, Lillie says: “The full value depends on the willingness of IEEE members to opt in and display information from their member profiles.”