Deeson Member Communications and Society and College of Radiographers at MemCom 2013.
Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR) is one of the world's longest established professional bodies of its type, and is both the professional body and the trades union for 22,000 radiographers, the majority of which are employed by the National Health Service, and 3000 students.
There are two sorts of radiographer – diagnostic and therapeutic:
Diagnostic radiographers employ a range of imaging techniques such as x-rays, ultrasound, CT, MRI, and nuclear medicine to aid in the diagnosis of injury or disease .
Therapeutic radiographers use radiation to treat a range of cancers.
Since the Society's first website was built in the mid-1990s, the organisation has had two goals: to inform the public about the science of radiography and the roles of radiographers, as well as provide a repository of unique content accessible only to members.
In the early 2000s, the SCoR's UK Council adopted a 'digital only' policy to eliminate, as much as possible, the publication of paper-based titles. This strategy has been largely successful with a few notable exceptions that the membership insists should be maintained primarily as 'traditional' media.
The Society and College publishes between 20 and 40 policy and guidance documents a year covering aspects of radiography practice. These range in length from 2000 to 50,000 words. Typical print runs were 200-300 copies. In pre-digital print days, this meant that each copy of each publication had a cost of £20-£30 which included disbursements for writing, production, print and distribution.
Since 2008, policy documents have only been available through the sor.org document library.
Each document is available in a number of formats:
Web-native
PDF
ePUb for viewing on smartphones and tablets
Kindle
Some documents have interactive features to direct the reader to the content that is relevant to them and where they are on their career pathway.
The Society and College's continuing professional development manager, CPD Now, integrates with the member's CRM profile, compiles CPD evidence and produces accreditation records as and when required by the profession's regulator. Radiographers are not obliged to use the Society's manager but they and the regulator will only accept CPD evidence in digital format.
SCoR publishes two monthly titles for members - Imaging & Therapy Practice, which covers clinical application and theory, and Synergy News, which looks at workplace issues.
Both are available to SCoR members as web-native applications.
Membership magazines provide the opportunity to provide a number of digital only features including:
• A virtual briefcase to collate articles of ongoing interest (particularly useful for students and research radiographers);
• Links to related content, both in the magazine archive and to other resources on the website;
• Detailed references, w
9. “use digital media as
much as possible”
Since early 2000s, SoR UK Council policy:
10. • Document library
• CPD Now and e-learning
• Membership magazines
• E-zines
• Comments and suggestions
• Forms
• Search
• Classified Advertising
Digital and self-service:
