PCUSA tree-saving wizardry means ‘Les’ paperwork for GAC
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, September 22, 2005
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Some members of the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s staff, whose duties rarely require safety apparel, donned hard hats this week to introduce a new construction project called “Les.”
“Someone told me that this is a technological leap that even Evel Knievel wouldn’t have attempted,” said Gradye Parson, who is Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick’s right-hand associate in the Office of the General Assembly.
No one explained what the letters “Les” stand for – except the expected moan-inducing pun, “Les is more.” Nonetheless, Parson, along with Sharon Youngs and Gary Clement, also of the Office of the General Assembly, quickly plugged the General Assembly Council into modern-day technology and ecological wizardry.
Instead of two-, three-, and four-inch notebooks of paperwork produced by depleting forests, Les enabled the council members to read the agendas, reports, changes, actions and minutes via their (some borrowed) laptop computers.
To accomplish this feat required a maze of wiring throughout the room where the council met in the Sacramento Convention Center and plug-ins for the Les intranet and laptop power. In addition, a bevy of techies scurried around the room to help council members, the media, staff and others hook up and stay that way.
The introduction of Les to the council was a preamble to what will happen at the 217th General Assembly in Birmingham, Ala., in June 2006, which, whatever it does, will leave a largely paperless trail.
The PCUSA has been shedding paper for long, but Les is the first leap into electronically doing business in the legislative and governing arenas.
In Birmingham, Les will enable commissioners to navigate the system and select the material they want to read – or they will be able to choose an autopilot function that will bring to their screens material as it is being debated on the floor.
The PCUSA is believed to be an intranet forerunner among U.S. denominations in its legislative applications. But Parson said, that it’s no big deal for the denomination’s brain trust. After all, state legislatures have been plugged in for years.
Later, Kirkpatrick, during his report to the council, appeared on stage without a hard hat. “My colleagues did not share with me a hard hat,” he said. “I’m sure they appreciated my great technological leadership.”
But the real kudos, by Parson et al., went to the consultants who designed the system.