Monday, November 30, 2015
Online Intergroup of A.A. Nears 20-Year Anniversary
‘The Man on the Web’:
Online Intergroup of A.A.
Nears 20-Year Anniversary
“Today’s counterpart to the ‘man on the bed’ is the trembling,
sick alcoholic in cyberspace,” writes Dennis M. of
the Bronx, N.Y. in a Grapevine article titled AA in
Cyberspace. “And we see a good number of them looking
for help for the first time. We see them coming back from
slips; we see them finding A.A. at a time and a place
where we can feel their desperation and share our hope,
just as we do in f2f (face-to-face) meetings.”
Excited about today’s expanding ability to reach out to
suffering alcoholics, A.A. members around the world continue
finding new ways to carry A.A.’s message of hope.
One helpful development in this effort has been the
growth of the Online Intergroup of A.A. (O.I.A.A.), an
organization nearing its 20th anniversary. First formed to
help unify the growing number of online meetings that
began to mushroom in the late 1980s, many starting as
bulletin board meetings and email groups, the O.I.A.A.
was legally incorporated in 1996, giving online groups a
forum for exchanging information and ideas and for helping
one another carry the message of A.A. online.
Online meetings come in a variety of formats: real-time
chat, email meetings, telephone chats, audio-visual meetings
using video streaming applications, message
boards/forums, and discussion board meetings. Some are
targeted toward specific groups: women, military,
deaf/hard-of-hearing, and there are meetings available in
a number of languages. Many have regular schedules, and
some are “catch-as-catch-can,” with members posting
when there is time and a burning desire.
Many A.A. members use the online medium to supplement
their f2f meetings or vice-versa, depending on each member’s own situation, and most online groups encourage
attendance at f2f meetings. There are many A.A.s,
however, who cannot attend f2f meetings (geographically isolated
members, members with physical disabilities,
members living in a foreign country, members in the military
or at sea, older A.A.s, shift workers, parents with
young children) and online A.A. may be the best or only
resource available to allow these members to participate
fully in the A.A. Fellowship.
One of O.I.A.A.’s chief services is an online meeting
directory posting an up-to-date list of online A.A. groups
on its website (www.aa-intergroup.org). On average, the
directory lists about 170 groups. It also directs an estimated
22,600 online visitors a month from more than 100
countries to meetings held in 14 languages and to meetings
with formats that make A.A. accessible to people
with vision, speech, or hearing problems. A little more
than half of O.I.A.A.’s visitors access their information on
mobile devices (phones or tablets), with others using
desktop computers. O.I.A.A.’s directory does not include
every A.A. group in cyberspace, however — only those
that choose to be listed and subscribe to the Twelve
Traditions of A.A.
Keenly aware that “personal recovery depends upon
A.A. unity,” as the First Tradition says, O.I.A.A. also
encourages communication among online groups as well
as with local intergroups, areas, G.S.O., and other A.A.
service bodies. This is done chiefly through the work of its
committees. In addition to a Twelfth Step Committee,
which is comprised of approximately 40 members worldwide,
speaking multiple languages and fielding between
350-400 requests for help per month, O.I.A.A. has
formed committees for: Public Information, Cooperation
With the Professional Community, Unity and G.S.O. liaison,
Conventions, Finance, Policy and Admissions, and
World Wide Web — all of which are described on
O.I.A.A.’s website.
O.I.A.A.’s governing body, the Intergroup Assembly, is
made up of an Intergroup Representative and alternate
from each registered group, plus its committee chairs, their
alternates, and five officers: a chair and co-chair, treasurer,
historian, and secretary. With the lessons learned over
nearly 20 years working together, they strive to practice the
principles of A.A. in all web affairs, so that the hand of
A.A. will always be there in cyberspace as well.
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