•   It allows your fellow JJA Members to learn more about you and your interests and to work effectively with you.  We'll be able to contact you about JJA-related events in your area and to notify you about professional opportunities that may fit your areas of interest. And by using the search functions in the Member Directories,  fellow members who live near you or share your interests will be able to contact and network with you-- and you'll be able to do the same with them.   All of this works better if you fill out your profile completely and update it as you complete new projects.
• Member Profiles are combined to create the online JJA Member Directories, so your Profile is a means of promoting your work to the world (and to potential employers!) You can include links to your website, your blog, your most recent publications -- and whatever else you like.  Keep it complete and current and you'll be able to use it as a kind of online resume. 

YOU control what's in your JJA Member Profile and who can see it:  You can control how much --or how little-- information to include in your profile and you control exactly which  information will be visible to a)everyone via the public JJA Member Directory  and  b)your fellow JJA members via the "private" JJA Member Directory.    You could, for example, use your profile  privacy settings to  share your phone number with other JJA members, but NOT make it available to anyone who looks you up in the JJA's public member directory. {All directory listings include a button that allows site visitors to contact Members by email WITHOUT revealing the Member's private email address to the visitor.)

So here's more on how to  edit your profile   and  change your privacy settings

*The old "JJA Announce" and related email lists have been retired.  But note: JJA News maintains its own subscription list, which is separate from JJA member records, so if you subscribe to JJA News via email you must also notify that list of any change of email address.