Good morning,
Yesterday afternoon, Dave signed the agreement with nxtbook media that initiates the publication of the digital edition of QST. The contract was approved unanimously by the A&F Committee and by Chris Imlay.
Nxtbook has been our preferred vendor and I believe that they will do a great job helping us create the digital edition. Many of you have seen the browser based nxtbook QST edition that we demonstrated at recent Committee and Board Meetings. Here is the link to the demo version if you want to review it again: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/arrl/qst_201009/#/0 .
All of us that have worked on this project are excited about the launch of the digital edition that is still slated for the June 2012 issue of QST. I asked Steve Ford, as Editor of QST and Publications Manager, to write a few words about the digital edition. Steve said that “The digital edition of QST is going to present some challenges to my staff, but it also offers fascinating opportunities, particularly with multimedia such as video and audio. At the very least, digital QST gives us an important foothold in a rapidly changing media universe.”
Because of this rapidly changing digital media universe, it’s an exciting, and challenging time for us. As I said in my original presentation to the Board: “This is just the beginning of the ongoing migration of print content to digital content. It is our first major step in creating a long term ARRL publishing strategy that includes our currently produced content and our massive collection of valuable legacy content. “
I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the Digital QST Team here at HQ for getting us to this point. This team includes Katie Glass, Lead; Steve Ford; Bob Inderbitzen; Amy Hurtado; Shelly Bloom; and Debra Jahnke. Michael Keane also contributed as head of IT.
73,
Harold
Harold Kramer, WJ1B
Chief Operating Officer
ARRL -the national association for Amateur Radio
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06111
(860) 594 -0220