Dick,
I accept everything you have said about
current issues of news/information publications as regards older birds such as
us. On the other hand, would it be desirable and, maybe, even fiscally responsible
to post past issues of our major publications online? I don’t know
how far back doing this would be a relatively simple operation, but to the
extent it would be an easy task to post existing digital copy on the ARRL web
site, it might be a decent member service to initiate. Extending the
thought further, would posting QST, QEX, etc. be something that Buckmaster, for
example, may be interested in doing? I’ve not looked beyond
there announcement that they are posting CQ online to know if there are charges
for viewing the CQ online, but they appear to have gone much farther back than posting
only digital copy. They have scanned hard copy to include in their
postings.
The question to me is whether Buckmaster
is doing all this out of the kindness of their heart or if there is a fiscal
benefit to them and to CQ as well. If such benefits exist for Buckmaster
and CQ, shouldn’t we review if we might capitalize on the same benefits
in one way or another?
One further point. Keep your bloody
snow up there. We rarely have a single snowfall that exceeds about 3-4
inches. This last one dropped about 18 +/- inches of snow and a
half inch of ice on the area. This is particularly troublesome for the
Jim
Jim Weaver, K8JE,
Director
ARRL
E-mail: k8je@arrl.org; Tel.: 513-459-0142
ARRL -
The Reason Amateur Radio Is!
Members -
The Reason ARRL Is!
From: dick@pobox.com
[mailto:dick@pobox.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008
12:12 AM
To: arrl-odv
Subject: [arrl-odv:16582]
Re:Buckmaster Announcement
12 MAR 2008 - 2311 CDT
My thoughts on electronic publications...
For my age, I'm probably one of the heaviest users of computers on the ARRL
board and I fully support using electronic data technology whenever and
wherever it's practical to do so. The under 30 computer users probably
think that electronic magazines and books (E-zines and E-books) are the
greatest thing since sliced bread.
However, this type of publication does have it limitations. Most of the
time the publication has to be either read on-line or down-loaded from a
web site. Picking up the hard copy from a shelf, a chair, or the floor is
easier, faster, and much more convenient. Reading a publication more than
4 or 5 pages long on a computer screen is not a convenient way of reading
for those of us who grew up in the paper age.
It's not easy to move and use the electronic reading device on a trip, in
the bathroom, at the kitchen table while eating, or even when you are
watching TV. You have to concentrate on the small video screens, or when
using a large screen, you have to move your head to see who is talking to
you and and answering the phone is more of a hassle. The overall cost is
larger depending on how much you invest in a good dedicated portable reading
device, and how often you feel the need to buy a newer one.
My University Alumni Association, the University itself, and my fraternity
are now using electronic publications to replace most of their paper ones.
I, and a lot of other alumni in my age range offered to pay a bit more to
keep receiving the paper publications, but we were ignored. Maybe this is
the wave of the future, but I have dropped all financial support for these
organizations because they no longer provide the paper publications I have
received for over 40 years. I'm out of the loop and I will not donate
money
to an organization whose activities I can no longer easily follow.
In the commercial world, I know of only one newspaper that has managed to
make money from the electronic publication of its premier paper publication:
the Wall Street Journal. I
have an idea that most of their electronic
readers are under the age of 30.
As a paper subscriber to several newspapers, I have access to their
electronic editions which is handy for obtaining electronic copies of various
articles. But I doubt if I will ever read one of these electronic
newspapers
page by page.
- Dick, W9GIG