Digital BULLETIN: The Future is Now
Gone digital!
Well ... mostly, and not for those of you who want a paper BULLETIN.
Under last year's president Steve Sonnenberg's leadership, the Executive Committee supported the conclusions of the BULLETIN Reformat Ad Hoc Committee. The thrust was to change the primary format of the BULLETIN to digital.
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Gone digital!
Well ... mostly, and not for those of you who want a paper BULLETIN.
Under last year's president Steve Sonnenberg's leadership, the Executive Committee supported the conclusions of the BULLETIN Reformat Ad Hoc Committee. The thrust was to change the primary format of the BULLETIN to digital.
At the Jan. 15 Executive Committee meeting associated with a retreat at El Segundo Ranch near Telegraph, Texas, your leadership endorsed specific details for implementing this basic switch. These details are in my note accompanying the dues statement.
This column is devoted to the need for the changes and the reason we will continue to make the paper BULLETIN available for some time.
Mailing costs of the BULLETIN are a growing expense for the Association. Increases are driven by rises in postage rates, especially outside the United States, plus steady expansion in international membership. (It costs AAPG four-to-seven times as much postage to deliver in some areas internationally than in the United States.) That's the major negative driver.
On the positive side, digital publishing of the BULLETIN will allow:
- Increasingly more descriptive, dynamic graphics.
- Much easier searching for topical or site-specific articles.
- Instantaneous delivery.
- Greatly reduced storage requirements.
- Almost infinite portability.
- Downloading capabilities.
- No back strain loading and reloading those shelves!
Further, we anticipate technology growth will allow secondary storage (e.g. CD-ROMs) to improve and make for even greater versatility of our BULLETIN.
Having writ that, the EC is very much aware that many of you will prefer to continue receiving the paper BULLETIN. To do so requires a specific election on your dues statement, so please don't overlook that!
I am proud that your elected leaders chose not to go "cold turkey" on this changeover. We really want you to switch but it should be an OPTION.
Our Executive Director Rick Fritz covered some of this in his January 2005 Director's Corner, but it is such an important issue that I thought it worth this column.