In 2009, we’re planning on moving the SMAA Journal in an all electronic direction. In short, we’re hoping to gradually eliminate the print version of this publication. Unless you do not have e-mail access, at some point in 2009 you’ll no longer receive a print version of our association’s official periodical. There are several simple and compelling reasons for this change:
The majority of the people in the USA now have Internet access, and we think the situation is the same for most of our members, including those living outside the US. The quality of computer monitors and printers has dramatically improved over the years. The full-color images you see in the electronic version of the SMAA Journal are vastly clearer than the black and white, photocopied edition. What’s more, if you print our electronic journal with your home printer, it looks better than the print version of this small magazine. (And the cost of publishing the SMAA Journal in color would be huge.)
The majority of the people in the USA now have Internet access, and we think the situation is the same for most of our members, including those living outside the US. The quality of computer monitors and printers has dramatically improved over the years. The full-color images you see in the electronic version of the SMAA Journal are vastly clearer than the black and white, photocopied edition. What’s more, if you print our electronic journal with your home printer, it looks better than the print version of this small magazine. (And the cost of publishing the SMAA Journal in color would be huge.)
In the past, a major contributing factor in the size and amount of content found in our publication has been printing and mailing costs. We simply have not had the budget to offer a bigger journal, and the printing/mailing costs for our quarterly represent a large percentage of the expenses we incur annually. By shifting to an exclusively electronic format, we’ll be able to gradually offer you a bigger and more interesting publication. We’ll get it to you faster as well.
The money and time saved by significantly reducing the number of printed copies of the SMAA Journal can be used in other more productive ways to benefit our membership and our association. Presently, a large number of members have opted for the “e-mail only” version of our journal, so this change will not impact many of you.
This new direction will take place progressively, and if you don’t have an e-mail account, we encourage you to get a free Yahoo account or something similar. If you do not own a computer, we’ll have an option, which will allow you to contact the SMAA and request a print version of this publication. More information will follow in the coming months.
