[Artemisia] Newsletter Production Stipends

[Daniel Watson]

Well, I'm ready for the Sage to go electronic.   Kingdom newsletters were born in an age of carbon copy and typewriters.  It wasn't the just the primary way of finding out about news and events in the kingdom.  It was the *only* way, unless you felt like picking up a 'farspeaker' handset and using a rotary dial to call somebody you knew.  They predate home computers, tractor feed printers, dialup modems, email, the internet, gopher, web browsers, cell phones, ipods, facebook, mobile computing, and 4G networks.

My most common way now of finding out about events is to hit the kingdom website and check the calendar for the link to the event website, because it is more convenient than finding the Sage, and is much more likely to contain up-to-date information.  Many times, I can print out maps and even grab the local weather forecast.  On more than one occasion, I've hit the road for an event without even bothering check the web for directions, figuring I'd just call somebody on the drive, and ended having to call more than one person, because the person I've called is already on the road similarly without bothering to get the announcement either.

Many professional journals have switched over to an electronic format, and send out paper copies as a formality and at an exorbitant cost.  I see no reason why the Sage and Tournaments Illuminated shouldn't do the same thing.    We aren't talking about scuttling these publications; we are talking about distributing them in an electronic format, such as a .pdf that could be emailed to an address of your choosing.  

Are there those who are going to be inconvenienced by this?  Yes, clearly.  There are still those among us with no access to the internet, and I salute them for keeping their lives simple.  If they really need the information in the Sage, then I hope that someone will be kind enough to print off a copy and drop it in the mail to them.  That is what I will do if any of my friends have need of it, and I bet I'll be getting a plate of home-baked cookies from time to time for my trouble.

But the advantages of doing this are significant.  Trees will be spared.  We will save the significant printing and mailing costs, and we can spend our corporate resources on other needs.  It will be harder to lose our Sages, and readership will increase.  We can, if we wish, reduce the turnaround time, extend submission deadlines, assure prompt delivery, and increase our page count.  We can include larger and more detailed images, sounds, videos, and working hyperlinks.  We can even add back all the regnum and membership forms we've recently removed.

I believe that one of the greatest benefits of doing this is the the Sage will become *more* relevant.  Timeliness and the benefit of editing are key.  People will turn to the Sage as The Source if they have it at their fingertips and have confidence in the relevance of the content.

I once had a local policeman in Mantua email me out of the blue to let me know we'd forgotten one of our SCA signs on the road to Harvest War.  I was surprised, because I had never contacted him.  He emailed a chuckle back to me, saying that the SCA had the best online presence of any organization he'd ever seen, and it took him no more than a few minutes to locate an email address for the 'seneschal' of 'Cote du Ciel', even though he had no idea what either of those terms meant.  

We've cobbled together a great e-organization over the years to help run the backside of our game.  It is interesting to note that we learn most of our corporate news (such as this very topic) in an electronic format.  Why should we not take advantage of this for our publications?  This what we would clearly do if the SCA were born today.  

I love anachronisms, but paper publications is one I can live without.

-bart