[Editors] Research about paper vs electronic newsletters?

[Jean Foster]

Thanks to everyone who responded to my query.  I received only 
anecdotal confirmation from this list but did get a great reference to 
a book called "The Myth of the Paperless Office" by Sellen & Harper, 
MIT Press(!) from another source.  I haven't picked it up yet but the 
person who suggested it said chap. 4 was most relevant.

Unfortunately, this has come too late since the decision was made last 
week to stop publishing the Insider in paper. We are going to test 
using weblog software for publishing our articles on the web. We'll be 
sending out a postcard announcement to our newsletter mailing list and 
will also offer an email version of the newsletter, perhaps monthly 
with shorter articles or abstracts pointing to longer articles.  I'm 
excited about trying this out and we plan to publish our first online 
articles sometime in February.  I'm viewing this as a pilot since I 
like to think that we could go back to paper if we find that our 
readers prefer it.

-jean-
On Dec 19, 2003, at 9:44 AM, Jean Foster wrote:

> Hi editors,
>
> As an editor of the Academic Computing Insider newsletter, and in light
> of the current budget situation here at MIT, I'm becoming concerned
> about the survival of newsletters in paper format.  I believe we will
> soon have to justify why we aren't just publishing on the Web or via
> e-mail.  I believe that there are a significant number of readers who
> prefer paper, but I have no proof of this and would like to have this
> confirmed (or not) before I try to fight this fight.
>
> Does anyone on this list know of any current research done about the
> value of publishing newsletters in paper format, comparisons of how
> people prefer to read such materials, or even surveys done on campus
> that would be relevant to this issue?
>
> I would even welcome a discussion about this issue on the list.
>
> (I feel like a bit of a lurker on this list since I have never made it
> to one of your meetings since they conflict with my regular staff
> meeting.  I do hope to make it to an editor's meeting soon since we've
> just rescheduled the staff meetings!)
>
> -jean-
>
> -------------------------------------
> Jean Foster
> Team Leader, Academic Computing Support
> 617.253.3909, jfoster at mit.edu, N42-040F
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