[Editors] MIT Editors' Club Minutes: June 2015

[Elizabeth A Thomson]

MIT EDITORS' CLUB

*Meeting Notes from June 11, 2015*

*MIT Spectrvm*

I started out this meeting by giving out copies of the latest issue of MIT Spectrvm, the magazine produced by my office (Resource Development). The cover story: "Water and Food. Changing the Global Equation." Read it online (or print out a PDF) at http://spectrum.mit.edu/category/issue/2015-summer/. And while you're there, you might want to check out our blog, Continuum. It features "more words, pictures, and video of the MIT family--students, faculty, & alumni" and can be seen at http://spectrum.mit.edu/continuum/.

Please note that you can reprint Spectrvm stories and photos in your respective newsletters and web sites; simply send a request to <spectrum at mit.edu<mailto:spectrum at mit.edu>>.

*Congratulations to Patsy and Audrey*

As many of you know, Patsy Sampson recently retired as communications coordinator for the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). Nonetheless, she attended this meeting to introduce her successor, Audrey Resutek. A hearty congratulations to both Patsy and Audrey.

*QR Codes and DigiMarc*

QR Codes have been discussed in past Editors' Club meetings, and they were baaaaccckkk at this one with the usual question: does anyone still use them? Yes, report a few editors. For example, Patsy has seen students capturing QR codes from posters to get more information on a given event. And Rebecca Tyler, manager of events and communications for MIT Institute Events, uses them on a hand-out with commencement tickets. She includes two: one for essential information on where/when to report for graduation, and one on guest security.

Rebecca asked the group if anyone had feedback on a similar service called DigiMarc<http://www.digimarc.com>. Emer Garland of Communication Production Services has explored it, but found it frustrating.

Ken Gagne of MIT Medical pointed out that a good alternative to QR codes is shortened urls. Go to the MIT URL shortener at http://connect.mit.edu/shortener/. Ken uses this for his magazines.

*Bad Web Sites*

Rebecca opened the floodgates with the following question: what website user features do you dislike most? Among the MANY answers:

--Photo galleries that don't let you scan thumbnails but instead force you to click through individual photos.

--Slideshows where the whole page has to reload.

--Anything to do with the Mass Health Connector web site.

--Sites that are not responsive (for mobile devices).

--Sites that make it difficult to find contact information.

*Useful Information*

Earlier this week I lost my iPhone. Fortunately, I dimly remembered reading something about a service to help you find your phone. A google search for "Find my iPhone" brought up the following useful page: https://www.apple.com/support/icloud/find-my-device/  I promptly signed in with my apple ID on my desktop computer, and up came a map showing where my phone was. (It was in my house, thank goodness, and not traveling to Timbuktu.)

Ken Gagne told us about another cool service for finding ANYTHING: Tile<https://www.thetileapp.com/>. Lots of people were furiously scribbling notes. As someone pointed out, the Internet of things is indeed upon us.

*Spot the Typo*

Many thanks to my colleague Stephanie Eich, who discovered the newspaper typo I've attached to the end of this message and promptly shared it with our editorial team. I thought ya'll would also enjoy it. For the backstory, go to http://m.snopes.com/2015/06/09/amphibious-pitcher/

*Thank You*

Many thanks to Patsy Sampson for hosting this meeting in the EECS conference room. We'll miss you!

*Next Meeting*

MIT Editors' Club takes a hiatus over the summer. In the meantime, please send me a note if you would like to host one of the meetings this fall; I'm currently working on the next schedule.


All the best,

Elizabeth
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Elizabeth A. Thomson
Senior Writer
MIT Resource Development
Office of Communications
600 Memorial Dr., W98-300
617-258-5563, 857-756-9457
<thomson at mit.edu<mailto:thomson at mit.edu>>, giving.mit.edu<http://giving.mit.edu>
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MIT SPECTRVM
Fall 2014: Celebrating Ideas that Launch at MIT
spectrum.mit.edu<http://spectrum.mit.edu>

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