.FLYINGHEAD FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
.TITLE Are you being served?
.DEPT
.SUMMARY This is the six month anniversary for PalmPower and Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz celebrates it by asking you for your opinion. In this month’s editorial, "Are you being served?", he asks just that. Whether you think the journal is absolutely perfect (as, we know, most of you do!) or you feel some improvements could be made, this is an important article to read and respond to. We also send out a special "thank you" to 3Com and to our readers. Check it out.
.AUTHOR David Gewirtz
"Does it serve the readers?"
Nothing pleases an editor-in-chief (supposedly the last bastion of journalistic integrity) more than hearing his advertising manager (supposedly the last bastion of crass commercialism) pose a question like that. Advertising managers aren’t supposed to care about readers, they’re supposed to care about sales. Of course, our advertising manager would prefer to be doing anything other than selling advertising, like reconfiguring computers or blowing tanks up on the moon.
But nonetheless, that was the question posed about an editorial I had written. It was beautifully written, strong, powerful, and intense. It was loaded with journalistic integrity. It pulled no punches. But did it serve the readers?
In point of fact, the editorial was about the internal politics between us and another company, not about getting the most out of your PalmPilot. It would have been interesting, it would have made some heads spin roundy-roundy, but it would not have helped you use or understand your PalmPilot better.
In short, it didn’t really serve our readers, so we didn’t publish it.
.H1 On serving our readers
The editorial we chose not to run also brought up another question: how well are we serving our readers? This issue marks six months of PalmPower issues. We’re really quite proud of the publication. When we’re on deadline, we usually only think about the upcoming issue. We rarely take the time to consider the past. But if you look at various sections of our journal, you’ll be able to see a real living history of the PalmPilot. For example:
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET If you look at the Back Issues page, you can see a real wealth of information, all of value to PalmPilot users. Our Back Issues page lists 53 articles (44 previously, plus this month’s 9). That’s 53 in-depth articles that help you get the most out of your PalmPilot.
.END_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Then there are our PowerBoards. If you haven’t visited our interactive discussion boards, you’re missing a really valuable resource. There is an almost unbelievable wealth of information here, from tips for Graffiti recognition to configuring your PalmPilot to discussions of add-on software. Our readers have contributed some really wonderful ideas.
.END_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET There’s also a living history of handheld news on our News Page. Each day, Editorial Assistant Heather McDaniel compiles all the news that’s fit to print about handhelds. Here we stray slightly from our PalmPilot-specific formula because we feel its important to understand what’s happening in the whole world of handhelds.
.END_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET And, of course, there’s the PalmPower Tip of the Week. Each week, a little over a hundred thousand of our best friends get to read a simple tip for improving their use of the PalmPilot. Some tips are very simple, some are more unusual. But they’re always helpful.
.END_LIST
So we think we’re serving our readers well. We’re able to provide a variety of valuable resources to PalmPilot users and developers. And it’s all free. That’s what’s so wonderful about the Internet. Thanks to our loyal sponsors, we’re able to provide you this wonderful and growing knowledge base of all that’s PalmPilot, each day, each week, and each month.
But there’s always room for improvement. So here’s your chance (actually, you’ve always had the chance to write to us!). But here’s an official chance to tell us what you think. If you have comments about how we can serve readers better, let us know in the discussion forum listed at the bottom of this article. We obviously won’t be able to meet everyone’s needs, but we definitely want to hear you. That’s because we’re doing this for you.
Before we go, some additional comments.
.H1 A special thanks to 3Com
Without the PalmPilot, there wouldn’t be much of a reason to do this journal. So in a way, we owe it all to 3Com. But some days, we get a special kick out of the relationship. A reader sent us a screen capture of a very cool page on 3Com’s corporate site. As shown in Figure A, PalmPower is described on 3Com’s Newsstand as "3Com’s new publication on the PalmPilot Organizer!".
.FIGPAIR A We’re honored that 3Com cares enough to list the very best.
We’re honored that they seem to like PalmPower enough to call it their own. Of course, we’re a small independent company, but it’s nice to be thought of as part of the family.
.H1 On mending a broken wing
Last month, I wrote about how my broken arm was causing difficulty in producing the journal. No question, it’s been a tough seven weeks. But things are healing now. I can now type (which is very cool since the Dragon NaturallySpeaking software was driving me insane). I can also drive and do much of my regular work. I’m still not sleeping all that much, and I’m told I still have more weeks with the cast, but things are definitely looking up. I want to thank everyone who sent encouraging letters. They were much appreciated.
.BIO David Gewirtz is the Founder and Chairman of Component Enterprises, Inc. He is the Editor-in-Chief of PalmPower Magazine, published by Component, and The Insider for Lotus cc:Mail, published by The Cobb Group division of Ziff-Davis. He is also the author of "The Flexible Enterprise" and "Lotus Notes Revealed".
.DISCUSS http://www.component-net.com/webx?13@@.ee6bedb
