I can telll you I much prefer hardcopy. But I do not see offering digital memberships as eliminating the print memberships. I suspect that in todays younger generation hardcopy means very little. As our culture changes it would be better to be addressing both worlds rather than ignoring one. We always wonder why there are so few younger people in the Iris Societies. I think embracing both types of media would serve every group better.
I second what Vaughn says. I had dial up until a year ago, and it was a
huge headache whenever a big file had to be downloaded. I used to curse
my cousin who always sent out electronic greeting cards because they
took five minutes or so to load. My partner has DSL, and she's always
complaining about that, too. For now, SIGNA could concentrate on
obtaining email addresses for a higher percentage of members,
encouraging the seed ex to use email when possible, and PERHAPS making
pdfs available as a trial, for members who would really rather have the
information that way whether there is a price break or not. Clearly
that's how we're going to be doing it in the future.
Ken
vsayles47@aol.com wrote:
>
>
> Having no choice but dial-up for e-mail at my home I agree that
> downloading a large document is problematic. For those
in a similar
> situation having individual articles or pages available so the
> document could be downloaded a piece at a time is an alternative that
> although time consuming does work. All too many times I've attempted
> to download a large document and lost my computer connection sometime
> during the process. The Region 2 Newsletter is assembled in pieces
> because the editor and I do not have another option and obviously we
> would never be able to transmit that publication on-line as one piece.
>
> Vaughn
>
> In a message dated 1/8/2010 11:09:22 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> rbartontx@yahoo.com writes:
>
>
>
> Hi Sean,
>
> We HAVE talked about pdf distribution, and I'd be interested in
> hearing other's thoughts on the subject. SPCNI is now offering a
>
reduced rate membership to those that receive their Almanac in pdf
> format. At some point we'll likely follow suit. For now,
> streamlining what we do has been a priority. I have email
> addresses for only just over half of our members.
>
> Rodney
>
> Sean A. Zera <z*@umich.edu>
> *To:* iris-species@yahoogroups.com
> *Sent:* Fri, January 8, 2010 9:35:26 AM
> *Subject:* [iris-species] digital SIGNA bulletin?
>
>
>
> Since cost-cutting was mentioned in the current issue, has there been
> any thought to distributing the SIGNA Bulletin via email in the form
> of a pdf? It seems like this would be especially effective now that
> the seed list is online, and could be opted into in
place of a paper
> copy. The archives and other SIGNA publications could be made
> available this way as well, and prices would then only reflect
> financial support of SIGNA, not the cost of copying and postage. I
> understand that it might make it easier for non-members to get ahold
> of publications without paying, but this can already happen if
> someone
> is patient with a photocopier.
>
> just a thought,
> Sean Z
>
>
>
