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  • From: list@ginda.us
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Online Pomona
  • Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 08:12:24 -0400

I don't think anyone has seriously proposed replacing the paper copy of Pomona with an electronic-only copy - lot's of people, including tech savvy people, still prefer to read paper. That's even true in "techy" fields, and will certainly be true among fruit growers for the foreseeable future. I actually joined NAFEX primarily for access to this mailing list, and see Pomona as a fringe benefit, but I would prefer to get Pomona on paper, for instance.

The question is, should we also have an electronic version of Pomona. There are three potential benefits to this:
1) Some members would prefer only to receive the electronic version. If there were enough such members, the savings in paper and postage might fund the electronic version or even save NAFEX money.
2) Some members would like access to an electronic version for the search and sort capabilities that electronic access provides.
3) An electronic archive would make it easy to give access to old issues to new members, or to old members who have lost or discarded old copies. (Either on-line or on CD-ROM. CDs are very cheap to produce these days once the content exists.)

I think this was proposed a while ago, and it was rejected partly for the hassle, and partly because of copyright concerns. Once a document exists electronically, it is very hard to keep control of it. I don't know if password protecting the documents would alleviate these concerns or not. If we go that route, I would suggest the following:

1) Yes, the content should be password protected. Each member should have his own membername and password (otherwise the general password will end up posted on the internet somewhere, and the protection will be useless.)
2) Some content should be available to any passing browser, as a teaser and as a service to the broader horticultural community. I would suggest the table of contents and two or three articles of general interest (with the author's approval, of course.) Chattier, more personal stuff, and some of the more valuable general interest content, as well as the plant exchanges should be kept private. Especially the plant exchanges, as most of us would be more comfortable with "blind" commercial transactions with a fellow member than with some random person who just stumbled across our web site. But most commercial magazines now give away some content to encourage people to subscribe, and I think that makes sense for NAFEX, too.

A website of this nature, with both public and private information, is fairly standard. I bet we have members who could build it. If not, I could probably get my husband to teach me how to build it. I'm sure we could find resources to do this if there was enough interest. I would prefer not to be the sole webmaster, but if this responsibility could be dispersed among a small group, I volunteer to be part of that group. I could, for instance, receive the electronic publication quarterly and post it at least twice a year, or update links, or such.

Ginda Fisher


On Oct 22, 2004, at 7:56 PM, tanis cuff wrote:

Would it be practical to display table-of-contents as public, and maybe the topics index, but make access to the guts of these as member-only? (No idea how this would work-- I have only med-low computer savvy.) This could serve as teaser, but also be first step of info access for members.


----Original Message Follows----
From: JoanRRosenberg
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Online Pomona
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 18:54:20 -0400

You could put only the most current issue free to all on the web site and back issues availble only to members. That way if people like what they see, they are "hooked" to join. An index alone does not indicate contents to anyone.
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