 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Editorial Carol Daniels cad@melbpc.org.au |
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Is it May already? Yes and no. As you read this month's issue it is May or very nearly so - but, as I write it, it's one of those impossibly beautiful March days (the kind of day that makes you wonder why anyone would want to live anywhere but Melbourne). For me, working in the future is an occupational hazard. I've learnt to live with it, but I sometimes feel as if I've come unstuck in time.
It's not all bad though, I get a cheap adrenalin rush every time I glance at my diary and frantically calculate how many months, weeks, days, hours or minutes there are to my next deadline. When it arrives, will I have more words than time, or more time than words?
In my first editorial I suggested writing an article for PC Update was one way for members to take a little step towards becoming more involved in Melb PC. Some members have already responded and I'm grateful for their submissions. But I want more! There are after all something like 11,000 of you.
A continual search
I am always looking for feature and filler articles. More importantly, I am always searching for people who want to write these articles. I want lots of people, writing lots of articles on all the different things they find useful, interesting, frustrating, challenging and dare I say it, amusing, about computers and the way we use computer to work, rest and play.
For some reason, aspiring writers come to us determined to write reviews. That's not the way it works. It's not an arbitrary rule, there are sound reasons for the policy.
Before you write reviews, you gotta pay your dues. That doesn't mean we have a target number of words or articles you need write before you are assigned a review. And it doesn't mean we have too many reviewers (the people writing reviews would be the first to agree with that). We are looking for more people to write reviews. We find them through their writing. Writing what? Fillers and features.
What we don't need right now, is more reviews. PC Update is "the magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group," as such it should reflect the membership, in all its diversity. When PC Update is heavy with reviews, it starts to reflect the industry rather than the organisation.
Right now our content reflects the submissions we receive and the extreme time pressure under which the editorial team works to produce the magazine. We need more submissions and we need more variety in the submissions we receive.
Once we have the survey Charles wrote about (CPU, PC Update, March 1996) we'll have a better idea of who you are and what you want in PC Update. But that's only one side of the equation. We won't be able to deliver if we don't get submissions that reflect your expectations.
The only way for PC Update to reflect your interests is for you to support the magazine. So it's up to you. (That's right, you. Not "someone else.")
You know what you are interested in, what you want to know more about, and what you are sick of, what you want to read and what you are tired of reading. It's time to share it with the rest of us, in your answers to survey questions and in your submissions to PC Update.
Now to more philosophical concerns
It's probably stretching things to look at desktop publishing (DTP) as a metaphor for technological evolution. But if you're looking for a human scale on which to measure the influence of technology on our lives, a look at how we communicate in the workplace is as good a place to start as any. There have been more dramatic changes and there are even more spectacular ones on the horizon than those resulting from DTP technology. But not many have been applied so widely.
You can see the influence of DTP in almost every type of written communication. With DTP it's easier and less expensive to produce quality communication materials. Techniques that were once the exclusive domain of the graphic designer and professional printer now can be used by every Tom, Dick and Mary (though not always used effectively). People expect more, too. They turn off faster. They are more easily bored. There is more competition for their attention.
Just ten years ago we were pretty easy to please. We were happy (thrilled even) when we were able to use style enhancements to call attention to important items in a report or memo. We could use bold or italic text and some (limited) font changes. With a lot of patience, a ream of paper and a high tolerance for frustration we might have attempted a multiple-column layout. Anything more elaborate required a graphic designer, typesetter and printer, for which you can read "time and money," two commodities always in short supply.
That was then. Now, some word-processing programs can be used to do things that would have had graphic designers and typesetters of a decade ago calling for "a couple of Bex and a good lie down." In 1996 a memo is likely to include a graph, table, chart, spreadsheet, etc. Most high-end programs include "presentation" features. Even spreadsheet programs come with clip-art!
Don't use it, just because it's there
For effective communication form and content need to work together. When they compete it's a disaster. But, I hear you saying, "Technological grunt is so seductive." I know. It's hard to fight the temptation to show off.
The right tool for the right job
A whiz-bang, word-processing program is indispensable when you're working on the final draft of an important or complex document. A DTP program like PageMaker or QuarkXPress is essential for injecting creative flair into book, brochure, catalogue or newsletter. On the other hand, in the early stages of a project all those bells and whistles can slow you down and distract you from the task at hand; seduce you into putting form before content.
Lately I've been thinking about retro-computing and looking for less - not more - powerful programs, programs that do simple tasks well. There are plenty that do complex tasks with all the complexity they require. I haven't made any earth-shattering discoveries, I'm just thinking about tools and what makes a tool the right one for the job.
My new-found appreciation of simplicity won't extend to my computer. When it comes to hardware, I lust for speed and power and that's not going to change.
Reprinted from the May 1996 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
