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[nafex] Re: Online AND Print



--- In nafex@egroups.com, PermacultureNo1@a... wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 12/06/00 8:41:21 AM, tolenio@s... writes:
> 
> << Email is a great tool but Pomona via email would be a very large read, and 
> I
> don't think that many would avail themselves of it after seeing how large a 
> read
> it is on-line. [snip]>>
> 
> Well, neither of these guesses is right.  HortIdeas, which is a significant 
> publication, is 96K in its last download.  Of course it comes as an email 
> attachment--perhaps i wasn't clear about that.  They are using Envoy at the 
> moment, which is much more flexible ....
>
...
>
Again, this is only useful if 
> the magazine is delivered to my email address.  I couldn't give a fart and a 
> half for anything on a web page.  I'm willing to pay for the convenience of 
> delivery.  If I were ever to want a newspaper, I wouldn't go the printing 
> plant to get it--I'd have it delivered.  The point of using these 
> technologies is convenience.  If we put the material on the web, the most over
> blown overestimated technoology since the hand held chicken plucker (sell you 
> one cheap!), then forget it.   I'll continue to get the print version because 
> some months I have time to at least glance at it...
> 
> Dan Hemenway
> Barking Frogs Permaculture Center  
> http://barkingfrogspc.tripod.com/frames.html
> or
> http://www.permaculture.net/~EPTA/Hemenway.htm
>  
> The protocol for our Annual Permaculture Design Course Online is at 
> http://barkingfrogspc.tripod.com/protocol.html
> 

I would like to say a few things in defense of the Web. First of all... are not the above permaculture sites on the web? Why if it is overblown and useless?

NAFEX needs income to survive but it is not profit motivated. I say this because the information on the web is free and available to all. e-mail is not. It is possible to control and therefore charge for something delivered by e-mail. It is exceedingly difficult to control and charge for something published on the Web.

If th motive is educational and the free distribution of valuable information... Then in my opinion the web should not be neglected. (Not that e-mail delivery for those willing to pay for it should be neglected either.) for "convenience" aside from the actual or perceived environmental benefits.

The fact is you cannot get e-mail at most Library computers... they do not allow it. You cannot get e-mail attachments that require programs to read on many internet access devices such as web-tv. You could not easily access POMONA by e-mail from a school of university computer or library if it was delvered by e-mail only.

Personally I do not see the great inconvenience of having POMONA "delivered" via the Web... or "delivered" via e-mail... You still read it on the same computer screen... sitting in the same chair... Perhaps an extra key stroke or two...

Anyway... I don't think anyone really wants to go back and reproduce electronic versions of all the back issues of POMONA just to send to the few on this e-list who want it delivered by e-mail. I could be wrong. That is a monumental amount of work to satisfy half a dozen (or fewer) people. Future issues are a different story... this could probobly be set up with little difficulty but it would be of value to a relatively few people.

The last time I checked the NAFEX website had recorded over 48,000 visitors. That is no doubt a little overblown the way web counters work... but that is still alot of hits for a website that is still under construction.

e-mail delivery would benefit a few people on this e-list who subscribe to the electronic version... That will grow over time... and presumably you can charge something for it. (Though technically I think, there is no direct charge or "subscription" price for POMONA... It is included "free" wih membership) Publication on the web will make it available in schools and libraries and millions of homes of people who can afford a $60.00 web-tv but not a $600 computer... millions of people arround the world... could read it... automatically translated into dozens of languages through various search engines that provide translation services like Alta-Vist.

Putting POMONA... or the NAFEX Handbook on the web...(as discussed by the board of directors (Pomona Fall 2000 pg. 76) would not be, I don't think, primarily for the "convenience" of members... who already have copies of their own... But as a free educational service to the public at large. My personal feeling is this would be VERY worthwile and in the "SPIRIT" of NAFEX.


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