Another Direction (WasRe: Adobe Magazine and FM )

["Paul Kevin Schulte" <paul.k.schulte@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was afraid this topic would re-surface. I got my copy (which was still free as I hadn't paid a subscription for it) quite a while and noticed the absence of FM and the letter to the editor. I too was dismayed by this approach. But this list has hashed through this issue so many times before that I didn't believe I could offer anything new.

I'd rather turn this debate in another direction. It's rather a scary proposition, but it's worth seeing what the real interest is in this idea.  So here goes.

Frame of Reference could be re-born (and even take a new title?) by this very list. It could be published in PDF format and of course linked to FrameUsers.com and any other website that so desired.

Just think of it: this list regularly shares more information in a non-graphical manner than the old Frame of Reference ever did. By using PDF, the graphical richness needed to more easily convey some of the information, since as advanced numbering schema, could benefit even more users.

Without knowing the number of potential "volunteers" (for that is how I'm proposing this project work, at least initially), it's hard to speculate as to a frequency of publication. I would suspect irregular, but perhaps quarterly, would be an option.

If this idea is insanity, that's why I called it scary. I KNOW how MUCH work this kind of project takes. I started and still run the Upper Midwest FrameMaker User Network (UM-FUN) on this model. Sometimes it's hard to get the desired presentations out of local members. But several have presented, and this number will continue to grow. We even picked up an unsolicited offer to demonstrate how a user uses FrameMaker with voice recognition technology.

And that's just one example. This list's postings for the current year alone would justify several good PDF newsletters. And that's without any "new" content. 4 or 5 issues the size of the old Frame of Reference for sure could be assembled just from this list's postings.

Some of these same topics or techniques are posted on the FrameUsers.com website. We post some as well on our UM-FUN website. I suspect some of the FUN's do likewise. This could even be a kind of fun (no pun intended) undertaking.

Paul K. Schulte
Configuration Assurance
Medtronic, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN
paul.k.schulte@medtronic.com

P.S.	(And not just because these are my shorter initials) The list has also often debated a commercial publication. If you're so inclined, GO FOR IT! I'd probably even subscribe. But, in the cold, hard realities of today's business world, be prepared to lose money on it. Business models are changing at too fast a pace to plan for long term profit on a risky publishing venture. And too much of the material is already available for free on this list and the web. Consumers are loath to part with their money for information that is easy to access for free. (Many would pay to have it organized more neatly for them; it's just that a software-targeted audience is more sophisticated about the web and its tools than many other market segments.)

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