Editorial

Editorial - July/August 1999

by Mark Stover, Associate Publisher

"The Times They are a Changin'" seemed to be the theme of the 60's. And arguably, also in the 70's, when Bob most likely had to do some diaper changin' as well. In the 80's, the theme could best be summed up with "How Soon is Now", with everyone trying to sell futures instead of solutions that work today. Now that we're in the late 90's (notice no millenium sermons, predictions, or other cliches here), with a proliferation of manufactured musical groups and divas cranking out stuff that relies heavily on sampling from hits of the past, recycling is rampant. Even most of the "live" concerts nowadays are pre-recorded and lip-synced, and most of those "live" radio listener call-ins are pre-staged by actors. Viva technology! Not that I don't like the new music. Just not the same ten songs played over and over again. But since the vast majority of the media is now owned by a handful of major corporations who worship the poll, the market research, and playing it safe, what do you expect? Recycling is not necessarily a bad thing, however. For example, the remakes of "I Will Survive" and "Faith" are much more fun than the originals. Recycling works in our industry as well. Although there haven't been a whole lot of new ideas in technology that have wowed me, systems and solutions sure do work a lot better now.

With mass media becoming increasingly massive, one would think that originality and free-thinking are nearly extinct in our one-size-fits-all society. But then there is the Internet Factor, a powerful refuge for individuality, risk-taking, and free-thinking. So what's our theme now? Well, OK, there is a lot of very good off-the-shelf one-size-fits-all solutions that work well, but many organizations still have very unique and ever-changing needs. So even today, integration and customization require that "The Times They STILL are a Changin'". Originality is alive and well in our industry, even if recycling is often used to fulfill its needs.

At Document Management Magazine, we've gone through a few changes ourselves. We're still one of the few publications that's not owned by a major corporation, and one of the few that is produced entirely by recognized Industry Analysts (our primary occupation). During our nine years of publication, we Industry Analysts have learned a lot about the fine art of producing a print publication. Much more than we ever really wanted to know, frankly. But then there came the Internet Factor, and we've seen how it not only has drastically changed our industry, but the publication industry as well. Our first phase was to use www.docmanage.com as an extension of the print publication. Over the past couple of years, you may have noticed that we listed web-exclusive articles as well as the print articles in our table of contents. Now, industry direction tells us that it's time to take the next step and make Document Management Magazine an internet-based publication. We're quite happy about this trend, frankly, because we had found ourselves getting so caught up in the details and hair-pulling of print publishing, that it cut into the time that we had to do what we know best and love, industry consulting.

So now, we're very pleased to announce that we will no longer be publishing and mailing a regular print edition of Document Management. We will now be providing ALL of the industry's best editorial that you have come to know and trust on www.docmanage.com. We will still be printing and mailing periodic Special Industry Reports and other exclusive editions of Document Management Magazine, so please continue to keep your mailing information current with us. There is much talk and concern nowadays of internet privacy issues. Rest assured that www.docmanage.com is one site that does not use it's web server to unknowingly extract information about you. As I said before, we're Industry Analysts, and are not very good at baking cookies.

Of course, there's still no substitute for the portability and ease of reading that a print publication provides (web interfaces in restroom stalls have yet to catch on). For that reason, we plan to soon provide PDF versions of Document Management that you can download and print-on-demand, if you like. We also have started a new White Paper section, to provide you with information on today's application technologies (Vendors, if you are interested in participating in either of these, give me a call). We also have many other enhancements in the works to make your visit here more productive, informative, time-efficient, and pleasant, so stay tuned. As always, we value your comments and suggestions, so keep those emails coming!

See You This Fall...

Mark Stover can be reached at 480-502-2285, docmanage@aol.com.