<VV> April commuique

[Harry Jensen]

Hi--

Can't you guys go back to arguing about tire sizes? <VBG>

Making a PDF version of the Communique is a piece of cake. We use Adobe's 
InDesign to layout the Communique and a PDF version is uploaded to the 
printer every month. The press version of the Communique is 35 MB this month.

Comparing the Communique to a chapter newsletter is not a good analogy. The 
Communique is a minimum of 24 numbered pages, plus 4 pages of cover, plus 4 
pages of overcover for a total of 32 pages. I have yet to see a 32 page 
newsletter.

Mike and I routinely exchange PDF versions of lower resolutions during out 
layout process, but at even the lowest resolutions, the Communique is about 
a 2 MB download, not an insignificant download.

The cost to print the Communique can be generally divided into three 
categories: layout and prep, prepress, and the actual press time, paper 
costs, and mailing. Layout and prep is the costs paid to Mike and I to do 
the layout work: turn Word docs and digital photos into a publishable 
format. Prepress is the cost to change the PDF into printing plates and 
setup on the presses. Press time, material cost, and mailing is 
self-explanatory. The Communique is still printed the old fashioned way 
with a printing press and metal plates. It is printed on Heidelberg 
Presses. Two of those three costs will not change at all whether we print 1 
or 5,001.

It is unlikely that there will ever be no printed Communique. Although many 
of you talk about people going to the library, the fact is few people 
without computers will do it. The members of VV are not representative of 
the larger CORSA community. There are many, many people who do not have 
e-mail access nor do they want e-mail access. Given that fact, it is also 
unlikely that CORSA would save a huge amount of money by offering an online 
version. So, without an economic reason for an online version, we are left 
with the main reason for an online version is convenience.

Earlier this year we put the CORSA databases on the 'net. You can now 
register for our site and the site verifies that indeed you are a member. 
In my mind, that's a big first step, because now we know who is a member 
and who is not. Without that verification, it would not possible to 
distribute material like current printed classified ads, and yes, even the 
Communique, because we could not verify that those receiving the content 
were indeed members.

You should all understand that we are moving to put more content on our 
site. We would want to make sure that the hardware we have can handle the 
load and that the PDF version would not be misused.

That is not to say that next month, there will be an online Communique for 
our members. There probably won't be. But it is to say that we are intent 
upon adding content to our site which is useful to our members. That 
content may be the Communique, may not be the Communique, but certainly 
will be useful.

At 04:10 PM 4/12/2007, Tony I. wrote:
>   With all due respect, you CAN in fact, cut and paste with PDF.

You can, but you can also disable that ability when you make the PDF with 
Adobe's security features built into to Acrobat Distiller. You can disallow 
printing, copying and editing, changing of the PDF, etc....

Now, can I get back to work? About those tire sizes....

--H




At 03:34 PM 4/12/2007, aeroned at aol.com wrote:
>I would really like to get my Communique via e-mail or over the web. I 
>could print it out on a real nice color lazer printer and it would almost 
>look as good as what I get through the mail, maybe even better. My point 
>is that not everyone in CORSA would be in the same situation. By adding 
>another delivery method, you are adding to someone's work load (Mike, 
>Harry, Bryan or someone else). You're trading bulk mailing rates for labor 
>costs. I'm just guessing, but I'd bet the paid CORSA folks get more than 
>the bulk mailing rate. I'm sure many people would like the electronic 
>version, I just doubt there would be a real savings.
>
>Ned
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|*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
| Harry Jensen
| E-mail: hljensen at comcast.net