[CREATE] LG magazine #1::∞

Tue Aug 17 03:34:55 PDT 2010

2010/8/17 a.l.e <ale.comp_06 at xox.ch>

> hi ricardo
>
> after having read your mail some more thoughts about the way i "see" the
> magazine... it's just my opinion, of course!
>
> - as far as i am concerned, you and ana are very welcome to create
>  further issues of the lgmag! at the same time, i'd also like to see
>  other crews creating "their" lgmag!
>

But Ale, that "their" you put here... doesn’t it defeat the idea of
gathering and joining forces around one project?

1.  It’s been already hard enough (took 5 years) to find a state-of-the-art
design crew. Now we have one!

2.  Let’s continue in that direction with the goal of publishing on a
regular basis and desperately stick to that rythm!

3. Start with a quarterly, keep it like that for a year, increase the number
of pages if necessary, until we reach the point where the project seems
viable enough and has drawn much attention and interest and then accelerate
the rythm of issuing to every 2 months. If we can, increase the rythm to a
monthly publication.

5. With time, we’ll be able to show and store on the website a large array
of issues. Every year at LGM the issues of the year will be physically
available.

6. Those would be always available to download and print.

Bringing such a project to life will already be a solid statement of what we
can achieve as an organisation, using F/LOSS. Showing those issues at each
LGM will also draw attention. It will encourage people to use the software
and create with it.

In order to keep production cost as low as possible and at the same
concentrating as much as possible on an interesting content I would suggest
we start with either a black and white publication (remember, in design
black is a color) at least for the interior pages, or that we start with a
color cover (C1-C4) and the interior in black ink. That way we could print
at very low cost and most everybody could handle the printing locally
withoug busting any budget. And we can have a state-of-the-art magazine.

>  it would be wonderful to have some sort of main group managing it and
>  -- on top of it -- some people who could freely work on single issues.
>  that way i'd like to make some publicity for people already working
>  with free tools and get some new designers to try out our programs.
>  every crew will be free to have it's own approach to the magazine.
>  both on the content and form side (well, i prefer a form which is easy
>  to print, of course). the community would be there to help feeding
>  the content.
>

This seems to me quite complicated but I am of course ready to be proved
wrong! :)

The main drawback I see to that idea is it drives us away from having a
solid, gathering brand.

As I mentionned above, let’s keep the work on target with the people we
have. It’s already hard enough.

>
> - about pdf / paper / web: i would also love to produce every issue on
>  paper, but i wonder if, on the one side, we can find the money to
>  print it and, on the other side, if we have the channels to distribute
>  the printed copies.
>

The question about the channels is spot-on. The same question could be
raised about the community filling content. Do we have the people to write
all that stuff?

>  very likely, most of the content which will be in each issue will
>  already be available somewhere on the web. one of the reasons why i've
>  pushed the idea of a magazine is to have an archive of selected topics
>  anybody could download and get a clue what that "libre graphics"
>  thing is. in that sense a "clunky" pdf does make sense to me.
>  if we can produce a magazine which is easy to print in few copies, i
>  guess that anybody needing a few dozen copies can print them at the
>  nearest print shop. (more expensive to print, but cheaper to spread
>  around the world)
>

Defintely yes: print locally and in small quantities is the way to go.

At the same time we’re going to need a PDF version, no?

>
> - after having produced a few issues on paper and/or on pdf, i guess it
>  will be much easier to find some sponsoring... i hope! (i have
>  already an idea where i could ask here in switzerland. but i need to
>  have some more issues and i can't ask any money for this year
>  anymore).
>

I would suggest to secure the few sponsors we have for LGM and offer them a
bit more visibility (it’s still close to nothing considering the close to
nothing expected circulation numbers of the magazine, so far). But of course
people are encouraged to find a local sponsor to print the copies they need.

>  i'd also like to have some sort of subscription model... but since we
>  still don't have a schedule, a clear direction, nor a way to manage
>  the money, i guess it's still a bit too early to talk about it!
>

Exact. Much too early! :)

>
> i guess that for now the best thing would be to just do some magazines
> and not talk too much about what the magazine should not be or what
> its limits are.
>

Let’s put the next one together and keep in mind we’ll produce one every 3
months from now on... That’s already a decent goal, in my view.

>
> let's just do it! and we will see in which direction the wind blows!
>

Let’s set the sails and decide where we go no matter the wind direction! :)

>
> ciao
> a.l.e
>

À la prochaine !

Louis

>
>
>
> > On 08/16/2010 10:57 AM, Alexandre Prokoudine wrote:
> > > I had the magazine idea a year ago: as a concept, few layout ideas
> > > and content plan for a couple of issues. But never had a team to
> > > support it and didn't see a way to make it financially rewarding.
> > > Ginger and Ricardo picked the idea
> >
> > and Ana Carvalho
> >
> > > and then Libre Graphics Magazine #0 was done
> > > for LGM this year. In three days.
> >
> > Production was two days, actually :o)
> >
> > > Amazing job they did, by the way. I
> > > wonder if they intend to work further on it.
> >
> > This is a good cue. Ginger's reply said everything i would have --
> > having a real object that we can show people how FLOSS tools can get
> > the job done nicely is 1000x more effective in promoting FLOSS tools
> > than dry evangelising about software packages and their pros and cons.
> >
> > Me and Ana would definitely be happy to go further with LGMag. Let me
> > emphasise that the #0 issue was produced on a 2-day sprint --
> > definitely shedding my own preconceptions that publishing a magazine
> > would be a more sluggish and convoluted process*. And having that
> > issue to show skeptical designers how FLOSS can get stuff done is a
> > godsend.
> >
> > So yes, the team from LGM Magazine #0 is up for going on with the
> > project. We can go on discussing this on another thread.
> >
> > One remark though -- i'm not fond of the idea of a PDF-only magazine.
> > Sure, we'd need to get funding and/or sponsorship to support the
> > printing costs, but a printed publication is many things that a PDF
> > file is not. (also, if it would be online-only, better to have a
> > website containing the desired content than a clunky PDF, IMHO.)
> >
> > :r
> >
> > * And of course, Ginger's awesome copyediting-fu is much to blame for
> > this having turned out right.
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