[CREATE] LG magazine #1::∞

[Alexandre Prokoudine]

On 8/17/10, Louis Desjardins wrote:

>> - 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?

King Crimson has been extremely successful having up to four
simultaneous touring spin-offs in 2000s. You can't kill a project that
diversifies itself.

>>  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! :)

There is nothing complicated about that. The trick is to be really
open to various crazy ideas. Chances are that over time the general
style will settle down anyway.

> 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?

Let me decompose your question.

1. Do we have people who can submit impressive design of photography
samples created with free software?

2. Can these people write text that doesn't require a dozen of
complete rewrites?

3. How can we get these people to spend their time writing text?

>>  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! :)

You know, I'm quite amazed nobody mentioned tablets so far. With iPad
and all sorts of to-be-rivals coming it's a growing market. Of course,
there will be little subscriptions if you make the magazine a monster
with pictures of RMS, several pages long source code samples and
console screenshots. Write cool tutorials, write about contemporary
art (or history of art), do contests with good prizes for subscribers
(like books or art albums).

Alexandre Prokoudine
http://libregraphicsworld.org