totally +1 On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 6:34 PM, Louis Desjardins <[email protected]> wrote: > 2010/8/17 a.l.e <[email protected]> >> >> 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. >> > _______________________________________________ >> > CREATE mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/create >> _______________________________________________ >> CREATE mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/create > > > > > _______________________________________________ > CREATE mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/create > >
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