STC Usability SIG Newsletter
Usability Interface

Publishing Newsletters on Paper or Online:
A Profile of How Three Chapter Editors Did It

Why We Switched from Paper to PDF

By Scott Wilson

In September 2002, we moved from a paper newsletter that was mailed to our members to an electronic version (PDF file posted on our web site, with an e-mail notice sent to every member whose e-mail address we know).

Initially, there was some concern about electronic-only distribution. Some people just liked the paper copy; others wanted to know what the council was going to do with the money saved.

After five issues, things settled down. We lost one advertiser, and we compromised with the paper-only people by printing 20 copies of each issue at Kinko’s (about $1 per copy for eight pages, black and white). I bring the 20 copies to each chapter meeting.

As for contributors, we didn’t have many before, and we don’t have many now. But I don’t think the electronic delivery instead of paper delivery has been a factor; at least, no one has brought up that issue to me.

All in all, I think the decision was a good one. We save a lot of money (printing and mailing costs), the newsletter is more timely (no 1-month lead time anymore), and it’s easier for me. I recommend it.

Why We Switched from Paper to PDF

By Lanette Cornwell

Southeast Michigan chapter made the switch from paper to PDF posted on the chapter web site. In November/December 2002, we started talking about the switch in the newsletter and at chapter meetings and urging everyone to sign up for the online chapter discussion list. In the January/February 2003 issue, we continued the discussion. The March/April issue, in production now, will be posted to the chapter web site only, by March 1, and a postcard has already gone out reminding members that they won’t be getting a paper copy in the mail.

We’re saving several hundred dollars per issue in printing and mailing costs by doing this.

The reasons for urging discussion list membership were: (1) a notice will be posted to the list as soon as a new issue is posted, and (2) any urgent, time-sensitive notices can reach the maximum number of members through the list.

We’ve had negative feedback from only a handful of members, and most or all of those had to do with the discussion list instructions we published not working for them.

Why We Switched to a Web-Only Newsletter

By G. David Heath, Managing Editor (2000–2003) of Carolina Communiqué, Carolina chapter

We used to distribute the Carolina Communiqué by mailing a printed version and posting a PDF version on the chapter web site. Eventually, we found that budget and scheduling issues were making the printed version impractical, so we sat down in July 2001 to reconsider the newsletter. What should its focus be? There was a lot of overlap between the information in the newsletter and on the chapter web site. Could we develop a more eye-catching design? To keep down printing costs, we maintained a plain, black-and-white look. If we distributed it entirely online, should the newsletter be in PDF or HTML format? There were a lot of issues to consider before making such a big move.

Where We Were

We had been mailing the printed newsletter because we assumed that not all members of the chapter had access to the Internet. We also felt that a printed newsletter that arrived in members’ mailboxes was a tangible benefit of chapter membership, unlike a web-based newsletter that would be available to members and non-members alike. We provided current and past PDF versions on the web site both as an archive and as a way to promote the benefits of STC membership to non-members.

The newsletter contained a mix of informative articles and news of upcoming meetings and events—information that was also posted on the chapter web site. Because this information was time-sensitive, it was essential to get the newsletter into members’ mailboxes on time, but the newsletter’s busy volunteer staff was having a hard time meeting the rigid schedule. In addition, the bimonthly schedule, introduced in 2000 to hold down printing and mailing costs, made it difficult to include information on meetings and events late in the two-month period. And there was some duplicated effort and cost, because we also mailed a monthly postcard to all members announcing upcoming meetings and events.

Our most important concern, however, was that printing and mailing costs were a significant item in a tight budget, despite the simple design and the bimonthly schedule. Reducing or eliminating those costs would make a considerable amount of money available for other, much-needed member services. Michael Harvey, then President of the Carolina Chapter, supported the idea of an exclusively online newsletter because it would let us "reduce costs and be more creative at the same time. Going [entirely] online would let us publish longer, more thoughtful articles and use color more generously without worrying about rising printing costs." And the web version would be especially useful because we could link from the newsletter directly to references.

Some research showed that several other professional societies were switching from printed newsletters to web-based ones, mainly for cost-containment reasons. So we knew that others had been successful. We decided that if we discontinued the printed newsletter, but included more information in the monthly postcard, we could provide the required news of upcoming events to members who had no access to the Internet (a situation that seemed improbable in 2001).

We held an open meeting in August 2001 to debate the pros and cons of web-only delivery, and ultimately voted to eliminate the printed newsletter and fully explore the opportunities offered by web delivery in PDF format, beginning with the November-December 2001 issue. We rejected the HTML format because we were concerned that this would simply become more web site pages rather than a separate and distinct newsletter.

However, an even better solution from a usability point of view, which I recently implemented for the newsletter that I edit for another professional society (the Carolina Association of Translators and Interpreters, CATI), involves a PDF version of the complete newsletter that is announced to members via an e-mail that includes a table of contents with links to printer-friendly HTML files of all the main articles. Members can read or download the complete PDF newsletter, and they can use the e-mail's HTML links to print selected articles. (For layout purposes, parts of articles are often continued on different pages of the newsletter.) An important usability advantage of the HTML links e-mail is that members can save printing time and paper—and because only members get this e-mail, it is clearly a benefit of membership in the society.

Focus and Design

After the chapter decided to go ahead with the web-only PDF newsletter, the newsletter staff took the opportunity to rethink the focus and design of the publication. Because information on upcoming meetings and events was already on the web site, we chose not to duplicate this information. This decision made us think carefully about the purpose of the newsletter. What material would be most useful to our members?

We decided the newsletter should focus on thought-provoking articles of interest to Carolina chapter technical communication professionals. We wanted these articles to be the kind that members would want to take time reading, thinking about, and possibly responding to.

The switch to web delivery meant that we no longer had to restrict the newsletter to black and white, and we were no longer limited to four pages (a folio) or a multiple of four pages. An end to the cost constraints imposed by printing also allowed more creative formatting and the use of color.