🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1991May13.144014.9051@rti.rti.org> duncan@rti.rti.org (Stephen Duncan) writes:
>I'm starting this off with three quotes from the "New format of CACM"
>thread to continue a slightly different issue, namely, what do we
>want in a format?
>
><kurt@tc.fluke.COM (Kurt Guntheroth)> writes:
> ...
><rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert)> writes:
> ...
><mikal.bbs@shark.cs.fau.edu (Michael brown)> writes:
> ...

 Since you quote me, and my comment that CACM should be modelled after
Scientific American, let me add a few comments:

 Firstly, what do I get out of Scientific American?

	SA typically has about 6 articles, plus a few features.  Sometimes
	they have a special topics issue, with the articles related.  Most
	issues are not special topics.

	When I pick up SA, after scanning the table of contents, I usually
	turn first to "Science and the Citizen".  This gives a relatively
	thorough review of important recent developments in science.

	Next I look at the articles that interest me.  In some issues there
	are none.  In some there are two or three.  I would guess that on
	the average there is about one really interesting article per issue,
	and perhaps another 2 worth skimming through, but not worth reading
	in detail.

 Coming back to CACM, I would be very happy if there were one solid interesting
article per issue.  That would be a huge improvement.  Both before the new
format, and with the new format, the average has been way below that.

 More importantly, something akin to "Science and the Citizen", but more
specific to computers, would be highly welcome.  But it should be at a level
more comparable to the "Science and the Citizen" than to the recent
developments columns in Byte, PC-Magazine, etc.

 If CACM could meet these two requirement, keep ACM Forum as more than just
a letters to the Editor, and keep its calendar -- and if the format could be
a little less unpleasant -- I think they would have a real winner.

-- 
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  Neil W. Rickert, Computer Science               <rickert@cs.niu.edu>
  Northern Illinois Univ.
  DeKalb, IL 60115                                   +1-815-753-6940