As I reported in my last message, The International Costumer now publishes articles as blog posts on the “International Costumer” page of the ICG website. Authors create posts directly, eliminating the need to submit content to an editor, and making content available to members as soon as possible.
We have also been investigating ways to automate aggregating recent posts into issues of the International Costumer newsletter. This eliminates another editor task of assembling and laying out issues by hand. I am happy to report that we have implemented software that automates most of the process. Producing an issue of the International Costumer newsletter now requires no editorial work, and takes only a few minutes. Future issues will be created this way.
Members who have provided an email address will periodically receive email with summaries and links to recent posts. When a new issue of the International Costumer newsletter is published, they will also receive email with summaries and links to posts included in the issue and a PDF attachment with the full text of the posts. A small number of members who need a print edition will receive a monochrome printout of the PDF file by postal mail. Issues can also be downloaded from the “International Costumer” webpage.
The success of this new process depends entirely on authors creating blog posts. Announcements and reports from officers and staff will now appear as blog posts and will also be included in the newsletter. Board members, chapters, SIGs, and individual members are also strongly encouraged to create posts to let other members know what you and your groups are up to. This is truly a community-run process.
To help authors get started, I have created a “International Costumer Blog Videos” playlist on the ICG YouTube channel with videos demonstrating how to create blog posts using the WordPress visual editor online or by submitting posts via email: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8o68zdsWMoLaoyha8UcK8VDLQ49gyewb. To set up an author account or for advice or assistance, please contact newsletter-editor@costume.org. I will create additional videos on authoring posts as needed.
Philip Gust
Chair, ICG Publications Committee
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