Page 9 - Fall 2005

FROM THE EDITOR
WELCOME TO ACOUSTICS TODAY. In 1992 the President of the Acoustical Society of America asked me to design a popular acoustics magazine even though the Society’s interest in actually pub- lishing such a magazine was short-lived. That was thirteen years ago and both the times and the Society have changed. We now see the use- fulness of a magazine that will provide technical and Societal infor- mation that our members will find interesting, understandable, and most important, worth reading. In the early days of the Society a spir- it of collegiality developed throughout the entire membership.
Everyone was interested in what everyone else was doing. The Journal was read from cover-to- cover—in those days, it was possible—and this resulted in a high level of synergism among the Society’s members.
But the membership, the size of the Journal, and the number of disciplines have all grown making it nearly impossible to read the Journal from cover-to-cover, or to attend meeting sessions in areas other than our own. The Society has strived over the years to foster its collegial spirit, most recently through events at our national meetings such as socials and tutorial lectures and through the Society’s newsletter, ECHOES. Acoustics Today is a further effort in that direction pro- viding a vehicle whose mission is to let everyone know what everyone else is doing.
Acoustics Today contains tutorials, technical articles and articles whose subject content is relat- ed to acoustics, as well as other short pieces and news items highlighting Technical Committees and important ASA programs such as Standards and Education. ECHOES is included in its entire- ty in the magazine and will continue to have its own Editor, Thomas D. Rossing.
With the above in mind, the Editor actively solicits contributions from members willing to accept the challenge to write a magazine article. It is important to realize that writing a magazine article is very different from writing a journal article. For a journal article, the principal criterion is to be accurate in the facts connected with the subject matter that is reported. Interest lies only with the author and in the eye of the beholder. In Acoustics Today, these same facts must still be accurate but they must be interesting and understandable to all including members who have an acoustics background but might not be versed in the particular subject of the article. If you have an interest in contributing to the magazine, please e-mail me with your ideas (not articles) for con- sideration.
This issue is the result of efforts by many Society members in thinking about, discussing and taking action to publish this new magazine. Acoustics Today will only flourish if the members of the Acoustical Society of America support its mission and contribute to its content. We hope you will enjoy the premier issue.
Dick Stern, Editor
From the Editor 7