Page 9 - Winter2014

sending material to Dick, and so not every new book was included. Our new policy is to have actual reviews, and we have invited the JASA book review editor, Philip Marston, to also be the Acoustics Today book review editor. In fact, we have decided to generally have the same book reviews in both ven- ues. The rationale here is that with JASA being on line, many readers never really see book reviews. By including reviews
in Acoustics Today we very much expand the opportunity for ASA members to see reviews and learn about new books, and for ASA reviewers to get a wider audience.
I anticipate other changes in the magazine in the future, and am open to new ideas, but let me assure you again that I only intend to build on the excellent magazine that is Dick Stern’s legacy, and make it even better.
Allow me to share a few other ideas that we are working on for the Acoustics Today “enterprise.” Most importantly, we are already working on developing AcousticsToday.org, a new web site that will contain, ultimately in searchable form, all current and past articles from the print magazine. Thanks to the very effective leadership of ASA Editor-in-Chief Allan Pierce, all Acoustics Today articles starting with the very first issue are now open access. This is a really important change since it means that articles can be read by ASA members and non-members alike – and our goal is to make the articles from Acoustics Today accessible to, and used by, courses, regulators, and anyone else who has an interest in acoustics. This means that Acoustics Today has the potential to be a real leader in acoustics and help ASA increase its value to the community well beyond our membership. A related goal is to have Acous- ticsToday.org the center for that information. Please watch this space for an announcement of our web site – we hope to have it up no later than May 1.
I will only briefly mention two other initiatives that we will be working on over the next months. One is to initiate what we are calling “Acoustics Today Interns.” These interns will be ASA graduate students and postdocs selected to work for the magazine for perhaps a year (with an expected work load of no more than a few hours a week, so as not to detract from their education) to do specific tasks that will enhance Acoustics Today. This would provide young acousticians with an oppor- tunity to learn about journals and publishing and contribute skills that we would not otherwise have. Interns might be involved in getting Acoustics Today (and perhaps ASA) more involved with social media, helping develop AcousticsToday. org, and perhaps working with news and other sections of the magazine. More details about Acoustics Today interns and how to apply to be part of the first intern group can be found under Announcements in this issue.
The other project is to develop a reader survey to find out how the magazine is used by members, their views on content,
and perhaps solicit articles. This will help us learn how the magazine can best serve ASA members and our community, and we would hope that once this is launched you will fill out the survey.
In summary, my approach to Acoustics Today is to make it an even more valuable part of our community. I intend to work with the Acoustics Today Advisory Committee to develop ideas, but I also look forward to hearing from readers about their thoughts about the magazine.
Finally, I want to thank Allan Pierce for his exceptional job as acting editor for Acoustics Today and for being an invaluable and willing mentor as I learn my new job. And, for any ASA member who wants to find out a bit about me, please don’t hesitate to check my website at www.popperlab.umd.edu.
Arthur Popper
|7