Articles in HSM...

[rdanzey]

I've been watching the horizontal mill series with interest. However I am struck by a problem I have reading such articles, and it's been a consistent problem over time:

I have no idea what this machine looks like. Many past articles suffer from this same shortcoming. Sometimes, even at the end of the series there is still no real good 'overview' type photo, something to give the machine/project context.

In a more general sense, I often feel as though the articles start somewhere in the middle, give no perspective, and end without a proper summation.

I may be the problem, not your articles, and I don't want to seem negative, since I believe HSM is vastly better now than once it was. (It was always worth my time.) But perhaps others feel this way, too.

If you could supply me with a MS Word file of a recent series, I would be happy to go over it and explain where (if) it seems to miss the boat, why, and what I might suggest to improve the overall article, from my own perspective. As the editor, you could judge for yourself if my suggestions might help with comprehension and readability.

I hope if others also have my problem, they will speak up too. Kindest regards...

danz

[Joel]

I suspect that sometimes you are the problem and sometimes the article is. When writing technical articles the author must assume a particular base of knowledge. That is to say, they and the magazine cannot take the space to explain everything to everybody in terms THEY can understand. I suspect another issue is that the majority of authors are machinists, not English majors, and are sometimes not as clear or complete as they could be. As for the photos, I assume the editor is trying to pique interest as well as show specific procedures in a limited space. I personally, rarely have any complaints about the photos, but sometimes a described procedure has been unclear enough to cause me a fair amount of confusion. I doubt the world is overrunning with people who are capable of the many skills needed to author the perfect article. There are many articles in each of the publications, and there are many issues each year, so I am tolerant of imperfection. I would not like to do without my HSM and my MW, I do however agree, that there is always room for improvement, and clarity is paramount to the readership.
Kindest Regards as well, Joel


[This message has been edited by Joel (edited 06-06-2001).]

[SGW]

Having been a technical writer (computers) for the past 20+ years...you're right. It's difficult to find the correct balance for an article. One has to assume a particular level of knowledge of the reader. A level of detail that would bore one reader to death could seem inadequate to another.
It is also just plain difficult to write a clear description...of anything. Try writing a description of EXACTLY how to make a peanut butter sandwich, for instance, starting with describing how to open a jar.
Good technical writers are few and far between. A good editor can help a lot, if there is time for editing reviews, but HSM doesn't have the resources for that. I expect Joe and Clover, the HSM editors, have all they can do just fixing minor spelling and grammar details and laying out the magazine pages. Suggesting content and structure changes to the authors would be too much.

Speaking of good technical writers: Kozo Hiroka (sp?) is about the best technical writer I've ever seen. His descriptions are incredible.

[h.w.evers]

I can sympathyze w/rdanzey and agree w/Joe. There have been several times when I wished for an assembly sketch or picture that gave an overview of the completed item.I think the worst was when an article started with "The first part is made with a piece of 3/4" CRS, turned to a diam. of....." or words to that effect. No introduction at all, no reason for the initial idea, etc.. We don't need (or want) a novel, but...

Howard W. Evers

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[h.w.evers]

I can sympathyze w/rdanzey and agree w/Joe. There have been several times when I wished for an assembly sketch or picture that gave an overview of the completed item.I think the worst was when an article started with "The first part is made with a piece of 3/4" CRS, turned to a diam. of....." or words to that effect. No introduction at all, no reason for the initial idea, etc.. We don't need (or want) a novel, but...

Howard W. Evers

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[gggwood]

I have to agree with rdanzey. The inconsistency/poor articles combined with 4 to 6 part projects, 6 issues a year publication rate and the overall 'thinness' of the magazine make it almost not worth the money. I, however, am desparate. I suspect many others are as well.

I could see combining HSM and MW into a singlge rag and going with a more conventional printing stock would allow a higher quality and more frequent magazine. Ad revenue will at least remain the same vs. 2 individual magazines and will likely increase due to increase in circulation.

I wonder if there is a problem with lack of quality articles to publish?

[rdanzey]

Hello, again. After I posted my original comment, I never saw any of these replies. I don't know why. Purely by accident, I came across the thread today, and I apologize to everyone else whose comments I missed.

I guess I need to learn more about how to use this BBS. I'll look into it.

Thanks to all who replied. I didn't want to be negative, but it is frustrating to jump into an article or series without context or perspective. My guess is one or two short paragraphs at the beginning of an article, and a carefully chosen photo or illustration could make all the difference to my enjoyment and use of the articles.

I would still like to make my offer to edit an article. I'm not looking for a job. I'm not looking for a venue for my editing skills. I'm volunteering to make an effort; a contribution, with an eye to improving the magazine.

BTW, in recent months there have been many changes, and I enjoy the color as much as any of them. Somehow, black and white photography seems most appropriate to the HSM/MW magazines, and I really relish and appreciate when the authors supply crisp well lit, well conceived photos. Color in select places probably enhances your 'product' immensely, but I hope you will stay with predominantly black and white photography.

Once again, kindest regards...

danz

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by rdanzey:
I've been watching the horizontal mill series with interest. However I am struck by a problem I have reading such articles, and it's been a consistent problem over time:

I have no idea what this machine looks like. Many past articles suffer from this same shortcoming. Sometimes, even at the end of the series there is still no real good 'overview' type photo, something to give the machine/project context.

In a more general sense, I often feel as though the articles start somewhere in the middle, give no perspective, and end without a proper summation.

I may be the problem, not your articles, and I don't want to seem negative, since I believe HSM is vastly better now than once it was. (It was always worth my time.) But perhaps others feel this way, too.

If you could supply me with a MS Word file of a recent series, I would be happy to go over it and explain where (if) it seems to miss the boat, why, and what I might suggest to improve the overall article, from my own perspective. As the editor, you could judge for yourself if my suggestions might help with comprehension and readability.

I hope if others also have my problem, they will speak up too. Kindest regards...

danz</font>

[Indexer]

Danz,

Having written for HSM, I appreciate the concerns expressed in this thread. And with new material currently in preparation, I would certainly appreciate a critical eye on my work. The point of writing for HSM, after all, is to share the results of my efforts with others in this hobby . . . it doesn't pay enough to be a way to make a living.

The age of this thread suggests that Village Press is not going to take you up on your offer, so perhaps I can offer up my own, "The Universal Plain Dividing Head" which appeared as a 4-part article in 1997, for your review. I can provide both hard copy and Word versions, although the photos and drawings were sent separately as jpeg files rather than integrated into the text. (The photos and drawings are a sizeable portion of the aggregate digital size.)

Let me know how you would like to proceed.




------------------
Rich Kuzmack

Pi = 355/113 . . . to
&lt;85 parts per billion

[Thrud]

Indexer

I thought you might want to know that JPEG is a lousy format for editing or archiving as it loses resolution each time it is opened and saved due to its nature (high compression). A better format is .TIFF which does not lose resolution even though it uses more disk space than JPEG, CD-R's are cheap - what the heck.

[metal mite]

Rdanzy,
How about writing something about a project you've done.

The authors could use it for an example.
One thing that bugs me is the guys happy to criticize your work, who have nothing to show themselves.

One guy says to me "You don't have a clutch in that thing (After working two years and a half years on a half scale Case who wants to hear that? Does he think I don't know there's no clutch in it yet?).

Was that a kit? Just glue it togather?
You know what those polling pockets are for?
I love genuine questions, but to criticize when you got notting to show yourself.
Get a life.
mite