X-Message-Number: 922 Date: 23 Jun 92 17:41:55 EDT From: Charles Platt <> Subject: Cryonet Digest Having recently joined the online community, I am struck by the large amount of interesting material on Cryonet that is receiving only a limited circulation. I would like to be instrumental in disseminating some of this material to a wider audience. My motives are threefold: 1) People who are interested in cryonics should be more involved in current issues. 2) I would like to encourage more people to get online. 3) I am a writer by trade, gathering material for a book on cryonics, and it is in my own interests to be in communication with as many people as possible. I have produced several little magazines over the years, especially in the science-fiction community. I have the equipment and the experience to produce a little magazine for the cryonics community with minimum trouble. I feel that print media still offer many advantages: portability, permanence, instant accessibility, loanability, and so forth. Thus, I would like to do a CRYONET DIGEST. This would contain a selection of email, set in decently readable type, probably reproduced in 5-1/2" by 8-1/2" format (stapled down the spine). Publication might be every six weeks, depending on the supply of interesting material. I would expect to run the Digest in such a way that it should cover its own costs, without actually making a profit. I would hope to distribute the first issue free to all Alcor members, enclosed with "Cryonics" magazine. (Carlos Mondragon made a tentative offer of this kind re a slightly different project that I suggested to him. I don't know if he would still feel inclined to offer that much support for this project.) I might take out small ads in a couple of cryonics- related publications (ideally, I would swap ads with them). Anyone who wanted to continue receiving the Digest would have to pay maybe $1 or $2 per issue. The Digest would be available to anyone who wanted to read it; I don't believe in restricting the printed word in any way. I would deal with most of the production myself, though I might solicit local volunteers to help with collating, folding and stapling. The only way I could handle this project efficiently would be if I had the right to select which email to include in the Digest. I don't know whether some people would object to this. They might get miffed if they were not included. Other people might be unhappy if they *were* included. Ideally, I would like everyone on Cryonet to state their position, as follows: 1. "I am happy for any of my Cryonet email to be reprinted in a Digest magazine. You do not need to ask my permission in each instance. However, I understand that if you edit my email to fit available space, you will send me the condensation for my approval." 2. "I may be willing to have *some* of my Cryonet email reprinted in a Digest magazine. I need to be consulted on a case-by-case basis." 3. "I wish to keep all of my email in Cryonet only. I do not want any of it reprinted." I leave it to Kevin to decide how best to handle this situation. Possibly, I should assume that all Cryonet people fall into class 3) unless they state otherwise. On the other hand, it would be helpful to me to know in advance if a reasonable number of Cryonet participants would be willing to have their material reprinted. I don't want to start a magazine, only to find that no one wants to be in it! Also, it would be inconvenient if a good discussion gets going online, but half the material is "off limits" to the Digest. --Charles Platt [ Charles, thank you for the offer to publish a Cryonet Digest! Your suggestion to assume, by default, that people fall into class 3) is certainly the most conservative, but perhaps a default of class 2) would be better because it would still respect people's wishes but not require everyone to email to you in advance what those wishes happen to be. Thus, if you like someone's posting and request permission for publication, you can find out at that time what the author wishes. Since the number of people reading Cryonet is continually increasing, you will not be able to maintain a list of preferences for everyone anyway. In particular, if the vote for a USENET sci.cryonics news group succeeds, the number of readers is likely to increase dramatically. But will enough of the writers of Cryonet messages agree to be published to make Charles' offer to create a digest worthwhile? My guess is that many people are in classes 1) and 2) and few people are in class 3). (After all, it will be an honor to write a message good enough to make it into his digest!) If my guess is wrong, please let me know! If we do NOT hear of a lot of class 3) folks, then we will conclude that most people are indeed in class 1) or class 2) and that Charles' offer to create a Cryonet Digest should go full speed ahead. By the way, Charles, you can put me in class 1, even though I don't expect many of my administrivia messages to make the cut. - KQB ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=922