Monarch Watch Newsletter

[JBowers]

Jim,
I think emailing the news"letter" would be a great idea! Even with all the spam. I for one would appreciate more timely info than waiting till March for the October news.
A BLOG would really be the best! That way you would eliminate the spam! And then it's up to US to read or not! Kind of puts the "monkey" on our backs.
Whatever you decide, keep us in the loop so we know what to look for. And know we really appreciate all the work you do for us!!!!!
Just wish I were closer so I could "help".
Thank you!!!!

[psi_chemie]

I'm not sure what the issue is. A monthly HTML post in the update section of the website does not seem like a great difficulty compared to maintaining a blog or something else.

[Jim]

I'm not sure what the issue is. A monthly HTML post in the update section of the website does not seem like a great difficulty compared to maintaining a blog or something else.

The problem is that we frequently delay distribution of timely information, waiting to include it in the next update which may be weeks or months away (articles also frequently get cut completely b/c of this). Moreover, the "monthly" updates have just gotten too large and it is difficult for us to publish them on a regular schedule, given the day to day demands on the three of us. There's a lot more to keeping Monarch Watch afloat than most people realize, especially since only two of us are full time MW staff and the third is spread so thin across several programs that there just isn't much time for Monarch Watch.

A blog-type format would allow us to post articles (likely smaller and more informal) several time a month - so that up-to date news is really up-to-date and not weeks or months old. It would give us a way to share more of what's going on in the world of monarchs and Monarch Watch and to engage Monarch Watchers more frequently, which would hopefully generate more exposure and support for our program.

The articles will be archived in such a way that if people want to wait to read everything posted in a given month they can do that. We will also be able to send out some sort of email notification of either new article postings or simple a monthly "reminder" to check out what's been written.

This is very much a work in progress and we appreciate any and all input (keep those comments coming) - thanks and please stay tuned!

[psi_chemie]

OK, that makes sense. I really appreciate your work. I suppose since I don't have TV I look foward to much to the monthly updates for entertainment :)

[Judy Molnar]

I'm not sure if you'll find this helpful, but there is a website www.dinosaurnews.org run by Roger Smith in New Zealand that gathers links together in one place of articles posted on the Internet about dinosaurs. Roger sends out an email of abstracts or headlines to subscribers several times a month [he tries to do it weekly]. An imbedded link takes you to the site. Once on the site, you read abstracts of news about dinos and other fossils and then follow imbedded links to full stories. You do this at your own pace and keep as informed or not as you wish.

If MW staff posted brief articles or news items on the MW website and then did a regular email to subscribers to link us to the news items in the same way, that would get the news out and keep us all in the loop. This is probably along the lines you are thinking of but I thought I'd throw it out there for a suggestion. The Journey North folks have a nice format for weekly updates too, I appreciate the reminder of an e-mail and then I can decide which time is best for me to pursue the news in depth.

I find the dinosaur site very helpful, since it includes new books, press releases, exhibits going on around the world, etc. Any institution related to dinos can send news to it and can be included. Maybe the forum can include this ability to send links to local monarch happenings. Maybe the mechanics of the dinosaur site could be a template to follow? Or it might mean more work to maintain than what you have in mind.

Just my 2 cents!
Judy Molnar

[Alison]

As far as not hearing anything from thousands of subscribers (Summer newsletter comment)... maybe a lot of people are just too busy to follow up on all the subscriptions & e-mails they receive. It can be very easy to join so many groups or subscribe to so many digests that you just can't keep up with all of them. I really restrict mine.
I do, however, read the Monarchwatch newsletters, & always find them interesting! The digest is nice, rather than having to hunt around a website for topics of interest, but you should do whatever is easiest for the limited staff & time that you have.
I get an astronomy newsletter, bimonthly, which gives news & article headlines, & if you want to read the rest of the story you can just click on the link. It sounds like you are proposing something similar -- an update with links to whatever new articles have been posted?
I get another e-mail digest which occasionally sends out a "subscription probe" through the server. If the e-mail address is invalid or generates a delivery error, it will be unsubscribed automatically. Maybe you could do something like that to cut down on the delivery error messages you are getting?
In any case, thanks for the work you all do, on programs & newsletters & all.

[cgrendy3]

I've worked and published a bunch 'o newsletters (soccer, band, neighborhood watch, etc.) there's a lot of work that goes into not just throwing the information out there for readers, but actually presenting it in a fashion that is easy to read, attractive to the eye, etc.

I live in central Indiana, so not close enough to Kansas to drop by and 'say hello'... but, if you want to publish a newsletter of some sort, i'd love to offer my assistance.... editing, layout, etc. I'm always looking for online work--volunteer!--so this would be fun for me!

I have a B.A. in English Lit... work history in editing... etc. I did the regional soccer newsletter via 'puter and never actually even 'met' the lady 'in person' that fed me the info for the newsletter! So, I've had experience working via cyberspace alone.

JLMK! Cheers

[Jim]

Thanks for the offer - as soon as we figure out what we're going to do I just may be calling on you

[cgrendy3]

You bet... I'll be right here!