[Imc] Re: [UCIMC-print] another edition of the Public i?

[John Wason]

At 11:52 PM 04/24/2002 -0500, David Young wrote:

>On Tue, Apr 23, 2002 at 02:46:29PM -0500, Sandra Ahten wrote:
>> There are better ways to spend our energy that to put out a paper that even
>> the choir won't read.

>Two questions for the Public i.
>
>The Public i collective does not purposefully write a paper the choir
>neither needs to nor wants to read?

Are you implying, Dave, that the public i should be written not for the
choir, but for those who are not yet in the choir?  If so, a good point, and
one that leads to your second question.

It occurred to me that perhaps Sandra's friends are already in the choir,
and thus already know everything that's in the public i.  But some folks
don't.  MOST of the newspapers we distribute are being picked up by SOMEONE,
and I don't think all of them are being used to line birdcages.


>Do you ask different people than the choir if they are bored by the paper?

It has occurred to me to try to have some sort of reader survey in the
public i.  To wit:

1) What do you like about the public i?  What don't you like?
2) What are we doing right?  What are we doing wrong?
3) What would you like to see in the public i that isn't currently in there?

Etc.  Maybe also some demographic questions to try to identify what types of
people are reading the paper and responding to the survey.

I'm sure we'd get only a handful of responses, but those few responses might
give us a slightly better sense of direction.

Meanwhile, though, I have urged Sandra and her bored friends to try to
articulate exactly what it is about the public i that they do and do not
like.  If we can't identify the nature of the problem, it's hard to imagine
that we could come up with any sort of viable "solution".

Thanks for your input, Dave.  I'm tempted to ask you whether you consider
yourself to be in the choir or not, and what about the public i YOU like and
don't like.

John