On editing Juiced.GS and Open Apple

June 6th, 2011 11:17 AM
by
Filed under Musings;
2 comments.

As I spent this weekend writing and editing both Juiced.GS and Open Apple, it occurred to me how different the processes are.

When I write for Juiced.GS, I edit as I go: words are substituted, sentences experimented with, entire paragraphs moved or scrapped. By the time I finish my first draft, it’s often very close to a final draft.

But with Open Apple, there’s no going back. Once I click “Record” on the computer, the first take attains as much permanency as the second and third, with no distinction between garbage and eloquence. It’s more akin to brainstorming, where we just keep talking to get the ideas down to be sifted through later. There’s an editing process, for sure, but it’s entirely distinct from the content production phase.

But then I thought, isn’t that similar to the relationship between writers and editors? Writers may edit as they go, but their work isn’t truly edited until it’s fallen under the scalpel of a separate editor who prepares it for publication. In recording an episode of Open Apple, I’m more akin to a writer who then submits his work to an editor. Everything that doesn’t fit the vision of the final product is sloughed at a later date and time.

It’s a challenging distinction, but that’s how I like it. I’ve enjoyed every stage of Open Apple production because it’s so new to me. My first professional experience with audio editing came as the post-production editor for the now-defunct Computerworld Editorial podcast, which opened with one of the same songs heard in Open Apple. The Apple II podcast marks the first time I’ve also participated in outlining and then producing the content. Being involved in a project from beginning to end is the best way to learn what goes into a finished piece and what parts are enjoyable, as I discovered when I became editor and then publisher of Juiced.GS.

I feel right now like I’m at the same point of educational experimentation with Open Apple that I was six years ago with Juiced.GS. Neither will ever be perfect, and both provide unique and ample opportunities to innovate — but Open Apple‘s learning curve is currently much steeper, and I couldn’t be happier.

Revisiting Nibble

August 23rd, 2010 1:09 PM
by
Filed under History;
3 comments.

At KansasFest 2010, Stavros was kind enough to make several issues of Nibble magazine available to any attendees who would give them a good home. Despite Nibble‘s founding editor having been the KansasFest 2007 keynote speaker, I’d never actually read the magazine myself. I’d been an Apple II user since the early Eighties, but did not join the community in earnest until 1992. With Nibble having published 1981–1995, my opportunities to enjoy the platform’s heyday of offline support were few.

Nibble magazine I picked up the twenty-year-old Vol. 11, No. 6 (June 1990) and found the 96-page, full-color issue an absolute delight to read. It was like being transported back in time to when enjoying the Apple II put you in the majority, not the minority. In 1990 in particular, the possibilities seemed limitless, despite the writing being on the wall, as evidenced by Mike Harvey’s editorial in which he pounds the pulpit for Apple Computer Inc. to pay more attention to the platform that made them famous. It was a melancholy experience to read that article, knowing how that story would end.

This issue included a 168-line Applesoft BASIC program called Whodunit, a murder-mystery game by Constance Fairbanks. Program listings for users to input were something I remembered well from academic textbooks and even Mad Magazine. I wonder how many budding programmers learned their craft by familiaring themselves with these commands en route to seeing the final product — or did they just enter the lines by rote, with no comprehension of their function, as my class was taught to do in school? Fortunately, Nibble appears to have encouraged the former, as the listing is prefaced by a section subtitled “How the program works”, which breaks down the program’s routines.

Due to its breadth, depth, and budget, a single issue of Nibble probably contains more content than I could ever hope to fit into a full year of Juiced.GS. Although humbled, I am also inspired by the giants upon whose shoulders today’s Apple II print publication stands. I will likely revisit this issue and this publication for more ideas of articles and blog posts.

Oh, and the issue’s original owner? According to its mailing label, that would be one Jim Maricondo. The all-star connections never end at KansasFest.

Reading at 300 Baud

July 19th, 2010 10:50 AM
by
Filed under Musings;
1 comment.

As a member of the magazine industry, I’ve watched many storied print publications diminish in size and circulation until they disappear altogether, which bodes ill for nascent ones. Publishing veterans tell me it’d be madness to pitch a new print magazine in a day when everything is going digital.

Yet magazines serve many audiences, and when a niche goes unserved, an enterprising and passionate team can’t help but hope the market will support its vision. I was encouraged to see this had happened to the retrocomputing community when I learned of the existence of 300 Baud, a new publication aimed at the growing number retrocomputing enthusiasts.

I discovered 300 Baud too late to partake of the limited run of its first issue; PDFs may be available eventually, but for now, the print edition is a rare commodity. I instead ordered the second issue (no multi-issue subscription plan is currently offered) for $6, which includes shipping within North America ($8 elsewhere). The Web site states that orders may take 4–6 weeks to be delivered. My order was placed on June 15, mailed on June 28, and delivered on July 6 — a pretty efficient turnaround, given the expectation.

300 Baud envelope

Even the envelope was rockin' the retro font. Click for actual size.

The magazine’s first two qualities to surprise me were in its actual format. First, it is about the size of an instruction manual, measuring roughly 5.75″ wide and 9.5″ tall. It makes for a compact travelling companion but also decreases the number of words per page, resulting in more flipping among its 40 unnumbered pages. Second, the issue appears to be printed fully in color. Although most images appear in black and white, color appears either as the occasional splash or as a full-page image. I imagine this decision must’ve raised production costs immensely, making $6 for the issue a bargain.

300 Baud bills itself as “a periodical journal of retrocomputing”; as such, the second issue’s eight articles aim at a broad readership of indeterminate platform preference. The content can be broadly broken down into three categories: telecommunications, programming, and hardware.

True to the magazine’s title, the first article looks at the early era of telecommunications, with a focus on CompuServe and BBSs. The article is written with a mix of factual history and personal anecdotes, offering a more relatable perspective than the by-the-numbers history of online services I researched last summer. A later piece on the rise, fall, and longevity of the gopher protocol is fun, detailing the needs it addressed and the support it has to this day, while a third article relates the experience of a former dial-up bulletin board denizen discovering the survival of the BBS as a telnet service.

300 Baud #2In the programming category is an overview of how graphics are handled from BASIC on the Apple, Atari, and IBM, with a brief mention of Commodore and Tandy models. It’s an interesting survey that doesn’t go into the depth of a how-to. Similarly, “Hack the Mac” is an introduction to the programming languages available for classic Macs and how they compare in requirements and difficulty, but not necessarily robustness. Retro Mac fans should appreciate this piece more than I did, as the oldest Mac I’ve ever used was from 1997. I thought an article on something called OS-9 might be closer to my era, yet it is not the Mac’s Classic environment, but an operating system for Tandy’s CoCo computer.

Likewise, not being a hardware hacker, I skipped the article on hardware hacking and interfacing. An article on “pen computing” puts the recent launch of the iPad in a historical perspective, casting Apple’s revolutionary device as the latest in a long line of mobile computers with touch displays.

Though lacking a table of contents, the issue is easy to read. The text is presented in typical blog format, with double carriage returns between paragraph breaks and no indentation. Although I’m still not accustomed to this style in print, it’s more a matter of personal taste that doesn’t affect readability.

Most of the issue’s images are used for visual variety and not do demonstrate concepts or principles found in the text. Unfortunately, I could find no credits for any of the art or images in the issue. Some of them are positively retro, which makes me wonder who holds the copyright. When I sought the rights for a similar picture for my own use, I found permission was easily obtained from the Computer History Museum, but I saw no such disclaimer in 300 Baud.

In addition to a diverse stable of writers, the magazine has an impressive pedigree: its editor is William Dale Goodfellow, and layout, printing, and shipping is handled by Simon Williams, whose Web server is an Apple II and who brings us the annual Retro Challenge. I didn’t recognize any of this issue’s other contributors, though that speaks more of my own lack of awareness of the retrocomputing scene outside my own Apple II community.

Given the economics of today’s print industry, 300 Baud is wise to appeal to as broad a potential reader base as possible. At the same time, not every article will appeal to every reader. I confess to not having dove into each one, and I’ll accept if that makes me unqualified to offer an informed review. It all depends on how narrow your interests are and how willing you are to broaden them.

Whatever your retrocomputing area of expertise, 300 Baud is a rare and bold effort to speak to us esoteric hobbyists, and it deserves the support it needs to warrant the future issues I intend to buy.