Instantaneous electronic communication is an marvel of mankind

But screw it, lets take a giant step backwards.

A good, old-fashion, post-office mailer is coming to the DML.
The goal of this mailer is to bring the DML's knowledge and community to those who lack Internet access or simply don't access the DML in its current form.

We are planing to be able to do this at a price the will seem a bargain. The plan is to provide content from the DML website, including the monthly messages.
I'm hopeful that we'll be able to start in April collecting content. Meaning the first mailers would go out in mid May.
If we cant get setup in time to get content from April, it'll push back the first mailer until mid June with May content.
Jon and I have been corresponding back and forth to pool our ideas and have come up with a good outline that is workable. The details are described as follows. Of coarse these may change as this project comes together, but so far this sounds workable.

Cost

I have been to a couple of printers to study the costs of a mailer. There is a difference between printing and copying. Black and white 8.5x11 copies are $.05 each and color ones are $.50. Printing requires setup of the printer so it is more expensive than coping at lower quantities but gets cheaper as the quantity increases. For us, printing two-sided 11x17 sheets appears to be the cheapest way to get the most content. The sheets would be center stapled, folded, and placed in an envelop for mailing. Of course everybody wants some color pictures, but how to keep it cost effective is still in question. Ideas include having a color 11x7.5 sheet stapled in as "centerfold", or one as a cover, or just stuffed in the envelope. If we keep it to one color copy, the printed content, and envelop and postage the cost should be less than $1.50 an issue. Which means a year subscription would be ~$20. If we start adding more color it'll push the price higher

Content

The sections of content that will be included are as follows:
Featured Threads A section of messages taken from that months DML traffic.
The messages will be edited into a printable format.
Every effort will be made to include all interests in a fair manner.
It may take more than one staff person working together to provide this bit of content
Articles The articles included will be directly from the DML upgrades pages. We will seek out DMLers to provide write ups on their projects for the DML upgrade page.
This bit of content should only take one staff person.
Q&A This section would allow those without Internet access to ask questions.
Of coarse not every question would be printed, but common and interesting questions will be included
This is probably handleable by one person
Letters To
The Editor
maybe		 This would allow people without Internet access to share specific information
Upcoming events This section will include all the upcoming events posted on the DML
This should allow the local meetings to grow greatly
Classifieds
(maybe)		 Self explaining
Club Sales
 Contact information for buying stickers n such

Staffing

We will need volunteers to staff the team. The workload will be split up so as to not cumbersome for any one individual. We will make every effort to have things run smoothly. Deadlines will be set and monitored. Hopefully if everything is set up well and we communicate well there will be no major problems. If you are interested please contact myself or Jon.
Here are the positions and their responsibility
PublisherMichael
Meyerhoff		 Prints mailing labels and prepares envelops for when mailer is ready
Take content from various editors and combines it.
Take mailer to printer and have it printed
Stuff envelops and mail them.
present expense reports for review
Subscriptions
and Accounting		Jon
Steiger		 Take incoming subscription by mail
Maintain a database of subscriptions
Review and reimburse approved expense reports
Keep records of accounts to ensure solubility
Initiate any paid advertising for the mailer
EditorsAs many as
it takes to
make an acceptable
workload		 Will be responsible for getting their bit of content into a predefined publish-able state by the deadline
Public Relations1 person
(maybe more)		 Coordinate with Jon on any advertising efforts/
Handle any change of address requests
Take care of free trial issue request (if implemented)
Take phone calls from subscribers wanting to post an upcoming event
Assistant PublisherMay open eventually
as needed		 Assist the Publisher in preparing envelops and stuffing them if it becomes too much of a task for one person
Q&A (if implemented)1 (possibly more) Take questions from subscribers, search the archives, cut n paste them an answer.
If the question is unique it may need posting to the DML.
Particularly good questions may warrant posting in the mailer along with the lists answers
Communication among the team will be very important. Jon is setting up a listserve for the staff to use. Decisions regarding the mailer will be made by discussion on this list. We'll be able to maintain constant contact and hopefully ease through any trouble spot.

Schedule

Here is a generic calendar.with a possible Schedule
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
1
"Message Content" for that months mailer begins		 2
Content editing begins		 3
4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
 10
11
 12
 13
 14
 15
 16
 17
18
 19
 20
 21
 22
 23
Cutoff for new subscriptions receiving that month		 24
That months mailing labels are printed off
25
Labeling of envelops begins		 26
 27
 28
 29
 30
 31
"Message Content" for that months mailer ends
1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
8
Content Editing Deadline		 9
 10
 11
Mailer finalized		 12
 13
 14
Mailer back from printer / stuffing begins
15
 16
 17
 18
 19
 20
 21
22
 23
 24
 25
 26
 27
 28
29
 30
 31

Please feel free to make suggestions. But remember this is a volunteer, tight budget deal so be reasonable :)