August 2018 - Sneak Peek
The American Philatelist is the monthly journal of the American Philatelic Society, the world's largest organization for stamp collectors and enthusiasts. Members receive the printed magazine and can access the digital edition as a benefit of membership in the Society. Please enjoy this sneak peek. We're confident that once you see all that we offer, you'll want to join the APS today.
The American Philatelist is the monthly journal of the American Philatelic Society, the world's largest organization for stamp collectors and enthusiasts. Members receive the printed magazine and can access the digital edition as a benefit of membership in the Society. Please enjoy this sneak peek. We're confident that once you see all that we offer, you'll want to join the APS today.
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DIGITAL DISCOVERIES<br />
.........................................................................................................<br />
BY MARTIN KENT MILLER<br />
A Quartet of Clues<br />
Explaining Some of the New Directions and Future Features<br />
Digital Discoveries is all about introducing new digital<br />
resources into the hobby. While a lot of the tools<br />
discussed in this column are not necessarily new to<br />
the internet, they are new to many of us and their use for<br />
philately may be a new idea, too. This month Digital Discoveries<br />
takes a step back to discuss some of the things we are<br />
trying to do in the digital realm. These four short segments<br />
will introduce an explanation for the unique domain name<br />
we’ve been using, a possible tool for future digital publications,<br />
clarification on the direction for bonus content, and<br />
some sites for your enjoyment and future exploration.<br />
http://aps.buzz/DragonMag<br />
The logic behind APS.BUZZ<br />
We have received a few questions about the new domain<br />
name that you see in both The American Philatelist and our<br />
social media channels. The name aps.buzz is used with a service<br />
for shortening URLs (web addresses). Originally, the<br />
idea was to save characters when sharing websites through<br />
social media. Today, the service enables us to not only simplify<br />
web addresses, it gives us the ability to track the number<br />
of readers who actually visit<br />
the link. This helps us decide<br />
what content is useful and<br />
how to better share information<br />
with you. Using the APS<br />
initials also helps by keeping<br />
the organization’s abbreviation<br />
in front of prospective<br />
APS members who see<br />
our social media posts.<br />
When you see any web<br />
address beginning with “aps.<br />
buzz” you can also visit the<br />
site with the confidence that we<br />
have already visited the website and know that it is a reliable<br />
link. Over the coming months, you will see this link used<br />
more often in the magazine as we try to understand what you<br />
visit from the articles we publish. We are also considering<br />
publishing a running list of the links, so let me know if that<br />
would be useful.<br />
794 AMERICAN PHILATELIST / AUGUST <strong>2018</strong><br />
Most Popular APS.BUZZ Link<br />
aps.buzz/SelfAdhesives<br />
Pointing to the<br />
October 2010<br />
article on removing<br />
self-adhesive stamps<br />
Digital Publishing in Test Mode<br />
In June, many of you received and responded to our readership<br />
survey. First, let me thank you for taking the time to<br />
give me your valuable feedback. We are studying the results<br />
and plan to use the information for ongoing improvements<br />
to The American Philatelist and our other avenues of communication.<br />
One of the hot topics of conversation from the survey<br />
relates to online publishing. Historically, The AP has been a<br />
print publication and I have no intention of changing that.<br />
However, an increasing number of readers would like to access<br />
the journal electronically. Also, many readers have asked<br />
for easier ways to access the digital edition using mobile devices<br />
like iPhones and tablet computers.<br />
Concurrent with the readership survey and the investigation<br />
of digital publishing options, we are also undertaking a<br />
redesign of the STAMPS.ORG website. These efforts fit together<br />
logically and technologically. As we develop the new<br />
website, it makes good business sense to explore a digital publishing<br />
platform that will fit seamlessly into the website. All of<br />
this work is generating positive results including a promising<br />
test of new digital publication tools.<br />
While we have not made a final decision on the publishing<br />
platform,we have posted a members-only test of the July<br />
edition of The AP. This is an early preview of one of the systems<br />
that we have been testing. There are still<br />
issues to be addressed; however, I wanted you<br />
to be able to get a preview and give me some<br />
feedback. This is merely an electronic version<br />
of last month’s print edition, but you can access<br />
it with your computer, tablet and smartphone<br />
using the link aps.buzz/DragonMag. Figure<br />
1 on the next page shows screenshots of the<br />
phone and desktop versions.<br />
About the Bonus Content<br />
After the March edition, I made the decision<br />
to temporary halt the process of publishing<br />
bonus content to the website. Admittedly, this<br />
was partially a test to see if anyone noticed. It was<br />
also a decision based on workload and priorities and workload.<br />
The bonus content is time-consuming and, based on an<br />
examination of our web traffic, not widely read.<br />
I am appreciative of the emails and calls we have received<br />
asking when the bonus content will return to the website.<br />
Part of the criteria for the digital publishing platform is that it
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