The Editor Bytes Back
Harry Owen, Editor, PELS Newsletter
Bytes are the name of the game for me, as I send and/or receive several hundred e-mail messages in connection with each issue of the Newsletter of the Power Electronics Society. Thanks to my academic institution computer account, which is probably the most valuable benefit an emeritus professor can receive, when I need to do so, I keep in daily contact with PELS correspondents around the world efficiently from my home.
And here is where is where I need to make my point. To produce a camera-ready copy of the Newsletter for IEEE to print and mail, I use the desktop publishing program Pagemaker. I do all of the font setting, sizing, indenting, and other operations that go into electronic typesetting in this program so that all I need from you who send me items for publication is a straight text file. Files sent by e-mail with formatting information imbedded from word processing programs tend to get messed up along the internet since, as I understand it, any control characters that are used are stripped off along the way. So, to keep me from flaming you with e-mail that says "I can't read you," please save your output in a text-only unformatted file, and send that to me. Speaking as a PC user, I have found that opening the text file, highlighting it, copying it, then pasting it in the e-mail message works best for me. I can see it in the message space and I know it is going out as pure text. Of course, I am also happy to get your items on diskette, but again, please use plain text, not formatted output.
Let me remind you that I can use photos for your articles also. Make sure they are not too dark and are well-focused shots in either color or black-and-white. And let me know if you want your photos returned.
Thanks for listening, and please keep your items for the Newsletter coming. And let me have your comments and suggestions on how we might improve the publication. I am still waiting to get my first Letter to the Editor so that I can begin to plan a page featuring your bouquets and brickbats about your Society.
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