In November 1996, American Amateur Press Association President Dean Rea asked me to direct project "AAPA Telecom" with the objective to help AAPA make the transition from its dependence on the postal system to some form of transmitting correspondence, association business and publications electronically.
I agreed that such an exercise could be both fun and important.
My professional background is software development on UNIX workstations -- quite a distance from desktop publishing on personal computers. For this project to be successful, I will need folks who are familiar with using PCs, Macs, the Internet, and publishing software to fill in my knowledge gaps. Everyone reading this -- both members and non-members -- are invited to participate by sending an e-mail message to tribby@cup.hp.com
-- Dave Tribby
Here is an announcement Dean wrote for the January 1997 issue of the American Amateur Journalist:
To help build that bridge, David Tribby, a longtime amateur journalist and a computer specialist, has been appointed to direct the study, Rea said.
"We have discussed and debated the future of amateur journalism in generalities," Rea said. "It is time to seriously consider how we can perpetuate our hobby in the face of changing lifestyles and technology."
Rea said he believes that the AAPA is best suited and equipped to lead in this study, which may result in a number of proposals, including how best to utilize the Internet as a carrier of messages and eventually of amateur journals.
"The cost of utilizing the U.S. Postal Service and the cost of printing the official organ continues to escalate and could seriously impact our hobby. We also have learned that the number of so-called girls and boy printers has declined during the past couple of decades, a trend influenced by changing lifestyles as well as by printing technologies.
"I also am concerned that a chasm will begin to separate those artisans who practice letterpress printing and those who prefer the computer," Rea said. "We need to find ways to accommodate all methods of printing and distribution, especially during the next decade when e-mail and networking will be the preferred choice of a growing number of members."
It may be possible, Rea noted, for the AAPA to step up recruiting and to begin providing incentives for those amateur journalists interested in new technology. The addition of a laureate category for journals circulated only via the Internet is a possibility, he noted. "That might not be popular politically," he said, "but that may be the price of perpetuating the hobby as technology and lifestyles change."
Rea noted that unless the AAPA accommodates change, it faces the prospect of declining membership and activity and the formation of a separate amateur journalism organization that embraces the new technology.
Rea said that he has been impressed with Tribby's contributions to the AAPA not only by producing letterpress and computer generated journals, but also by helping introduce the computer generation to amateur journalism during the 1990s.
"I want to recognize such exploration as an official activity of the AAPA," Rea told Tribby in appointing him director of Project Telecom. "The study is now in your hands. Make of it what you wish."
Tribby, who publishes The Tribby Tribune and who coordinates Ink Cahoots, introduced the AAPA to the Internet audience in 1994 by creating six pages on the World Wide Web. One page, for example, is an AAPA recruiting device. Another is of interest to letterpress printers. A third provides links to pages that mention the AAPA. Correspondence involving more than 50 AAPA members is now possible through e-mail. Those addresses routinely are listed in the official organ and in the membership list.
You are invited to share your thoughts with Tribby by writing
to him at 1529 Fantail Court, Sunnyvale, CA 94087, or by sending a
message to him at tribby@cup.hp.com via e-mail.