After enjoying 90 years as a printed publication, Lambda Chi Alpha’s Cross & Crescent magazine became an online only publication on November 2, 2005.

Postcard

Today, 115,000 of our US and Canadian members began receiving this postcard informing them of the change (click on the photo to read the message on the back). Obviously, the change was not made lightly. To offset some of the most obvious member frustrations, the online version offers some features and benefits that the printed edition didn’t have.

Quarterly to Monthly

The immediacy of the web forced us to consider making the online edition a monthly publication instead of the traditional quarterly schedule the printed edition enjoyed. The electronic version provides members more timely content, released on a consistent schedule (the second of every month).

HTML and PDF

Understandably, some members will want to enjoy the magazine away from a computer. To meet their needs, we complemented the HTML version of the website with a polished 16-page PDF. The PDFs include their own table of contents and internal bookmarks to ease navigation.

Reader Feedback

One of the great features of the web is its ability to ease interaction among individuals. The online magazine offers members the ability to publicly comment on any article they read, making the "Letters to the Editor" department a living and instant feedback tool.

Accessibility

Being an electronic publication, more members will be able to access its content in the medium of their choosing. Blind members can now use a screen reader, mobile professionals can access the magazine from a cell phone, and hip college students can receive RSS feeds that are pushed directly to their browser.

Drawbacks

There are some obvious drawbacks. Guys without internet access will have to find someone to print the magazine for them. We also lose the nice coffee-table benefit a printed edition offers.

Under ideal circumstances, we would have simply complemented the printed edition with a snazzy website. Discontinuing the printed edition, however, saves Lambda Chi Alpha $250,000 annually.

To learn more about the reasons for making the change, visit the article Magazine Moves Online or find me at the CFEA MidYear conference a few weeks from now.