I know, were late again, but Issue # 4 is finally ready (without apostrophes for some reason). Things got really busy there for a while, what with me on the phone all the time, providing long-distance telephone service to ignorant tourists, indignant locals, and long-suffering users of a telephone system caught in the midst of the technological revolution; a revolution which is having an impact on all aspects of ‘life as we know it’, including the publication of this magazine. Halfway through this issue, I lost the services of the guy who laid out the first three issues due to school and work commitments. Then there was some confusion over the deadline for advertising (which, as well know, pays for the printing of this magazine in lieu of a ‘cover charge’) and an inability to resolve it due to the nature of telephone tag. This matter finally settled, an acceptable printing company lined-up, and a thirty-nine hour lay-out session (that’s thirty-nine consecutive hours) at Lightbulb Graphics + Design completed, everything seemed ready to meet the revised deadline I had imposed for this issue. We finished just in time to be told ‘you cant get there from here’ by technical difficulties. After all that work, were being held up by technology, which is supposed to make things quicker and easier to do.
The problem is not with the technology itself (without which the whole concept would be impractical) but with interface between technologies. And it is not unique to publishing an independent magazine. It’s a sign of the times. It is natural for gaps to appear as new technologies replace old ones. For example, as businesses feel the need to decrease their workforce and implement more efficient automated telephone systems and telephone companies, in an effort to compete in an open market, start automating services like collect calls, a gap is created where these two systems meet. ‘You have reached the Job Line. All our lines are currently busy…’ is being asked to ‘Press 1 now to accept this collect call from
Gaps such as this are occurring more and more frequently in that is based upon the very real art of everyday life through tough times, a universal theme these days. And isolated though it may be from the acknowledged centres, the rest of the world is noticing. Our music, literature, theatre and dance has touched down in various parts of the world (a world that is being explored by more and more people via advances in world-wide communication and mass media) and it is touching people wherever it lands. Using modern technology as an interface, this industry has the potential to be a major factor in the economic development of this island. Lets figure it out for ourselves before someone else cashes in on it.
