Hi everyone, On Sat, Apr 27, 2013 at 10:14 AM, Hannon <othonna@gmail.com> wrote: > Other societies blend hobbyist and scientific interests in a unifying > journal publication, but that is not the purview of the PBS. > The PBS board have discussed this issue before, but what it runs down to is finding someone to edit and run the journal. All of us are volunteers and few of us are retired, so being the editor in chief of a strong scientific journal would take a good chunk of time and we will probably end up having to pay someone to do it. Dylan, if you have any interest in doing this, let's talk more! Maybe Jane McGary could be coerced into helping as well. Anyone with an interest please chime in. The only important change would be that it cannot be printed but instead be distributed via PDF. Many societies have moved their journals to electronic publishing and it has worked well for them. In the modern standard, electronic publication does not in any way diminish the value/prestige of a journal, and as a matter of fact, it makes the journal even more accessible to readers world-wide. Having the authors pay in a small fee per page charge helps alleviate the burden of editorial costs to a journal. Unless you work in academia, the promise of easy online access has not been > realized-- JSTOR is not set up for individual users and even decades old > journal articles are effectively locked up. > True. I looked into the pricing for JStor Plant Sciences and for a small society like the PBS it would run $1800-3200 for the first year and + $350-750/year. At the moment, our current income cannot cover such an item. However, if the major societies get together, we may be able to give access to members. With the future of the IBS site unknown it would be worth investigating the > possibility of rescuing selected images that fill gaps and enhance the PBS > wiki. > I am told that Herb(ert) Kelly will host the IBS website on his personal server once the IBS site goes down. On Sat, Apr 27, 2013 at 9:11 AM, John Wickham <jwickham@sbcglobal.net>wrote: > Are there any national gardening or botanical organizations that are > looking at this issue? It might be time for some coordinated efforts to > attract more interest. > I think such an effort is absolutely necessary. Interest dwindle because the newer generations are much too distracted by everything they can access from an electronic screen. The sad truth is that every institution is stretched to its limits trying to maintain itself. However, if nothing is done, the future can only end in failure. On Sat, Apr 27, 2013 at 2:44 PM, Robin Hansen <Robin@hansennursery.com>wrote: > Really, we would all benefit immensely from the availability of special > interest groups within a larger organization. If an opportunity arises > whether for PBS, NARGS, or ARS, let's get serious. Time passes much too > quickly. > I think this forum serves as a good place to start such a discussion. When you have more people, the energy necessary to kick start such a project could lead to something coming to fruition rather than just a few motivated individuals. I urge everyone with an interest or idea to throw it out here and with good hope that we can go somewhere. Nhu