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The CAD Media at COFES: We Only Devour Our Young When There's Nothing Else to Eat
Location: Blogs Randall Newton |
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| Posted by: Randall Newton |
4/18/2006 |
The group of writers and editors who regularly cover the CAD/engineering sofware industry are a small group. We know each other well, and we stay in touch between our meetings at industry conferences. Several of us chat back and forth in email regularly, saying things to each other that we would never put into our articles... things both good and bad, positive and negative. In other words, we talk stuff out a lot.
One of our colleagues, Roopinder Tara of TenLinks, has been mostly behind the scenes in recent years, running the website but not often commenting. TenLinks primarily covers the industry by offering referrals to other web sites. To provide a fresh perspective, Roopinder recently started a blog (cadinsider.typepad.com) to provide background information that goes beyond the normal reporting of new products. Recently he turned his attention to editorial ethics, and it seems Roopinder has decided to turn up the heat a bit. In his most recent entry on the subject (http://cadinsider.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/04/editorial_ethic_1.html) he castigates CADALYST magazine for excessive use of the "Highly Recommended" rating on product reviews. Comments appended to the blog are adding up, with most replies agreeing that "Highly Recommended" is used way too often.
Neither Roopinder nor Sara Ferris, the Editor-in-Chief of CADALYST, attended COFES this year, so I didn't get the chance to talk to them face to face about this. But I brought the subject up with a few attendees. Most did not have a strong opinion, but understood Roopinder's point, that it would be easy to overuse a top rating.
Perhaps the overuse of "Highly Recommended" is not so much about kowtowing to advertisers as it is a symptom of a larger problem, at least in America. We order our soft drinks "super sized," we expect our children to only get "A" grades in school, and we want our employers to give us a flattering annual review. Could it be that, while trying to maintain a meritocracy, we have unconsciouly been building a culture where we all expect to be treated like royalty? |
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Re: The CAD Media at COFES: We Only Devour Our Young When There's Nothing Else to Eat |
By rdtaggart on
4/25/2006 |
I don't think it is about the 'larger problem' but is due to the vendors and advertisers who use something akin to the 'Eye of Sauron' to intimidate a publication, its editors and its sales people.
I have often been requested to call up an editor who dared to give a bad score to a client's product. i always call, but very few times have I given the editor a hard time...this is an opportunity to listen.
In my experience, there are quite a lot of products that fail to meet the desired mark, yet get a decent score from the publications. i think this simply emphasizes the current state of the industry where we have many badly-programmed, bad-interface software products that continue to exist in the industry. Vendors need to listen - to their customers, to their partners - and yes, to the press at times, to be able to improve their products - not bully and posture for the sake of it. |
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Re: The CAD Media at COFES: We Only Devour Our Young When There's Nothing Else to Eat |
By H. Edward Goldberg AIA, NCARB on
5/1/2006 |
I am sorry that I was in Italy during COFES, and didn't have the opportunity to meet with you there. As I mentioned in Roopinder's Blog, I recommend software when I see that it fulfills a need, or solves a problem. If I don't mention a software in a particular genre, you can asume that I believe it is of questionable value. As far as interfaces are concerned, my mantra is "he who uses the least keystrokes wins". As far as advertisers are concerned, I would not have credibility if I recommended software that didn't work. Therefore, all the software I recommend is, in my opinion, excellent at this part of the continuium, and there are stand-outs -- I tell the readers when I perceive a stand-out; but what may be best for me, may not be best for them --therefore I also recommend that the reader download or get a demo and try it on a real project.
Ed Goldberg AIA, NCARB
Registered Architect/ AEC Industry Analyst / Trainer |
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