Appendix F - To Be (Hip), or Not To Be?
Some recommendations for the Hip Webzine

Prepared for Dick Hardt, GITCO, Hip Communications Inc.
by Michael Hayward, M. Pub. candidate, Simon Fraser University

I have prepared the following list of recommendations for consideration regarding the future of the Hip Webzine. The recommendations draw upon my role as erstwhile Editor/Publisher of the aforementioned publication for 5 issues over the period of my internship with Hip. They should be read within the framework of the question: "Should the Hip Webzine continue to publish, and if so, within what context?"

Pros
Cons
General recommendations
Production recommendations

Pros

The Webzine could serve as a "fun" outlet for staff. If they have time to have fun...
The Webzine helps Hip to maintain a presence in the arts community (another potential source of clients), as well as the corporate world (Hip's source of revenue).
The (contract? volunteer?) Webzine production staff could be a good source of HTML markup talent for Hip's other work.
The Webzine (when it works) attracts a certain "hip" readership: a very desirable demographic slice at the moment. This readership could be a source of future revenue to Hip, for example by selling sponsorship space on the Webzine.

Cons

The Webzine brings in no money.
The Webzine consumes resources (disk, time, bandwidth)
The Webzine's image and tone is at odds with the kind of image that is needed to make corporate clients feel comfortable with Hip's services.

General recommendations

Consider some kind of phoenix-like transformation of the Hip Webzine into a "webzine of another name" (Son of Webzine?) This would allow Hip to distance itself from the "non-corporate" image of the Webzine. This would in turn reassure Hip's more timid clients, and would still allow Hip to maintain a presence in the arts community (and would still allow Hip staff to have fun now and then...)
Consider offering the transformed and renamed Son of Webzine to an independent group of Web keeners to publish and maintain as they see fit (with a minimum of interference and control) One possibility is Byron Moore and his crew. Hip could offer these Son of Webzine publishers a platform for their views and a chance to get their feet wet on the Web. Possibly also an office and/or a machine, or at least access to one during certain agreed upon hours. In return Hip might ask for a credit of some sort, and might also request that the "Speaking of Sex" column continue to be included in Son of Webzine as a way of feeding people through to the Focus material.
The WWW world has moved on: what was once "hip" is now passé. If the Webzine continues in some form I recommend that it be given a serious design overhaul: background graphics (as much as I dislike them!) are probably a requirement now for any Webzine trying to cultivate a "hip" readership. Other things to consider: product give-aways; contests; reader-feedback; audio etc.
Try to maintain a regular publication schedule. Once a week is probably too frequent; once a month is more reasonable.
Try to rebuild the readership mailing list. And once it is built up again: back it up regularly!
Give serious thought to dumping the Webzine "back issue" idea: back issues rarely get visited, and they consume resources (disk space, link-maintenance time).

Production recommendations

Continue to maintain a mirror of Son of Webzine on a machine separate from the server. This will allow pre-publication testing of all links, and non-destructive editing and testing of new material before it goes "live".
Locate the Son of Webzine mirror material on a machine which can be accessed from either Mac or Windows platforms. If possible, provide some kind of dialup access to this mirror machine, to simplify access for the "independent group of Web keeners" who publish it, while minimizing the disturbance to Hip's other activities. If the mirror machine can also run a parallel WWW server for off-site testing of Webzine issues in progress, so much the better.
If Son of Webzine does keep some kind of "back issue" status, consider rationalizing the Webzine structure, so that each issue lives in its own self-contained subdirectory (rather than the current structure where the "col" and "bestnet" folders are above issue subdirectories).
Maintain a bigger backlog of material for forthcoming issues of Son of Webzine. If production staff can keep a couple of issues worth of material on hand, that will speed up the publication process.
Keep cultivating new columnists for Son of Webzine: people burn out eventually (yes, even hip people), especially if their only reward is seeing their name on the Web.