It’s a funny thing for a magazine publisher to be saying, but we realize that reading may not be your thing, at least not all the time. In fact, we recognize there may be a segment of tree care professionals for whom reading is never the first choice when learning something new. Or perhaps it is their reading proficiency in English that is the obstacle.
Because it’s in our mission statement to “… strive to serve as the definitive resource for commercial, residential, municipal and utility arborists, as well as for others involved in the care and maintenance of trees,” we’re looking to enhance how we get information to our “readers” who may not be readers.
While we don’t have the ultimate solution yet, we do have some answers. Many of those answers are housed under the Resources tab at tcimag.tcia.org.
Resources houses more than 30 videos, a growing number of audio articles and a host of podcasts. Their titles are self-explanatory and cover a broad spectrum of arborist issues.
By the way, the website content itself can be instantly translated to nine languages in addition to English simply by choosing the preferred language from a pull-down menu on the home screen. The website will even read highlighted passages of articles to you … in a hideous, robotic voice. It’s nothing we’re proud of, but, in the interest of full disclosure, I thought I should mention it. We are working on a better solution that might be available by the time you read/listen to this.
If audio is your thing, you can have the magazine articles read to you, also via the website. To do so, move on over to the Current Issue tab and click on “View Digimag of Current Issue.” When the digital, or replica, version opens, flip to the table of contents and click on the article you want to listen to. Then click on the headline of the article, and an enhanced version of the article opens. (It will open to the left of a right-hand page, or to the right if the headline you click is on a left-hand page.) At the bottom left of the enhanced-article page, there will be a three-dot icon that opens to a menu with options such as “Print,” “Share” and “Article Narration.” Article narration is only available in English, but the audio sounds fairly good.
OK, so this process is a bit clunky. We also are looking at ways to make this option more user friendly.
The audio option also is available for the more recently archived issues of TCI and works the same way. To access the magazine archive, go back to the Resources tab and click on “Magazine Archive.”
While you’re visiting the new website, check out the Workforce & Training tab. This tab houses “En Español,” a growing collection of illustrated, Spanish-language articles. These articles have appeared every other month in our print publication.
As always, we’re interested in your thoughts on how to enhance the value of TCI Magazine and the magazine website.
Peter Gerstenberger, publisher
