Arlin S. Powell, Jr.
Executive Editor
Perhaps the one thing that separates Cabling Installation & Maintenance most clearly from other publications in the cabling industry is what we like to call peer-to-peer perspective. Put more simply, we focus on cabling installers and cable-plant managers.
Of course, like other magazines, we sometimes rely on the technical expertise that only an engineer working for a vendor can supply. For that reason, you`ll often see the names of such technical people bylining our articles. However, if you read our Product Update and Technology Update articles regularly, you`ll note that, almost invariably, installation technicians, field engineers, systems integrators, project managers or cable-plant managers are quoted. This is what we mean by peer-to-peer perspective.
Take a look, for example, at this month`s installation feature. In it, Daniel Malone, assistant director of telecommunications at New York University, describes a recent cable installation project conducted by systems integrator ExtraNet Inc. on his campus.
Getting your peers to write for us or be quoted in the magazine--no easy task, by the way, given your busy schedules and the amount of time you are out of the office--is only one way we have of focusing on the installer. The other, in which we are also unique in the cabling industry, is through readership surveys.
Over the last two years, we have conducted two such surveys, as well as running a focus group at a recent bicsi show. We plan to send out another survey in the near future, but the trouble with surveys is that the questionnaires go to only a small group of you (although, I`m told, to a large enough sample to produce a statistically valid number of responses).
Fittingly, this is election month in the United States. As you elect our public officials, why not cast your votes for what you like and don`t like about Cabling Installation & Maintenance as well? You will find a readership survey on the magazine`s home page on the Internet at http://cim.pennwell.com.
We on the magazine`s staff care very much what you think, and we intend to consider any opinions we receive in our plans for its future. In a few months we`ll report back on the ideas and comments you`ve sent us.
From the survey results we`ll also try to construct a profile of you, our readers. After all, such a profile would be just one more way of keeping the focus on installers.