[comp.org.acm] CACM -- photocopiability

jones@pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu (Douglas W. Jones,201H MLH,3193350740,3193382879) (06/18/91)

From article <Jun.18.09.55.19.1991.3654@paul.rutgers.edu>,
by koeneman@paul.rutgers.edu (Juergen Koenemann):
>
>    CACM articles are deliberately presented in a way that
>    discourages xeroxing and archiving and retrival
>    in order to force people to buy ACM Press books with
>    articles reprinted in a normal scientific useful way

I doubt this.  When I phoned ACM to complain about some negative aspects
of the 1983 style change (in 1985), one of my complaints was that the
pink background they put behind some figures was a color that photocopied
as black, while a blue background screen disappeared when you did the
photocopying.

The result of this complaint was that they discontinued the use of pink
backgrounds in favor of blue.  ACM has always granted the right to
photocopy their articles for classroom use, and they do seem to care
about the legibility of such copies.

I believe that the problem is not so much deliberate intention to make it
impossible to photocopy, but rather, a graphic artist or artists who don't
understand the needs of the readership.

						Doug Jones
						jones@cs.uiowa.edu

kurt@tc.fluke.COM (Kurt Guntheroth) (06/20/91)

From article <Jun.18.09.55.19.1991.3654@paul.rutgers.edu>,
by koeneman@paul.rutgers.edu (Juergen Koenemann):
>
>    CACM articles are deliberately presented in a way that
>    discourages xeroxing and archiving and retrival
>    in order to force people to buy ACM Press books with
>    articles reprinted in a normal scientific useful way

Well when I phoned them to complain, they said that they didn't design the
magazine for ease in copying, but rather for aesthetic design.  The person I
talked assured me that if the ACM didn't want an aesthetic design they
wouldn't have hired him.  Should have gotten his name so I could make a more
specific suggestion on how to improve the CACM.