Connecting through Projection
Some authorities from outside the communication field provide another frame for considering the interactive talents of magazines.They assert that magazines can offer a means for people to learn more about themselves and their capabilities by projecting themselves into a magazine.For example,in her book Coach Yourself to Success,personal coach Talane Miedaner(2000,p.137)recommends that one way to gain insight into your personal talents,skills and gifts is to interview friends,family and colleagues-about you.As part of this process,she suggests,a key question to ask is,“If I were on the cover of a magazine,what magazine would it be and what would the story be about?”
For managers,one of the biggest challenges in creating a corporate vision is to“see”what tomorrow will look like.Executive Robert E.Knowling,Jr.(2001)relates how interaction with magazines helps his company try to get a better handle on the future.As part of his company's visioning exercise,each member of the senior management team writes a simulated article about the company as if it appeared in a major business publication,such as Business Week or Fortune-with the condition that the magazine article is supposed to be from five years in the future.The managers then read their articles to each other.From the experience,says Knowling,“I go off on my own and prepare a collective view of the future.From that visioning session,I now have the groundwork to craft the vision for the organization.”
Connecting through Utility
In many circumstances,even when compared with some other interactive media,magazines are especially user-friendly.For one thing,people can physically take possession of magazines.They are highly portable,and adaptable to use in different environments.They can be carried anywhere,and brought with a person into the most intimate places-whether bedroom or bathroom.
Changes in parameters of a magazine can influence people in different ways-and thus must be undertaken with care.In times of economic pressure,one strategy may be to reduce the weight of paper stock used for magazine pages to save money.Because of the lighter feel,there may be an audience perception that the publication has fewer pages and less information,perhaps in financial trouble,and likely is not worth as much as it used to be.
A business magazine publisher may even organize a focus group session to gauge reader attitudes at a critical juncture.Concerned that sluggish advertising and use of cheaper,light-weight stock is“making the book look too thin,”the publisher may be startled to find a particular reader citing the magazine's lean and hungry look as a benefit.In his busy workday,he reports,this publication provides the essential information he needs in a manageable package,while fatter,less targeted counterparts simply pile up on his desk unread.
Connecting through Space
Space also provides an intriguing context for considering the influence of magazines on identity.In discussing media effects,one group of authors compares the relative impact of television and magazines on space(Grossberg,Wartella,Whitney,1998):
Television...has an impact on the spatial arrangements of our homes;one of the problems facing anyone who wants to purchase a new large-screen TV set is to find a room in the house big enough to accommodate this device.Magazines are unlikely to have the power to shape the spaces within which we live.(p.26)
However,one might easily take issue with this statement.Magazines definitely have the power to shape domestic space.Anyone with multiple subions knows how stacks of publications can mount up.
Magazines are also fixtures in the cultural landscape.In some contexts,in fact,magazines may be a primary source of intellectual stimulation and entertainment.This is particularly true in“captive”environments,such as physicians'waiting rooms,airplane cabins,hair salons,and,of course,lavatories.One need not actually“read”the publications-in the sense of handling them and browsing through them-to be influenced by them.The super market checkout line and its melange of eye-popping cover lines-from everything from The National Enquirer to Time,from People to Gourmet-provides seductive information even for those who would choose to resist.
Connecting through Durability
Typically,in publishing circles,the date on the cover of a consumer magazine or the name of a particular subscriber on a mailing label are often viewed matter-of-factly as providing convenient markers about the limits of editorial impact or advertising influence.However,the impact of magazines often defies these taken-for-granted signifiers.
In fact,the potential useful lifespan of a magazine is not easy to gauge,nor is its boundary of influence easy to ascertain.Discussing characteristics of magazines,Shimp and DeLozier(1986,p.383)point out that they“are also noted for their long life.”One of the special features of magazines is their durability-especially when compared with other media.In fact,magazines from the nineteenth century,printed on high quality paper,are still holding their own(Kapson,p.74)-still providing points of intersection with modern audiences.
While contemporary publications are not necessarily made for the ages,they can(and do)persist long periods past their issue dates.Yesterday's newspaper may already be today's bird-cage liner,and that provocative Internet message may in an instant be lost in cyberspace,but magazines tend to have an after-life.
