June Blog

This current issue of Swedish Press really illustrates the many advantages of electronics.

For the first time you are not only going to be able to read this month's interview with Carl Johan De Geer, but also listen to it in the electronic issue of Swedish Press.

This means that subscribers to the electronic Swedish Press get a considerable amount of "bonus" material, as a certain amount of an interview gets cut in the edited and printed version. (However as with all things electronic, this launch comes with a cautionary note - we have not yet been able to check out the audiofile in action and can only hope there will be no glitches.)

One thing that we know works beautifully is the SweMail service that is taken care of by a dedicated group of volunteers who translate the Swedish parts of Swedish Press. (All you have to do to get this free service is to send your e-mail address to anders@nordicway.com or go to the site at http://members.shaw.ca/swemail1). As both the interview and the Last Word this month are in Swedish, it is a good time to join the growing number of SweMail fans. Were it not for the Internet and the voluntary spirit of the SweMail translators, Swedish Press would not be able to offer this unique service.

On pages 17-19 you can read about my pet project "Around Swedish America in 548 Days" that I could not have brought to fruition without the Internet. There is just so much material that it would require a 500+ page book to fit it all in. Furthermore with the Internet you can easily locate the places of interest on the Google map making this trip so much more fun. This is in fact the most complete documentation of what is Swedish in the United States and Canada and it is free. I hope you will all check this trip out at nordicway.com!

What excites me most about the electronic issue of Swedish Press is that the whole magazine is in color. We would of course love to print in full color, but that would have meant economic ruin for this historic publication. But now we are able to offer this electronically and at a lower cost to boot ($25 compared to $29 for the mailed magazine). Plus if you switch to the electronic version you are helping to save trees.

Furthermore the price difference between the electronic version and the print version of Swedish Press is unfortunately soon going to be somewhat bigger as postage and production costs have gone up so much that we will have to raise the subscription price of the printed magazine for the first time since 2001.

I myself love the feel of the paper, even the smell of print when we get a fresh copy. My generation will never be able to completely abandon our love for books, magazines and newspapers. So you have my assurance that we are not going to get rid of the paper edition of Swedish Press.

Have a really nice June

Anders