From: "The Association of Educational Publishers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 14:11:57 -0400 Subject: AEP ONLINE/The Newsletter of Educational Publishing
AEP ONLINE/The Newsletter of Educational Publishing 9-17-02 ************************************************** AEP ONLINE is a member service of THE ASSOCIATION OF EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHERS, supporting the growth of educational publishing and its positive impact on learning and teaching. We publish the first and third Tuesdays of each month. ************************************************** We welcome your comments at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please send us the e-mail address of staff in your company or organization who should be added to our distribution list. To unsubscribe send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" and your name in the subject line. ************************************************** Stanford Workshop: Publishing on the Web November 17-20, Monterey, CA How to "webify" your content, gather metrics, build revenue streams, improve design and usability, promote your site, structure privacy policies and visitor's agreements, avoid copyright hassles, staff your endeavor, outsource the right parts of your site. *Special Critique Session: Your website will be critiqued on-site by other participants working with content/design specialists. http://publishingcourses.stanford.edu/pow/index.html AEP members receive a 10% discount. ************************************************** FRONT PAGE FOR September 17, 2002 -Lessons in Political Correctness for Supplemental Publishers: Part Two NEWS IN BRIEF -From Headquarters ...Michael Ross, AEP Board President, Honored ...Thank You, Members, for Your Support ...NSSEA Sponsors Awards for Third Year ...Silent Auction: The (New) Tradition Continues ...Pass it on: Sign Up Coworkers for AEP ONLINE ...Share Your Expertise With Our Readers -Education ...Education Media Special: How Kids' Publishers Remembered 9/11 -Legislative Watch ...Comments Period Opens for .Kids ...'Ban the Spam' Trio Petitions FTC -Markets and Trends ...MDR on Marketing: Leveraging Your Customer File in Turbulent Times -In the Industry ...Movin' On/Up: Appointments and Job Openings ...Announcements ...New Products DATES TO REMEMBER -Calendar IN CLOSING -Tips ...Three Quick Pointers on Computer Presentations ************************************************** FRONT PAGE: LESSONS IN POLITICAL CORRECTNESS FOR SUPPLEMENTAL PUBLISHERS: PART TWO [In part one of this article, published in our 9/3/02 issue, AEP ONLINE spoke with Jonathan Rosenbloom about the influence of public opinion on textbooks. Rosenbloom is editor-in-chief of TIME Learning Ventures, a division of Time For Kids Media Group; he oversees the editorial work that TIME does with textbooks and supplemental publishers. Part two focuses more specifically on American history. Go to http://www.edpress.org/infoarchives/current/pcpublishing.htm to read the full article.] Recently, AEP ONLINE interviewed Dr. James Loewen, professor emeritus at the University of Vermont and the author of "Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong" (Touchstone Books 1996). The book discusses his survey of 12 leading, high-school-level American history textbooks conducted at the Smithsonian Institution. The impetus for the study was a freshman social science seminar at Tougaloo College, Miss., Loewen's first teaching assignment. Loewen questioned students at the start of the course to see what they knew. Answering a basic question about Reconstruction, sixteen of his seventeen students viewed it as "the period after the Civil War when blacks controlled the government, screwed up, and the whites took over." He discovered that the students, although obviously in error, had learned their high school history correctly--it was the textbooks that were wrong. And while Mississippi may have represented an extreme example, Loewen found this to be a national problem. "College history professors often have contempt for the way history is taught in high school," says Loewen. "American history books are created to teach nationalism, which is at odds sometimes with teaching facts. Just look at the titles of the books: 'Land of Promise' and 'Triumph of the American Nation'--you don't have chemistry books called 'Triumph of the Molecule.' " The main problem, Loewen says, is that the texts are simplistic: America started out great, and it's only getting better--a thesis resulting from publishers bowing to public pressure. That's where supplemental publishing comes in: Instead of huge tomes, Loewen believes that history texts should be as short as possible and provide background information. Teachers should pick 30-80 topics yearly for study in some depth, making use of supplemental materials. Most important, educators and publishers should teach students historiography--how to critically examine historical documents, photographs, articles, and texts. Both Rosenbloom and Loewen say textbooks don't represent reality, and kids know it. Texas has a rising number of mixed-race families, for instance, but does not allow pictures of mixed race couples in books. Rosenbloom asks, "What is a child of mixed-race parents to think, when he is not represented in his textbooks? The hidden message seems to be 'you're invisible.' " According to Rosenbloom, the role of supplemental publishers is to present the clear, unvarnished truth to the students. "Ours is a timid education system," he declares. NEWS IN BRIEF: ===From Headquarters=== ...MICHAEL ROSS, AEP BOARD PRESIDENT, HONORED Congratulations to Michael Ross, executive vice president and publisher of World Book and AEP'S Board President, who will be inducted into the Production Executives Hall of Fame. The ceremony will take place October 7 in Chicago during the annual Gold Ink Awards and Hall of Fame Gala. Four other production executives will be honored as well. ...THANK YOU, MEMBERS, FOR YOUR SUPPORT This past summer, our billing cycle for all members officially changed. Membership now runs from July 1-June 30. Thank you to all who have already renewed. If you received an invoice and have not paid yet, there is still time. Contact Ed Hamilton, member services manager, at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for more information. ...NSSEA SPONSORS AWARDS FOR THIRD YEAR The National School Supply and Equipment Association (NSSEA) is sponsoring AEP's awards for excellence in educational marketing for the third year in a row. NSSEA's support allows us to continue this exciting program that celebrates marketing in the educational publishing industry. Thank you, NSSEA. (Look for more information on the awards in upcoming issues of AEP ONLINE and on our Web site.) ...SILENT AUCTION: THE (NEW) TRADITION CONTINUES Since AEP members had so much fun bidding on and winning items from last Summit's auction, we've decided to hold it again at our Educational Publishing Summit 2003 in June. We'll start actively collecting items and ideas from our members at the beginning of next year, but if you can think of something fun and affordable for this entertaining event now, contact Joan Scavuzzo at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ...PASS IT ON: SIGN UP COWORKERS FOR AEP ONLINE Do you look forward to reading AEP ONLINE? Do you pass on interesting items to other company employees? Tell your coworkers that they don't have to wait for you to finish with your copy. Any employee of an AEP member company or organization is eligible to receive AEP ONLINE. Tell interested colleagues to e-mail Kelly Leuallen at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "Subscribe AEPOL" in the subject and their name, title, and company in the body of the message. They will receive the very next issue. ...SHARE YOUR EXPERTISE WITH OUR READERS Ever ask yourself, "Hey, why doesn't AEP write about that?" Our answer is, "Because we're waiting to hear about it from you." As you may have seen in recent issues of AEP ONLINE, some of our best tips come from our members. If you have an idea for a Tip, the last section of the newsletter, e-mail Stacey Pusey, communications manager, at [EMAIL PROTECTED] All contributors will receive proper attribution. ===Education=== EDUCATION MEDIA SPECIAL: HOW KIDS' PUBLISHERS REMEMBERED 9/11 This fall, editors of news-oriented children's magazines and Web sites juggled the same consideration as always--examining their unique role in the context of children's whole education. But of course, the stakes were higher than usual: Along with the flurry of activity that marks the beginning of every school year, there was the challenge of covering the September 11 anniversary. How much coverage would be enough--and not too much? What kind of angle would best benefit readers of various ages? When we spoke with editors at several children's media outlets, all felt it a top priority to help kids take a positive focus, amidst the bombardment of September 11 reporting in adult media. Here, we review their different approaches to this common goal. SCHOLASTIC: With a comprehensive, special Web site and several books related to the subject, as well as prominent coverage in its news magazines, Scholastic's coverage of September 11 went beyond what might be expected, even for such a large company. Says David Goddy, publisher of Scholastic's classroom magazine group, a big commitment to covering events such as September 11 is in the Scholastic "genetic code," its mission to explain the contemporary world to young people. Though possibly overdoing it was a concern, Goddy says teachers had asked Scholastic for good ways to cover the anniversary. Reflecting teacher-advisor comments and the company's own sense of age-appropriate news, the coverage was less prominent in the third and fourth grade editions of SCHOLASTIC NEWS, whereas it occupied the cover of such older kids publications as THE NEW YORK TIMES UPFRONT and JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC. Interestingly, a chronology of the original events--found only in the archives at some other outlets--was something teachers wanted Scholastic to include on its Web site. Like other publishers, however, Scholastic's site emphasized the positive, featuring such topics as kids who made a commemorative quilt, hero dogs, and racial tolerance, as well as psychological guidance and a poll on kids' feelings of safety. The company reports that traffic to the site on and around the anniversary increased dramatically, more than 25 percent. TIME FOR KIDS: "It wasn't our intention to revisit the events of September 11, so much as to focus on the positive legacy--national unity and civic pride; a new sense of heroism and social responsibility," says Joel Schwartzberg, executive producer of the TFK Web site. The hope of making the world safer, of uniting the country around central goals--these were the themes TFK highlighted on the Web and in classroom magazines. The site also featured a poll on kids' feelings, and kid reporters' views of commemorations around the country. The magazines took a tailored approach. Copy on the "flap," the upper right-hand corner, of its issues for grades 2-3 related to a small feature; and a flap for grades 4-6 tied in to a larger feature. To some extent, this reflected the mixed response TFK has received from teachers since the original events. Some were enthusiastic about the volume of coverage last fall. But some, especially second grade teachers, were very protective. And teachers' measured response meshed well with the group's editorial instinct, not to feature the anniversary as the cover story. "This was our first issue of the school year," says Managing Editor Claudia Wallis. "We didn't think it was a good idea to start off by emphasizing the worst terrorist attack ever on US soil. For those looking for an age-appropriate story, it's there. It's just not on our cover." The company reports that "America Remembers," its main article for the anniversary, was one of its Web site's most visited news stories ever. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: This time last year, remembers Editor-in-Chief Melina Bellows of the newly renamed NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS, the magazine (then called WORLD) featured on its cover Steve McCurry's famous shot of a 12-yr-old Afghan girl dressed in a shroud. Its story on kids in Afghanistan was accompanied by coverage of the tragedy. For the anniversary, however, the magazine did an article on P.S. 234, the Lower Manhattan school that was evacuated following the attacks. "We had already covered the news itself. We wanted to tell the story now through the eyes of children," Bellows says. For the re-opening of the school, NGK gave out disposable cameras to attending kids; the magazine featured their pictures in its story, which is paralleled by a Flash feature on the Web. In the first week its anniversary material was posted, the Web site received tens of thousands of visitors. But it was jaguars, not P.S. 234, that the magazine featured on the cover of its edition now on newsstands. "We have to tempt kids to open the magazine," Bellows comments. The coverage in National Geographic's classroom magazine, on the other hand, stayed true to its niche covering world culture. In EXPLORER! (formerly NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC FOR KIDS), "we wanted to approach 9/11 a bit indirectly, with a story on what life is like for one Afghan child in a refugee camp," says Stephen Mico, vice president and editorial director of the educational division. The September issue, which featured a chimp on the cover, also featured an interview with First Lady Laura Bush, in which she discussed the need for American children to develop international awareness. Find coverage on the Web at: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/0210/index.html http://www.Timeforkids.com/america http://www.scholastic.com/911 ===Legislative Watch=== ...COMMENT PERIOD OPENS FOR .KIDS The Senate is currently considering legislation to create a ".kids" domain, under the ".us" domain, which would be restricted to content geared to children age 13 and under. (See the 5/7/02 issue of AEP ONLINE for more information.) NeuStar Inc., the company tapped to administer the .kids domain, is seeking public input on its first draft of content guidelines. So far, the main source material is the FCC's rules for children's broadcast programming. Go to http://www.neustar.us/kids/index.html for more information on how to submit comments. ...'BAN THE SPAM' TRIO PETITIONS FTC The Telecommunications Research and Action Center (TRAC), the National Consumers League, and Consumer Action have joined together to ask the FTC to ban spam e-mail. Recently filed with the FTC, the petition requests that "unsolicited commercial e-mail...be considered an unfair and deceptive trade practice as it causes harm to consumers." The trio also created a Web site called "Ban the Spam," which updates consumers on their efforts and asks the public to submit spam horror stories--the stories may be used as evidence with the FTC. http://www.banthespam.com ===Markets and Trends=== MDR ON MARKETING As AEP's 2002 Platinum Sponsor, Market Data Retrieval provides a monthly column on marketing in the education industry. We feature a condensed version here; for the complete article, including tips on customer file maintenance, data structure, and database organization, go to http://www.edpress.org/infoarchives/info/market/MDR/9-02.htm. This month's column was written by Chuck Romans, the company's vice president of database services. LEVERAGING YOUR CUSTOMER FILE IN TURBULENT TIMES The customer file has always been a direct marketer's most valuable asset. Typically, a customer list will outperform any other list by a margin of 5-to-1, or even more. Even with the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks (and the subsequent discovery of anthrax in the mail stream) fresh in our minds, using the customer file--albeit with a cautious approach--is more important than ever. If your company has been reluctant to try e-mail marketing, now--with e-mail considered a relatively trustworthy mailing medium--might be the time to reconsider adding it to your marketing mix. With e-mail marketing, you can control costs, generate additional sales, and support your catalog and brochure mailings. Here are a few tips for successful e-mail marketing to educators: -Create a benefit-oriented message that provides value for your customers. Profitable e-mail campaigns often include a compelling offer or two. -Make sure that there is a call to action, with multiple ways to respond--Web site, telephone, fax. -Personalize your subject line. Make it enticing but succinct, so it can be read fully before the e-mail is opened. Avoid words such as "free" or "win" in the subject line; they can be construed as "junk mail." Of course, your message should be simple and easy to read, and should include an opt-out feature. And if it's in HTML format (versus text-only), be sure to use graphics sparingly, keeping the message size to 30K or less. Larger messages will open too slowly, and your customer may lose interest before reading them. ===In the Industry=== Be sure to e-mail your personal news, as well as professional -- new products, promotions, job openings, etc. -- to [EMAIL PROTECTED], so we can include the info in an upcoming issue. ...JOB BANK Go to http://www.edpress.org/infoarchives/job-bank/ and click on Help Wanted or Position Wanted to see details on available people and positions. ...ANNOUNCEMENTS * Coughlan Companies, which consists of book and manufacturing companies including Capstone Press, donated 28,000 books to the United Way's "Books for Kids" literacy program. The program supplies books to children ages 1-3 in the greater Mankato, Minn., area. http://www.capstone-press.com * ExploreLearning is collaborating with Microsoft to provide innovative content for the Microsoft Class Server. http://www.explorelearning.com * Meeker & Associates has announced the formation of Rising Stars, a professional development and networking organization created to serve and connect professionals who are new to the market. http://www.johnmeeker.com * The September/October 2002 issue of TIDINGS magazine previews the NSSEA Ed-U tradeshow and is full of information attendees need to know before they arrive. http://www.nssea.org * Four new titles from Teacher Created Materials have received the National Parenting Center's Seal of Approval for 2002: Multimedia Collections: The Age of Exploration; Multimedia Collections: U.S. Constitution; Test Success Level 2; and Test Success Level 5. http://www.teachercreated.com * United Learning has released the "Report on the Effect of UnitedStreaming Application on Educational Performance," which fulfills the research criteria outlined by No Child Left Behind. In three of the four experiments, students who were exposed to the unitedstreaming application from United Learning demonstrated improved learning to a greater degree those who were not. http://www.unitedlearning.com ...NEW PRODUCTS * "Learning Math: Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability," a 10-part video and Web course for K-8 teachers, will be offered by the Annenberg/CPB Channel beginning this fall. The program was produced with WGBH. * Teacher Created Materials has teamed up with TIME for Kids to publish three new series of books to help teachers develop nonfiction reading and writing skills in students: Basic Concept Cards, Comprehension & Critical Thinking, and Writing Prompts from TIME for Kids. http://www.teachercreated.com * This fall, Maryland public libraries will offer Live Homework Help, an online tutoring service from Tutor.com that connects students to subject experts in math, science, social studies, and English via the Internet. http://www.tutor.com * WGBH Boston has just launched the Web site "Global Connections: Putting World Events in Context." It provides background information designed to help educators and the generally curious understand events occurring in the Middle East. http://www.pbs.org/globalconnections DATES TO REMEMBER: ===Calendar=== For the complete education industry calendar of conferences and events, see http://www.edpress.org/infoarchives/. IN CLOSING: ===Tips=== THREE POINTERS FOR COMPUTER-BASED PRESENTATIONS As the school year starts up, so does the tradeshow and conference season. Of course, a computer-based presentation often can enhance a session. If you're new to the circuit and haven't used electronic visuals before, here are three quick pointers to keep in mind: 1. Don't put up lists of small type. Participants will spend more time trying to read the screen than focusing on your presentation. If the information is important, provide handouts, e-mail it, or post it on a Web site. 2. Avoid causing eye (and brain) strain with charts filled with numbers and calculations. Pie charts, simple line comparisons, bar graphs--these are the types of numerical representations that work well on screen. Again, background data work better in the form of handouts and supplementary materials. 3. Refrain from putting the full text of your speech on the slides. Computer presentations work best as visual aids that highlight important points from your speech. If attendees figure out that they can get the full lecture from your slides, they may stop listening. Finally, if you want to point to something in your visual aid, don't touch the screen. It will shimmy and wave--no one will be able to read anything. Use a laser pointer or the computer mouse to emphasize key information. ===================== (c) 2002 The Association of Educational Publishers, all rights reserved. http://www.edpress.org, [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************************************************* If you want to unsubscribe, click and send (no body or subject: required) mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives for K12 Newsletters can be found at: http://www.classroom.com/community/email/archives.jhtml?A0=K12NEWSLETTERS
