From the New Editor

I want to start out by praising Rob Sternberg for the job he did as the previous editor of 18 issues of the SAS Bulletin, spanning four volumes from 1991 to 1995. I was only able to appreciate most of these from the outside, as an avid reader. I also want to thank him for the considerable amount of time he spent with me, passing on the editorial torch, and the many useful suggestions he offered. I hope I can live up to the high standard which he set. Pat Martin, the president of SAS and Bulletin editor prior to Rob, had volunteered to write a few lines concerning Rob's work to be included in this issue, but I overlooked his e-mailed offer until very recently. I will try to include his comments in the next issue.

I do not plan to make any substantial or immediate modifications to either the format or content of the Bulletin. In general, I think the Bulletin "works well" as it is currently constituted. However, I do have some ideas for the future, some of which are based on my own particular interests. None of these are dramatic changes, but I have outlined them below in what I feel to be their approximate order of importance.

1. I think it is important to get regular "News of ..." contributions from the various subfields of archaeometry into the Bulletin. It may prove to be useful in this regard to review the current organizational structure of contributing Bulletin Associate Editors. Should we have a greater variety or different Associate Editor categories than we do now? As an example, I plan to incrementally include more articles on data analysis and quantitative methods, since these are part of my own interests. Reports on laboratories and conference proceedings also make useful and informative reading, but can't easily be accommodated by the present editorial structure. Any potential Associate Editor recruits should have Internet/e-mail savvy, and be willing and able to make regular contributions.

2. I intend to work toward making the Bulletin appear more "professional." One way of achieving this would be to print it on a smoother paper at a higher resolution (more dots/inch). This would allow smaller typefaces to be used without loss of readability. If a smaller size type is used for book reviews (similar in size to the one used for the Meetings Calendar section or to that employed for book reviews in American Anthropologist), for example, this would free up space for other types of contributions.

3. I plan to continue and strengthen the Internet resources section that Rob initiated. Since the names and addresses of discussion lists, web and ftp sites are frequently modified or discontinued, this will be a regular column, so that the information it presents is current. Articles on the features and use of worldwide web browsers, including the critical topic of web searching, will also appear.

4. I will make the SAS Bulletin available online on a worldwide web server, as part of ongoing efforts to create an Internet home page for the Society. We may be able to have the Bulletin online by the time the next issue is published.

I will try to adhere to the following publication schedule for volumes 18 and 19 of the Bulletin over the course of this calendar year.

Issue Submission deadline Publication date
18(4) (past) May 1, 1996
19(1) June 1, 1996 July 1, 1996
19(2) July 1, 1996 Sept. 1, 1996
19(3) Sept. 1, 1996 Nov. 1, 1996
19(4) Oct. 1, 1996 Jan. 1, 1996

Chris Nagle
Bulletin Editor
Arctic Studies Center
Department of Anthropology
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, D.C. 20560
NAGLEC@gunet.georgetown.edu

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