IEEE Spectrum readership

On Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:14:52 -0500, Bob Engelhardt
<BobEngelhardt@comcast.net> wrote:

>The Spectrum has a recent article/book review:
>https://spectrum.ieee.org/open-circuits
>"The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components"
>
>The article includes statements clearly addressing the electronic 
>clueless.  E.g., "Capacitors are fundamental electronic components that 
>store energy in the form of static electricity."
>
>So who are the Spectrum's readers?  I always thought it was 
>EE's/designers.  But if so, this article is way off target.  But then, I 
>wouldn't expect the reader that this intended for, to be a reader of 
>Spectrum.  This seems like a huge disconnect at Spectrum.

IEEE Spectrum is intended for the members of the IEEE, not all of
which are concerned with design of electronic components.  All members
receive Spectrum.  To get the technical journals, one often must join
the relevant community within the IEEE, although some tech journals
are available to multiple communities.

Spectrum's staff writers typically live in the NYC area, and are tech
writers by trade.  Authors not on staff can be from anywhere.

Joe Gwinn

On Wednesday, 18 January 2023 at 20:59:19 UTC+1, Joe Gwinn wrote:
> On Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:14:52 -0500, Bob Engelhardt 
> <BobEng...@comcast.net> wrote: 
> 
> >The Spectrum has a recent article/book review: 
> >https://spectrum.ieee.org/open-circuits 
> >"The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components" 
> > 
> >The article includes statements clearly addressing the electronic 
> >clueless. E.g., "Capacitors are fundamental electronic components that 
> >store energy in the form of static electricity." 
> > 
> >So who are the Spectrum's readers? I always thought it was 
> >EE's/designers. But if so, this article is way off target. But then, I 
> >wouldn't expect the reader that this intended for, to be a reader of 
> >Spectrum. This seems like a huge disconnect at Spectrum.
> IEEE Spectrum is intended for the members of the IEEE, not all of 
> which are concerned with design of electronic components. All members 
> receive Spectrum. To get the technical journals, one often must join 
> the relevant community within the IEEE, although some tech journals 
> are available to multiple communities. 
> 
> Spectrum's staff writers typically live in the NYC area, and are tech 
> writers by trade. Authors not on staff can be from anywhere. 
> 
> Joe Gwinn
IEEE Spectrum is just one another blah blah blah popular science media

https://spectrum.ieee.org/

On Thursday, January 19, 2023 at 11:30:10 AM UTC+11, a a wrote:
> On Wednesday, 18 January 2023 at 20:59:19 UTC+1, Joe Gwinn wrote: 
> > On Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:14:52 -0500, Bob Engelhardt 
> > <BobEng...@comcast.net> wrote: 
> > 
> > >The Spectrum has a recent article/book review: 
> > >https://spectrum.ieee.org/open-circuits 
> > >"The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components" 
> > > 
> > >The article includes statements clearly addressing the electronic 
> > >clueless. E.g., "Capacitors are fundamental electronic components that 
> > >store energy in the form of static electricity." 
> > > 
> > >So who are the Spectrum's readers? I always thought it was 
> > >EE's/designers. But if so, this article is way off target. But then, I 
> > >wouldn't expect the reader that this intended for, to be a reader of 
> > >Spectrum. This seems like a huge disconnect at Spectrum. 
> > IEEE Spectrum is intended for the members of the IEEE, not all of 
> > which are concerned with design of electronic components. All members 
> > receive Spectrum. To get the technical journals, one often must join 
> > the relevant community within the IEEE, although some tech journals 
> > are available to multiple communities. 
> > 
> > Spectrum's staff writers typically live in the NYC area, and are tech 
> > writers by trade. Authors not on staff can be from anywhere. 
>
> IEEE Spectrum is just one another blah blah blah popular science media 
> 
> https://spectrum.ieee.org/

It can read that way, but it is written to be circulated to members of the IEEE, so there is an emphasis on the applications of electronics. It's not popular science because it is aimed at a specific population. 395,000 people aew quite a few, but they are a self-selected group who mostly pay to retain their membership - as a life member, I don't, any more, but I did for some thirty years. I've got the same deal out of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. but I ended up paying them for longer.

That also delivers a monthly journal - not as good - with a similar sort of specialist bias. Of course I went through university with some of the people who write for them.

-- 
Bill Sloman, Sydney