Editor's Message

The Internet: Sizing It Up
Submissions to MTO
MTO Reader Survey

1. The Internet: Sizing It Up

At year's end, the periodical Internet World, published by Mecklermedia Corporation, includes an article on the state of the Internet, its size, diversity, growth sectors, internationalization, and, now, commercialization. The recent issue (December 1996) shows that the Net has grown phenomenally over the last twelve months. From mid-1995 to mid-1996, the number of hosts has nearly doubled, from 6.6 to 12.8 million-- "host" in this case defined "as a domain name that has an IP [Internet Protocol] address associated with it" (p. 46). Of course defining "host" according to the number of domain names means that a single physical computer could count as numerous virtual hosts. Still, the number--nearly 13 million--boggles the mind. Only a few years ago, in January 1993, the number stood at a "mere" 3 million. Depending on the surveying agency, statistics vary radically on the number of Internet users in the U.S., from a low of 9 million to a high of 42 million, to a median of 27 million "consistent Internet users." Web users in the U.S. number around 11.5 million (pp. 46-47).

Those figures cannot help but impress us. The potential audience for a segment of the Net population interested in a particular subject--say, music theory--is quite large. Our subscribership stands at around 1150, a diminutive figure, to be sure, compared to the latest Internet World snapshot of the Net, but significant considering the specialized knowledge required to read MTO with understanding. And readership might be higher because many access MTO through our Web site, without subscribing.

I can imagine that a good number of our readers, while interested in music theory, are not professionals in the field, for example psychologists, acousticians, philosophers, and others. I can imagine, too, that such readers might be interested in essays that relate to their engagement with music, and that they might consider contributing to MTO but have held back, perhaps, because of the often highly specialized and technical content of our essays. While MTO is sponsored by a professional organization of music theorists (SMT), the increasing diversity of topics in, and approaches to, theory and analysis opens the way for essays of interest to a wider online audience. As the welcome message sent to new MTO subscribers states, the journal is "a medium for the electronic distribution of items of thought-provoking essays of medium length, and well-conceived works in progress that treat current topics in music theory in a manner accessible to the general scholarly community online." More on that thought below...

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2. Submissions to MTO

Around four weeks prior to the release of each MTO issue, and again two weeks after that, I distribute notices soliciting items for inclusion in the journal. Although those notices ask for the submission of essays and commentaries, responses usually come in the form of dissertation listings, employment vacancies, general announcements, and advertisements. Texts for such items can be sent directly to me, or can be submitted through Web forms for that purpose. I would like, though, to encourage the submission of essays, and commentaries on published MTO essays. One of the advantages of releasing six issues annually is that we can offer year-round opportunities for publication. Further, our referees, consulting editors, and other support staff communicate by email, which substantially reduces the time necessary for taking an essay from review to release. Finally, electronic publishing opens up opportunities for multimedia presentations that are impossible in print. Keep these points in mind the next time a call for MTO items arrives in your emailbox. Keep in mind too that, as mentioned above, I hope to broaden the topics and music- theoretical and analytical ideas presented in MTO by encouraging submissions from authors whose knowledge of other disciplines, combined with their musical knowledge, would benefit us all. MTO welcomes your submissions at any time. (NOTE: Please consult our author guidelines before preparing essays and commentaries.)

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3. MTO Reader Survey

MTO 2.6 (September, 1996) contained a reader survey to help us determine the advisibility of eliminating the plain-text versions of MTO items and contining the journal as an exclusively Web publication (HTML documents only). Many surveys were submitted. We had planned to publish the results of the survey in this issue, but are unable to do so. A new arrival in MTO Manager Robert Judd's family (it's a girl!) prevented him from completing an analysis of surveys and compiling the results. Our next issue, 3.1, scheduled for release toward the end of January, 1997, will carry the results of the survey. For new subscribers, and for veteran subscribers who did not fill out and submit the survey, I will include it here. Please mail it to mto-survey@boethius.music.ucsb.edu.

1. MTO ACCESS

   a) Do you access MTO via e-mail, gopher, ftp, or the Web? 

   b) Do you normally download/print or do you read online? 

   c) How would you react to eliminating ascii versions of MTO?

2. LYNX

   a) Are you aware of Lynx Web access at your internet host? 
   
   b) Have you used Lynx satisfactorily or not? 
   
   c) How would you feel about switching to Lynx for a Web-only MTO?

2. MTO SERVICES

   a) What MTO services do you find particularly valuable? 

   b) Are there services you believe could be eliminated? 

   c) Do you know of services we don't provide that ought to be considered?

3. MECHANICS AND CONTENT

   a) Do you have other comments as to the mechanics or content of MTO? 

   b) Can you suggest improvements to mto-talk?

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Lee A. Rothfarb, General Editor Music Theory Online
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6070
U.S.A.

mto-editor@boethius.music.ucsb.edu
voice: (805) 893-7527 (with voice mail)
fax: (805) 893-7194