Our Readers Are Our Best Writers

All of the best articles in this magazine and in any trade publication are written by readers like you, either directly or indirectly.

Direct input happens with case studies describing a machine or robot builder automation application. We try to run at least one case study in each issue, more if available. Indirect input occurs multiple times in every issue as we interview our readers for input to the cover story and to feature articles.

As magazine editors, our goal is to interview our readers and edit their input to create a finished piece. No matter how experienced the editor, his or her detailed knowledge of current automation hardware and software application issues can never approach yours.

Who are our readers? They are automation professionals working for machine builders or for system integrators that serve machine builders. Vendors that serve the machine builder industry read our magazine, but they are not audited subscribers and we don’t consider them our primary audience or our primary source of article input. We also don’t let them author case studies as those must be bylined by machine builders or system integrators.

Our readers are our best source of input because they work day-to-day applying control system hardware and software products to meet their automation challenges. It is impossible for vendors to know all of the subtle gotchas that occur when their products are applied to machine automation. This is especially true because most of their automation products are integrated with products from other vendors to create a complete machine automation system.
See my January 2009 Mojo column for more on this subject.