Guys,
Is it just me or is the welding journal moving further out of the main stream of the industry? It seems to me that there is increasingly less information of any practical use to "everyday, real-world situations."
Most of the welding that I run into as a mobile contractor involves repair and maintenance work on heavy equipment and some tank and pipe work. It has been a while now since I have seen any articles on these topics. For example a recent cover story "Brazing in Space", while interesting, does not benifit me in the slightest. My absolute personal favorite was the article entitled "Tips from the Pros" with such indespensible advice as "make sure you get a good ground" and "Make sure there are no flammable materials in the area!" Please!! If you do not know this already then you are a Darwin Award just waiting to happen. Who was this little gem marketed to anyway?! A grade school special-ed class perhaps!? Amazingly, all three welders featured said almost the same thing.
I understand the purpose of the journal is to "advance the science, technology and application of welding etc.,etc." but does this mean that there will be no information geared towards the more common, everyday processes.
Please let me know what you guys think. If I am in the minority position on this issue then I will gladly keep my mouth shut, but I don't believe that I am the only one who feels this way.
Beracah
I completely agree with you. And whats the deal with those "welding research" articles in the back? Does the average welder understand or even care about the 'optical micrographs of microstructures of something'? Please AWS, keep the magazine geared toward the average welder, not the scientists.
The research articles are geared for the engineers and scientists. As an engineer, I find many of them helpful and it is good they are available at no additional cost without having to subscribe to a separate journal. As a welder also, I understand your frustration at not seeing enough practical and useful articles on welding. I subscribe to several other publications that help fill that need, such as "Practical Welding Today", "The Fabricator" and "Welding Design and Fabrication". The first two are available free at:
http://www.fma-communications.com/Subscriptions.cfm
The third one can be free if your local welding supply sponsors you. Here is a link to apply online:
http://subscribe.penton.com/wdf/
I agree that there is not as much practical information for welders in the Welding Journal as there used to be. I used to cut them out and keep them in a file. I haven't been able to do that in a long time.
I've sent the link to this Post to Andrew Cullison, Managing Director and Editor for the Welding Journal as I too agree that the Journal could be aimed much more at the practical welder than it has in recent months. The scientific stuff is great too although I have to admit a lot of it is over my head! I know Mr. Cullison from my time at AWS Headquarters and believe he will take some action to improve the Welding Journal based on the responses in this posting!
With regard to the scientific articles, there was some discussion several years back of separating them from the Journal but I think the Membership of AWS is equally divided enough between the hands-on types and the engineers/researchers to warrant leaving them in the Journal.
The Journal would be improved however (in my humble opinion) by adding more practical articles for the hands-on people.
Thank you jon20013. Good job!! I have really missed reading those practical articles.
Me too! I advise anyone with issues such as these to go to the AWS Home Page, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "Contact AWS." When doing this, the appropriate department/person in charge can be identified and an e-mail sent. AWS does strive for continuous improvement but having some external feedback helps to set the focus!
"With regard to the scientific articles, there was some discussion several years back of separating them from the Journal but I think the Membership of AWS is equally divided enough between the hands-on types and the engineers/researchers to warrant leaving them in the Journal.
The Journal would be improved however (in my humble opinion) by adding more practical articles for the hands-on people." -quote
Good post! I agree 100%. No need to cut anything out, simply add the practical info for us(me especially) who haven't made it up the food chain that far yet.
John Wright
In my judgment the welding journal has always had allot of highly technical stuff. As I progress through my career and work under different mentors I find that more and more of the *back half* articles have become relevant and I put more effort into understanding some of them.
Many of the practical articles are really for the most part what journalists call "advertorial" type articles. A major vendor supplies a subject matter expert who provides practical information along with the mention of their product and lots of glossy pictures. Mike Sammons from Miller did a great article for the Journal with his (Aluminations) and Lincoln has done the same.
I think the Journal editors need to worry a bit less about being repetitive and run basic process oriented articles that may have some overlap with articles published within the last few years. Symbol interpretation, GTAW power supplies, Pulsed GMAW, distortion control, plate and pipe beveling techniques--shop vs. field, carbon arc gouging etc. These articles can be approached a number of different ways and this means they can be freshly communicated several times to the benefit of diverse learners.
I would also like to see articles:
1. From hireling authorities about what they are looking for in entry level and journey level welders when they apply.
2. Providing advice/tips and encouragement on taking certification/qualification weld tests in various processes to various codes.
Lawrence; from reading your post, it sounds like you have some very good ideas. Having said that, the Welding Journal regularily prints articles by informed and educated readers like yourself, why not try writing some of what you suggest and submitting it for publication?
You mean I can't just sit out here in cyberspace and complain?
I have a better idea!
The Journal could easily sift through the questions and answers posted on their own BBS (right here) and publish what is noteworthy. Real questions asked by the barest beginner and the respected professionals and answers provided by the same.
Call it "Welders Blog" or "Where the rubber meets the road"
What better advertisement for itself could the AWS have?
"You mean I can't just sit out here in cyberspace and complain?" -quote
LOL :)
John Wright
All of this is hopefully great feedback for the publishers. I like the idea of different monthly articles like "Welder's corner", Inspector's corner", "Educator's Corner", Qualification Corner", "Code Review Corner", "Engineer's Corner", etc...
But I think that Lawrence may have alluded to one of the main reasons why the Welding Journal has taken on its current format: advertising dollars...
Regards,
No doubt it takes money to edit/publish more pages....but then you could add a few for more advertising too, right? Lots of room in the back for that:)
John Wright
Lawrence; You're idea of sifting through the questions and answers posted on their own BBS is a good one but it likely won't happen for a few different reasons, not the least of which being receiving the "permission to publish" from those asking the questions and those providing the responses. Not to mention the potential can of worms it may open up; remember those providing answers are only offering opinions ~ our opinions may be right or wrong! Besides, anyone who has access to the internet which is almost everyone now days, can simply come to the BBS and read the opinions, no need to publish them too! Okay, so theres another 3 cents for my opinions!
How about suggesting or writing articles for the magazine,complaining will get you no where.
srw2506,
Fair enough. I have, as you suggested, recommended some topics in a letter to the editor, so let me share some of these with you and anyone else who may be interested. By the way, my criticisms, though harsh were intended to effect some positive change in an otherwise fine organazation.
First, I recently purchased an engine driven welder and I would have loved a consumer reports styled article on the pros and cons of various makes and models.
Secondly, I work in the northern Colorado area (oilfield country) and I have had to weld on drill pipe on many jobs. I would like to know more about the make up and proper procedures for welding this material.
Also how about an in-depth discusion about the economic and political climate and the impact on the welding industry. i.e. War on terror, high energy prices, etc.
There is also an increasing number of baby boomers retiring and it stands to reason that some of these folks are in the welding business. What will be the impact of the inevitable brain drain on the industry? How will this affect the demand for labor and how will the market react to these changes.
I would also like to see some feature articles on various welders throughout the country and, perhaps, beyond. For example, why and how did they get into the welding business? I have always enjoyed the tight-knit mentality in the industry and I see no reason why we can not expand this beyond our local communities.
The "American Welder" was a big step in the right direction but it seems to have gone by the wayside.
MBSims, Who do you have to schmooze to get the "Practical Welding Today"?! I have tried to subscribe, both on-line and written and have recieved no response.
Thanks for the input.
Beracah
I'm at a loss as to who to "schmooze" or for how long. I filled out the form and they started sending it. They only publish every other month, so it may take a while to get it started.
Gentlemen,
back in my days of erector engineer, I was in charge of the erection of a small sized thermal power plant, which included two deareating heaters. Their storage vessels had been stress relieved but the manufacturer forgot to weld the insulation supporting pins on them. When the time came to install the insulation, I asked the manufacturer's permission to tack weld the pins, but the permission was denied. "The vessels have been stress relieved and nothing can be welded on them", was the answer.
The insulation subcontractor, my general foreman and me sat together before my desk and discussed what to do. After an exchange of ideas, we devised a method to install the insulation without the need of supporting pins.
Many years later, a worried contractor faced with the same problem posted a question on this Forum: What to do in a case like that? I answered him directly telling him what we did.
This encouraged me to write an article for publication on Welding Journal. I sent the draft to Mr. Cullison, Editor of the magazine, he liked it and the article was published on the September, 2002 issue, on page 107. Of course, it is a purely practical one.
Now, Gentlemen, I'll ask you a question: all of you have tons of practical experience that you would like to share with the welding community around the world. All of you have been faced with endless problems which were solved in the best possible way. Why don't you put all of that experience in writing and send it to Mr. Cullison? If my article was published, why shouldn't yours be published?
Political magazines like Newsweek and Times have their own team of editors and writers. Technical magazines, on the other hand, rely exclusively on articles sent by their readers. The editor of a political magazine writes articles because he's payd for that. The author of a technical article writes it just for the honor of having his name printed in a prestigious magazine. Isn't that true, Mr. Cullison?
Giovanni S. Crisi
Sao Paulo - Brazil
Very, very good point Giovanni!!! Aside from being able to help others, I'm sure theres many people in here who would love to have the honor of seeing their work published in the Welding Journal!
Jon,
Yes, it is an honor. It made me proud.
Chuck
July 2005 edition of the Journal.
Well Chuck, after reading several of your articles, I would say you have every reason to glow with pride! Believe this or not, when I sometimes help people "off line" I may show them one of your articles or quote from them followed by a proud exclamation, "I know this guy!"
Jon,
Please, let's don't go that far......but, thank you for your kind words. I, too, among many others in this forum are highly complimentary of your responses.
Chuck,
your article in the July issue is what the original post is talking about. (my opinion) We need to see more articles like that one. Very informative and very user friendly. Something you can cut out and save for future reference.
Jim
Hopefully Andrew Cullison will be back from the show soon and have a look through all of these excellent ideas! Then, all we have to do is help AWS (and our fellow members) by providing some proposed articles for publication!
Articles in "Inspection Trends" also.....Don't forget about the article about Chet! It was an honor for Mary Johnsen to ask about writing those bio type articles too. Kip another forum user was also featured in the same type of article a few issues before the one about Chet. Lots of celebrities among us:)
John Wright
I think Practical Welding Today has some pretty good articles:
http://www.thefabricator.com/
--CE
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