Why Does the JAES Publish Articles Under the Authorship "Staff Writer"?

Hi Folks,

I've noticed for some time now that the JAES has gotten into this
mode of publishing some article or another under the umbrella of
"Staff Writer."

Why?

There is something really annoying about that to me. I usually
am annoyed enough to be turned off from reading the article.
If I'm going to be "fed" something, I want to know where it
is coming from. It seems a bit spineless to me that the
JAES would do this, and I, as a paying member, would
much rather see the true author of the articles I read.

Just my $0.02.

--Randy

Randy Yates wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> I've noticed for some time now that the JAES has gotten into this
> mode of publishing some article or another under the umbrella of
> "Staff Writer."
>
> Why?
>
> There is something really annoying about that to me. I usually
> am annoyed enough to be turned off from reading the article.
> If I'm going to be "fed" something, I want to know where it
> is coming from. It seems a bit spineless to me that the
> JAES would do this, and I, as a paying member, would
> much rather see the true author of the articles I read.
>
> Just my $0.02.
>
> --Randy

Hello Randy,

Imagine the other side of the coin. There is at least one writer out
there that is not getting credit. If I write something, I want credit
for it. Sometimes there is a valid reason for hiding one's identity,
but it is usually it is hidden through some sort of pseudonym, so at
some later time the correct author can be associated with the work. The
statistician W. S. Gossett often published under the name of Student.
He is the creator of the "Student T Distribution." He didn't want his
employer to know he was publishing some research that the employer may
not want the competition to have. But I don't think there is a famous
theorem/relationship/identity called "Staff."

Clay

Clay wrote:

> ...  I don't think there is a famous
> theorem/relationship/identity called "Staff."

First names alone, although sometimes used by celebrities, are rarely 
used by authors. Mr. (assuming that Staff is a masculine name) Writer 
might someday come forward to identify himself.  :-)

Jerry
-- 
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
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Randy Yates wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> I've noticed for some time now that the JAES has gotten into this
> mode of publishing some article or another under the umbrella of
> "Staff Writer."

i have noticed that in the past year, about.  and wondered a little
about it.

> Why?

i dunno what the reason is.  i might ask someone there why.

one suspicion that i have is that the "Staff Writer" is getting paid to
write something tutorial in the journal.  now, if i want to publish
something tutorial in the journal (as a regular paper or engineering
report), it would have to be about something pretty current, that is on
the cusp of salience to the AES community.  i wouldn't get paid
anything and i would get my name i pic in the journal.  but i wonder if
the journal editorial board made some decision(s) sometime that the AES
community wanted to know some fundamental (tutorial) stuff about some
topic or 'nother.  so they say "we need some Feature Articles about
this, this, and this.  how are we gonna get these?" that's the same
kinda question that a newpaper or magazine editorial board might ask,
and they'll say "pay someone to do it."  now sometimes there is a
byline and sometimes not.  that gets negotiated.  as soon as some slug
junior reporter thinks he wrote (without byline) some nice series of
articles that might get that newspaper or magazine real happy with the
work, and then they assign him another, he might say "yeah, but you
gotta put in a byline or attribution."  (he has his future career to
think about.)

it seems to me that the JAES is doing something like this that hasn't
yet moved to attribution (along with the pay).  they used to do those
Feature Articles (you know, toward the back and with color graphics in
them) that had named authors and i never found out if they were paid or
not (i assumed not).  but maybe now they are and the deal is they are
anonymous (lest a lot of other want to jump on the bandwagon).  i
dunno.

r b-j

Randy Yates wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> I've noticed for some time now that the JAES has gotten into this
> mode of publishing some article or another under the umbrella of
> "Staff Writer."
>
> Why?

It *could* be that whatever is said in those articles is the
official policy of the publisher of journal, as opposed to the
personal opinion of the author. It's hard to tell without seeing
an example of an article or knowing what is discussed.

Rune

Rune Allnor wrote:
> Randy Yates wrote:
>> Hi Folks,
>>
>> I've noticed for some time now that the JAES has gotten into this
>> mode of publishing some article or another under the umbrella of
>> "Staff Writer."
>>
>> Why?
> 
> It *could* be that whatever is said in those articles is the
> official policy of the publisher of journal, as opposed to the
> personal opinion of the author. It's hard to tell without seeing
> an example of an article or knowing what is discussed.
> 
> Rune
> 


Having read several of these, my understanding is that they stand apart 
from conventionally authored papers in that they seek to pull together 
in a summary or survey the substance of a number of published papers on 
a given topic (the most recent, for example, on "Enhanced Multichannel 
Audio"). In other words, such articles do not (claim to) contain any 
original work that would in itself warrant citation elsewhere, but 
rather merge topics from many authored papers to form a composite 
overview of current research.The "Staff" moniker makes it clear that it 
is referenced papers who should be cited in any new work, rather than 
the composite itself.

This is just my guess, of course; the real reason could be something 
else entirely. My own feeling is that these Staff papers are immensely 
useful, and require considerable skill in the writing, to pull all that 
sometimes disparate material together (one can pay vast sums for books 
containing such chapters), and credit should indeed be able to be given 
where it is due!

Richard Dobson

Richard Dobson wrote:
> Rune Allnor wrote:
>> Randy Yates wrote:
>>> Hi Folks,
>>>
>>> I've noticed for some time now that the JAES has gotten into this
>>> mode of publishing some article or another under the umbrella of
>>> "Staff Writer."
>>>
>>> Why?
>>
>> It *could* be that whatever is said in those articles is the
>> official policy of the publisher of journal, as opposed to the
>> personal opinion of the author. It's hard to tell without seeing
>> an example of an article or knowing what is discussed.
>>
>> Rune
>>
> 
> 
> Having read several of these, my understanding is that they stand apart 
> from conventionally authored papers in that they seek to pull together 
> in a summary or survey the substance of a number of published papers on 
> a given topic (the most recent, for example, on "Enhanced Multichannel 
> Audio"). In other words, such articles do not (claim to) contain any 
> original work that would in itself warrant citation elsewhere, but 
> rather merge topics from many authored papers to form a composite 
> overview of current research.The "Staff" moniker makes it clear that it 
> is referenced papers who should be cited in any new work, rather than 
> the composite itself.
> 
> This is just my guess, of course; the real reason could be something 
> else entirely. My own feeling is that these Staff papers are immensely 
> useful, and require considerable skill in the writing, to pull all that 
> sometimes disparate material together (one can pay vast sums for books 
> containing such chapters), and credit should indeed be able to be given 
> where it is due!

In some magazines -- Scientific American, for one -- staff writers have 
at least their initials at the end of the article, and in many, they are 
listed on the masthead page.

Jerry
-- 
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
�����������������������������������������������������������������������

Randy Yates wrote:
> I've noticed for some time now that the JAES has gotten into this
> mode of publishing some article or another under the umbrella of
> "Staff Writer."

My suspicion is that the authors of these survey articles may actually
be known researchers in the field, and they want to (or are required
to) draw a line between their "journalistic" efforts and their "journal
worthy" efforts. There are sometimes (very mild) opinions stated in
these surveys that the authors might not otherwise feel comfortable
expressing.

David L. Rick

Note: Header address is bot bait. Real humans may use:
davidDOTrickAThachDOTcomREMOVE

Hey Robert et al.,

Thanks for your responses. They are
interesting to read.

I think it is a discredit to the JAES. I think
they ought to identify the author(s) of any
significant article in the journal. If the
article is a different "type," e.g., a
"tutorial" rather than a paper or
engineering report, then it could
be reported as such in the table
of contents.

I say this not to help the writer(s) get
credit, but to discourage the propagation
of anonymity and lack of tracability in our
information sources.  JAES should avoid
the web problem in which a firehose of
information is available but in which
the authority and/or reliability of the
information is in question. I'm sorry,
but simply saying it is from "AES Staff"
does not cover it, in my book. 

My $0.02.

--Randy

Randy Yates wrote:
> Hey Robert et al.,
> 
> Thanks for your responses. They are
> interesting to read.
> 
> I think it is a discredit to the JAES. I think
> they ought to identify the author(s) of any
> significant article in the journal. If the
> article is a different "type," e.g., a
> "tutorial" rather than a paper or
> engineering report, then it could
> be reported as such in the table
> of contents.
> 
> I say this not to help the writer(s) get
> credit, but to discourage the propagation
> of anonymity and lack of tracability in our
> information sources.  JAES should avoid
> the web problem in which a firehose of
> information is available but in which
> the authority and/or reliability of the
> information is in question. I'm sorry,
> but simply saying it is from "AES Staff"
> does not cover it, in my book. 

That's a good point that the editors never considered. Why not tell them 
how you feel?

Jerry
-- 
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
�����������������������������������������������������������������������