Introducing AUGI | AEC Edge
AUGI is set to unveil its newest publication, AUGI|AEC Edge. In order to bring AUGI members up to date on this new magazine, its content and targeted readership, Marilyn Law, editor of AUGI HotNews, interviewed Steve Stafford, member of the AUGI Board of Directors and technical editor of AUGI AEC|Edge.
ML: Can you give us some information about who you are and describe your role withAUGI|AEC EDGE?
SS: I'm Steve Stafford, an AUGI member currently serving on the Board of Directors. I've been a member since 2000 and my role at AUGI since 2003 has been as part of the Revit community of members. I manage the Revit forums. I'm a Revit consultant who does training and implementation work for a variety of firms.
I'm volunteering as the Technical Editor of AUGI|AEC Edge. I've been part of the Revit community for many years, so I can draw on the wealth of talent within it for this premier issue.
ML: Why a new magazine from AUGI?
SS: AUGIWORLD magazine, AUGI's long-time member publication, has a steady track record and brand recognition. Last year, we met with Extension Media (EM), the organization that will produce AUGI|AEC Edge and found them to be eager to work with us to develop a magazine that is targeted to a particular segment of our membership. For now, we feel that there is enough material to sustain both the broader focused AUGIWORLD and the more targeted publication, AUGI|AEC EDGE.
ML: How long have you been working on this?
SS: We began earnestly working on it last year, but the economy had other plans. It has taken a bit longer than we had hoped to set up funding and put other elements into place. It is great to be moving forward!
ML: What will we see in this premier issue?
SS: The premier issue will be BIM (Building Information Modeling) focused. BIM is a current topic in the AEC market. There are 20 articles that deal with cross-discipline topics and several for each version of Autodesk Revit: Architecture, Structure, and MEP. We have articles from two different general contractors, a Revit/BIM consulting company, an Autodesk Revit staff member, and even a lawyer's perspective on Integrated Project Delivery (IPD).
In addition to these articles, there are departments called White Papers, Local Chapter Focus, Inside Track, and Heads UP, which talks about a specific local chapter, recent developments at Autodesk, as well as software bugs/known issues, etc. At a little more than 80 pages in length, this magazine will contain enough material to satisfy AUGI members in AEC and related industries.
ML: Why focus solely on Revit/BIM with this issue? There are other Autodesk AEC products too!
SS: We agree that there are many products that our AEC members use. We believe that with the increased attention toward BIM and the Autodesk Revit platform, a premier issue focused on this subject as a part of the larger AEC market would fare well. Going forward, we can reach out to other experts in the AUGI community for a broader representation of all the Autodesk tools that are used for AEC.
ML: How often will you publish AUGI|AEC EDGE?
SS: We are currently planning four issues per year. Based on the reaction to the premier issue and how well it is received, we may increase the frequency if that is warranted.
ML: AUGIWORLD is "E" (electronic) format only right now. Will AUGI|AEC EDGE be as well?
SS: Extension Media has specialized in electronic publications for some time and this new magazine will be available for online viewing and download. As technical editor, I've been focused on getting the content finished and leaving those more exciting matters to others. We hope to return to print with AUGIWORLD at some point if that is financially stable and printAEC|Edge as well.
ML: So for now, AUGIWORLD continues as a bi-monthly member magazine?
SS: Yes. We hope that AUGIWORLD will continue to be relevant and useful to our members. There is a lot that AUGI|AEC EDGE won't cover because of its AEC focus, which means there is still a lot of material to use in AUGIWORLD. We see the two publications as coexisting.AUGIWORLD will continue to be our flagship publication.
ML: Anything else you'd like to add?
SS: I hope that our members who work in the AEC market will find our new magazine informative. I realize that we also have a lot of members who aren't in the AEC arena. I encourage them to submit articles and ideas to me via email: steve.stafford@augi.com. We have discussed other publications as well. If we can build momentum, we can entertain ventures into other markets.
