At the end of July, I left Murdoch Magazines in Sydney, moving with my family to Bungendore, a small town outside of Canberra. My plan was to concentrate on producing Australian MultiMedia Online (that's MM to you), with the reduced costs of working from home.
The move was made with Managing Director Matt Handbury and General Manager Tim Trumper's blessings ( The Web be with you my son), and the Australian MultiMedia title (and masthead design) are still owned by Murdoch Magazines. (You probably don't know that Murdoch Magazines is owned by Matt and Fiona Handbury who purchased the company from Rupert Murdoch some years ago). I'm responsible for the management of the Australian MultiMedia title and for its financial operation. I'm publishing it because I believe that there is a real need and a place for MM on-line, something that the hits we get confirms each day.
The goodwill that the print magazine had, still surprises me. My role as editor seemed to be a natural consolidation of my interests and skills and I don't want to stop. MM was fun, and when you can enjoy what you do, work is never a grind or soul destroying.
MM is what I love to do. Stick around and watch what happens.
Fred.
This is how we announced it to the press.
(Forgive the third person PR speak.)PR release issued August'96
Murdoch Magazines title goes bush!
Fred Harden, editor of Murdoch Magazines Australian MultiMedia Online, and their in-house Internet advisor, is obviously not content with having moved the high tech publication from print to the World Wide Web. In another first to Murdoch Magazines, he has now moved the MultiMedia magazine office, complete with it's own intranet web server, to the country, operating from a restored 1880's farmhouse in Bungendore, a half hour north of Canberra.
Murdoch Magazines managing director Matt Handbury sees the move as an extension of the company's involvement with Fred and Australian MultiMedia for the past two years.
“Fred and his magazine have been the key to our understanding of where the new technology might be taking us. For example, it's doubtful we would have invested so confidently in our Logie winning show Better Homes & Gardens, if we hadn't opened ourselves to the dynamics of multi-media and future threats to current print franchises”, Handbury added.
Apparently, just as no-one knows if you're a dog in cyberspace, no-one knows if your office overlooks Sydney harbour. In Fred's case, his new outlook is a half acre of 'permaculture' garden, with a pond that contains freshwater crayfish and perch.
“Working from home is no longer considered an adventure” Fred said, “but the technology of successful telecommuting can be daunting. Given the nature of our magazine, I figure that if we can't pull it off, no-one can”.
Using the standard office tools of e-mail, fax and phones, Fred is also experimenting with low bandwidth video conferencing via modem and the Internet. He is running an NT web server which acts as a private web site for testing web pages and for FTP. He maintains e-mail links to the Murdoch Magazines Sydney office and to art director Judith McCarthy. Fred says he's `very' aware that the technology fix doesn't stop the need for personal contact, and has been traveling to Sydney for meetings and trade events. But as he points out, “I spend around ten hours a day facing a computer screen wherever I am. It's just a lot nicer to look up and see snow on the mountains out the window, then to look down at the North Sydney traffic!”
Being away from the demands of the other Murdoch Magazines titles for a while, Fred feels he will have time to push the online publishing model harder. “It's great being around the other publications but to do MM properly takes a lot of my time. Our local target audience is a fussy and select group, and we've been getting around 2000 people a day (25,000+ hits) reading the publication, with more than half of those from the USA, so it's part of a global community”. With that level of interest, averaging 10,000 readers a week, Fred hopes to stimulate the advertising response that had been building well for the print version of the magazine, to support the on-line version.
“When we stopped the print magazine, our surveys showed that over 80% of our readers were `wired' and online, so it made sense to shift it onto the Web. Until now we've really just experimented with our Web site, learning a lot about what works for a small publication. The Australian multimedia industry is growing, it will soon mean not only export dollars, but dynamic local product. I'm sure that if we can provide the right media developer content, and keep it fresh and updated, we stand a good chance of making a financial success of AMM. The publication already appeals to a wider Web audience, a reader profile we know because they're early adopters and tech-heads like us. For that reason alone, it makes sense for MM to be there” Fred added, “more then some of the general interest publications that are experimenting with the Internet. Their core readers will not be connected in viable numbers for years yet”.
The next issue of the Australian MultiMedia Online magazine, in it's new format is available online now at http://www.mm.com.au/amm
The Murdoch Magazines North Sydney address is still a contact point for the publication but Fred encourages editorial and advertising contacts by e-mail to fred@mm.com.au, or by phone and fax to (06) 238 0020.
The magazines postal address is
Fred Harden, editor
PO Box 317, Bungendore
NSW 2621.