On 9 December a dynamic, new, broadly inclusive, and freely accessible Earth and space science news website will launch: Eos.org. This new site is inspired by AGU’s vision to galvanize our community of Earth and space scientists to collaboratively advance and communicate our science.
We are building Eos.org on a strong foundation. Every week for 35 years, Eos has been a reliable source of Earth and space science news, research, and features and announcements for AGU members.
Eos will shift to an online-first publishing model, ensuring that we keep pace with science and that we respond to and anticipate changes in the ways our community acquires and shares knowledge. Readers will have more choices about how and when to engage with Eos, and toward that end we’ve made sure that Eos.org will be equally readable at a glance on your mobile device or at a more leisurely pace on your laptop or tablet.
One of the first things you will notice is that Eos.org will present new content every day. Popular content familiar to regular readers, including Research Spotlights, news, articles authored by scientists, news from AGU, and job listings will continue, but we won’t have to wait a full week or more to publish.
As we grow the site, we will gradually expand the selection of domestic and international news and features, including contributions from science journalists and bloggers. We will experiment with new content such as slide shows and special series. In-depth features that explore scientific trends, discoveries, and the impact of your science will be introduced, as well as a broader array of opinion pieces. As Eos.org evolves, we will strive to reflect the increasingly global, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary nature of your work.
Not all of this will happen overnight. More interactive features are planned for the spring and fall of 2015. Thereafter, Eos.org will be improved iteratively, based on AGU’s growing digital and editorial capacity, and the learning drawn from Web analytics and reader feedback. Ideas for improvement will also come from the continued input of the Eos Online Advisory Panel and the Eos editors and Editorial Advisory Board, both of which have been key to informing content and design.
The advent of Eos.org also provides an exciting opportunity to launch a new print version. In early 2015, Eos will be delivered in the form of a bimonthly color print magazine, also digitized for viewing on a tablet. The Eos magazine will be delivered to all U.S. members who do not opt out at the time of membership renewal. Due to the high cost of mailing, the Eos magazine will be made available to international members upon request to [email protected].
The various forms in which Eos will be available—the desktop- and mobile-friendly Eos.org, the new print magazine, and the downloadable magazine, combined with the power of social media—provide for a whole new level of reach and engagement for our science.
Eos.org is the first of three interrelated elements of an overall digital content strategy. Other elements include a re-envisioned AGU.org, slated for year-end 2015, and a yet-to-be-named site to inform and engage the non-science public, planned for 2016–2017. I am looking forward to sharing more with you about these developments as they take shape.
In the meantime, you need not wait until 9 December to connect with Eos.org. I invite you to join me in following Eos on Twitter (@AGU_Eos) as we gear up for this transition.
—Chris McEntee, Executive Director/CEO, AGU; email: [email protected]
© 2014. American Geophysical Union. All rights reserved.
© 2014. American Geophysical Union. All rights reserved.