As I type this, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is decked out in his trademark black turtleneck, faded jeans, and worn sneakers, casually pacing across a stage nearly 3,000 miles away. Back on the East Coast, I am riveted. You see, Jobs is unveiling a device that many think—and hope—will transform the delivery of content across a wide range platforms, including print magazines, websites, and newsletters. So far, Jobs has used the Apple digital tablet, dubbed the iPad, to read a few magazines, browse The New York Times, log on to Facebook, gaze at a friend’s vacation photo album, and play a video game or two … and he’s just warming up.
 
The fact that I hardly think twice about being able to watch Jobs’ presentation from across the country says much about how the digital world has become woven into my daily life. This morning, I stumbled out of bed to the sounds of morning headlines on news radio. While eating breakfast I simultaneously caught up on the overnight news via several streams including a handful of email accounts, a Twitter client that monitors hundreds of feeds, and a dose of good, old-fashioned television (TV? How archaic!). As I left the house with my BlackBerry in one pocket and iPod in another, I realized it was just the start of another day where these multimedia feeds continue to populate my consciousness in an on-going manner.
 
I’m sure I’m not alone in this behavior, which leads to an opportunity for Eco-Structure readers. As I mentioned in my editor’s newsletter note in January, print subscribers to the magazine will get a treat when our January/February issue hits mailboxes this week as it marks the debut of a brand redesign or, as I prefer to call it, an Eco-Structure retrofit. You see, as a publication with the mission of exploring both design excellence and performance excellence in sustainable architecture, we thought it only proper to take a step back and examine our own performance. Are we getting our readers the information they need via the proper channels? Can we improve? I look forward to your feedback on our responses to these questions.

What’s more, we recognize that it is one thing to model a building’s performance before construction and another to measure actual performance after occupation. The latter should be treated as an on-going project, one that requires frequent monitoring and occasional adjustments. With this in mind, we have created a quick online survey for Eco-Structure readers to give us feedback on how they prefer to access sustainable design and construction news and content. Log on to http://www.eco-structure.com/2010survey and give us your thoughts.