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http://home.wuliweb.com/index.shtml

http://www.pshares.org/

The circulation of print magazines has declined precipitously in the last 24 months. This dissolution of subscriber bases has accelerated dramatically as economic recession set in. But a diminishing wealth effect is only partly to blame. The managements of printed periodicals – from dailies to quarterlies – failed miserably to grasp the Internet’s potential and potential threat. They were fooled by the lack of convenient and cheap e-reading devices into believing that old habits die hard. They do – but magazine reading is not habit forming. Readers’ loyalties are fickle and shift according to content and price. The Web offers cornucopial and niche-targeted content – free of charge or very cheaply. This is hard to beat and is getting harder by the day as natural selection among dot.bombs spares only quality content providers.

Consider Ploughshares, the Literary Journal.

It is a venerable, not for profit, print journal published by Emerson College, now marking its 30th anniversary. It recently inaugurated its web sibling. The project consumed three years and $125,000 (grant from the Wallace-Reader’s Digest Funds). Every title Ploughshares has ever published was indexed (over 18,000 journal pages digitized). In all, the “website will offer free access to over 2,750 poems and short stories from past and current issues.”

The more than 2000 (!) authors ever published in Ploughshares will each maintain a personal web page comprising biographical notes, press releases, new books and events announcements and links to other web sites. This is the Yahoo! formula. Content generated by the authors will thus transform Ploughshares into a leading literary portal.

But Ploughshares did not stop at this standard features. A “bookshelf” will link to book reviews contributed online (and augmented by the magazine’s own prestigious offerings). An annotated bookstore is just a step away (though Ploughshares’ web site does not include one hitherto). The next best thing is a rights-management application used by the journal’s authors to grant online publishing permissions for their work to third parties.

No print literary magazine can beat this one stop shop. So, how can print publications defend themselves?

By being creative and by not conceding defeat is how.

Consider WuliWeb’s example of thinking outside the printed box.

It is a simple online application which enables its users to “send, save and share material from print publications”. Participating magazines and newspapers print “WuliCodes” on their (physical) pages and WuliWeb subscribers barcode-scan, or manually enter them into their online “Content Manager” via keyboard, PDA, pager, cell phone, or fixed phone (using a PIN). The service is free (paid for by the magazine publishers and advertisers) and, according to WuliWeb, offers these advantages to its users:

“Once you choose to use WuliWeb’s free service, you will no longer have to laboriously “tear and share” print articles or ads that you want to archive or share with colleagues or friends. You will be able to store material sourced from print publications permanently in your own secure, electronic files, and you can share this material instantly with any number of people. Magazine and Newspaper Publishers will now have the ability to distribute their online content more widely and to offer a richer experience to their readers. Advertisers will be able to deploy dynamic and media-rich content to
attract and convert customers, and will be able to communicate more completely with their customers.”

Links to the shared material are stored in WuliWeb’s central database and users gain access to them by signing up for a (free) WuliWeb account. Thus, the user’s mailbox is unencumbered by huge downloads. Moreover, WuliWeb allows for a keywords-based search of articles saved.

Perhaps the only serious drawback is that WuliWeb provides its users only with LINKS to content stored on publishers’ web sites. It is a directory service – not a full text database. This creates dependence. Links may get broken. Whole web sites vanish. Magazines and their publishers go under. All the more reason for publishers to adopt this service and make it their own.

About the Author

Sam Vaknin is the author of Malignant Self Love – Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain – How the West Lost the East. He is a columnist for Central Europe Review, United Press International (UPI) and eBookWeb and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com.

Visit Sam’s Web site at http://samvak.tripod.com

A Barrister’s bookcase is a traditionalistic shelf that is believed to have originated in the UK. Its discerning feature is a flawless field glass front end. This glass front end is hinged at the side allowing a person simple admittance to books and other legal documents merely by opening the glass door. The barrister bookcase is ideal for just about anything. Barrister bookcases were frequently used by lawyers since it was necessary for them to keep on moving. Now, they are also very convenient, especially if one is ever moving. The doors make this the case. This means they can be moved while full.

Great Shelves
Barrister bookcases have the favored position of protecting the collectibles from junk and other foreign impurities. They in fact offer great protection. Except debris, it is also possible to offer protection from sun by adding UV protection. This will reduce the impact of sun impacting the texts This in turn maintains the books colour and its bindings from fading.

Barrister bookcases however, despite their many merits, can be quite expensive. Luckily, their many advantages have moved some manufacturing businesses to start creating replica editions and some in modern versions at very small prices. Many editions have simple looks. These can fit any style.They can also be trimmed and made into customized storage units cheaply.They can be stacked allowing them to be easily used to create creative unit placements. Some can be used to create ping pong tables, pulpits or even breakfast tables.

Twitter: book cases

Central to the contracting reform program in the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 was to obtain competitively procured contracts conforming to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Fifteen new Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs), working on both Part A and B claims, will manage about the comparable volume of work in mostly geographically immediate parts of the US resulting in solider consistency in interpreting Medicare policies. In addition, they will serve as the key authority by which subsidiary contractors offer extra services.

While the transition from Carriers and Fiscal Intermediaries to MACs commenced in March 2007, recently the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a template for Medicare providers on how to organize for a switch to a MAC. MACs commence their work on a cutover date, often taking a phased state by state approach. CMS recommends that providers pay attention to all forms of communication from their old Carrier or FI and the new MAC. Various electronic methods of communication assist providers stay current with announcements including email listservs and the MAC’s website, especially the FAQs.

Prior to Cutover

1. Finish and return your Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) arrangements with form CMS-588 at least 60 days before cutover.
2. The new MAC may as well request a new Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Trading Partner Arrangement. If you do find a new ID and password, contact the incoming MAC to test these IDs.
3. Contact your claims processing vendor and clearinghouse and ask “Are you using the new contractor number or ID of the new MAC, submitter number and logon ID?”

Weekend of Cutover

1. CMS may have the retiring Medicare contractor release claims payments a couple of days early in readiness for implementation weekend.
2. Dark days may occur around or over cutover weekends where the Part A provider will have restricted EDI processing and no access to Fiscal Intermediary Standard System to conduct claim entry or claim correction, verify beneficiary eligibility and claim status, and interactive voice response (IVR) systems may also be unavailable. Providers who currently bill carriers may also go through some moderate access.

After Cutover

1. The first 1-2 weeks may be highly busy at the MAC, which may have new mailing addresses and telephone numbers. Be prepared for some time lags service.
2. Learn the IVR immediately to save time.
3. There may be modifications in faxing policies (e.g., for medical records) and in Remittance Advice (RA) coding.

From Medical Coding .Net News, a division of Provistas and home of SpeedECoder online coding software.