How to Become a "Mixed Reviewer"

If you are interested in becoming a reviewer for Mixed Reviews, please read the following information and submit a review request via e-mail to Andrew Mactavish at (andrew.mactavish@ualberta.ca). If you have not reviewed for Chorus before, please convince us that you are a skilled writer/reviewer. If all goes well, you will be contacted with further instructions.

Reviewer Qualifications

The ideal reviewer is an academic, educator or "new-media" professional with significant writing and critical-thinking abilities. He/she should be highly motivated and able to respect deadlines. Of course, we will consider any capable individual!

Scope of Mixed Reviews

Mixed Reviews presents critical reviews of software and print publications that do not fit into one of the specialized Chorus sections. We are particularly interested in reviewing (task-oriented) software that supports electronic publishing, teaching and research, and (content-oriented) software that represents "transmediated" literary and artistic culture. Reviews of electronic and print publications that assess cyberculture from diverse, critical perspectives are also warmly received.

Remuneration

Successful reviewers retain their copy of the publication reviewed, and enjoy the prestige of being part of Chorus. No other form of remuneration can be offered.

Preparing Your Review

1. Upon receiving an item for review, a submission date will be set. Unless otherwise stated, a 4-6 week review period is acceptable for new reviews, and a 2-4 week period is acceptable for review updates.

   If you are not able to respect our deadlines, you will be asked to return your review copy promptly.

2. Those able to work with HTML should adhere to the following guidelines. (Those unable to work with HTML, should advance to #3 below.)

   If your review is less than 800 words, enter our text and relevant publication data into the following template.

   PAGE 1 TEMPLATE

   If your review is more than 800 words, you will need to to use a two-page layout. In this case, pour your publication data and approximately 600 words of your main text into the above template. Pour the remaining text into the following template:

   PAGE 2 TEMPLATE

   Name your files using the following conventions. One page review:  program_name.html. Two-page review: program_name1.html and program_name2.html.

3. Those unable to work with HTML should submit their review in Microsoft Word or WordPerfect format. Include the following data at the head of your review. Separate each line by a single carriage return.
   
   • Publication Title
   • Publisher Name and URL
   • Distribution Medium
   • System Requirements (software)
   • Specifications of Test System (software)
   • Author/Editor/Compiler (content publication)
   • Date (content publication)
   • ISBN (content publication)
   • Your Name
   • Your E-mail Address and URL
   • A 2-3 Sentence Bio

   Insert two carriage returns, and include the body of your text. Separate paragraphs with a single carriage return. Italicize all software titles. You may include hypertext links by placing square brackets around the linked text and including the URL in round brackets. For example, here is a link to [Chorus] (http://www-writing.berkeley.edu).

   Do note include any advanced formatting! (We will pour your text into our HTML template.)

4. Software reviewers should submit at least one screen snapshot. There are several ways to capture screens/windows on systems running Windows or Mac OS. The best way is to utilize a paint/graphics/capture program that allows you to capture a selected portion of the screen and save it in .GIF or .JPG/.JPEG format. There are several shareware programs available on the Internet. Please contact us if you would like some help with this.

This being said, both Mac OS and Windows offer screen-capture options. Under Mac OS, pressing [OPTION]-[SHIFT]-3 will capture the screen. Images will be saved in the current folder and named "Picture 1," "Picture 2," etc. Under Windows 3.x and Windows 95 one can capture an entire screen by pressing [Print Screen], and an active window by pressing [ALT]-[Print Screen]. (This second option can be used for capturing a DOS program running in a window.)

N.B. Windows screen captures are not automatically saved to a file. Rather, they are written to the clipboard and must be pasted into a paint program and saved.

5. Complete review packages should be submitted via e-mail (to the relevant editor) as a MIME attachment. Packages that include accompanying graphics should be sent as a single compressed (ZIP) archive. Reviews that do not include accompanying graphics may be submitted in uncompressed format.

   In special cases, Binhex or UUencoded files will also be accepted.
   

6. All submissions will be edited.You will be given the opportunity to examine the edited copy before a public link has been established. Moreover, you will be consulted if extensive editing is required.

Style Considerations

You are writing for the Web. Therefore, you are welcome to include links to other pertinent Web resources within the body of your review. (The proper syntax for including a link is: <A HREF="URL">Link Name</A>.) Moreover, graphical material (in .GIF or .JPG/.JPEG format) may be submitted with your review as separate files!

Do not speculate about release dates, product availability, product compatibility, etc. If you have received information directly from the publisher, please inform us as to the specific source of your information.

Be critical. If you haven't suggested at least two or three ways that the product can be improved, you're being too soft!

Make clear recommendations to your readers.

Do not hesitate to contact us with problems, questions, etc.