TuftScope Fall 2009 Semester

Editors Desk

Dear Readers,

The Fall 2009 academic year marks the eighth year of TuftScope publication. Much has changed since the journal was first begun in 2001 as an academic forum for biosocial discussion and debate. The growth of blogs, multimedia, social networking, and other Web 2.0 resources has drastically changed the way that information is displayed and shared. TuftScope can longer expect to stay current with only a biannual print publication. The staff has already implemented some changes like this weblog and our Twitter account. Others like a newsletter will be coming soon. With the start of the new publication cycle, I would like to share some of the changes that readers can expect for TuftScope:

Print Edition Website
The TuftScope website was recently redesigned with the goal of providing a clean interface that was easy to use for readers and authors alike. In the next few weeks the website will see a minor facelift to more effectively incorporate the current internet websites that TuftScope maintains.

Tufts Roundtable Website
In collaboration with Tufts Roundtable, TuftScope will be designing a health, ethics, and policy webpage for the Tufts community and beyond.The new page will host multimedia content, another version of this weblog, and other features. A future posting will discuss this exciting new venture.

Updating the Print Edition
Fall 2009 will see some interesting changes to the Tuftscope layout, here are a few:

TuftScope Contents - A new Table of Contents with quick summaries of the articles in the issue.

Editors Desk - A new editorial section for the journals editors to share thoughts on some of the critical issues facing the health, ethics, and policy community.

Unified Theme - A new layout theme that updates the previous layout style with a clean and modern look.

Expanded Sections - Longer news briefs, a section dedicated to research highlights, more commentaries, articles, book reviews...quite a lot of change!

Social Media and Weblog
Using our Twitter and Facebook accounts we will continue to share news and updates about the journal and health, ethics, and policy with readers. We will also be using the weblog more actively to share material and updates in a manner that the print medium cannot handle.

Inside the Scope Newsletter
A newsletter for readers filled with health, ethics, and policy news and developments. Catch up on our interesting links, weblog posts, and other news items. More information in a future post.

So, a lot of change in the coming months! We hope readers continue to enjoy the new and old content TuftScope will offer and the staff looks forward to your thoughts and comments. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to send us an email at TuftScope@gmail.com. 

Sincerely,

Michael Shusterman
Editor in Chief
TuftScope Journal