Work in Progress

Analytics is a work in progress, from the editorial content to the layout. Beginning with this issue, we switched from a traditional vertical magazine layout with 11-point type to a landscape format with 14-point type. That sounds like publishing “inside baseball,” but the goal is quite simple: make the shape of the magazine fit the shape of your computer screen (horizontal) and make the text easier to read. You’ll no longer have to continuously scroll around your computer screen just to read it.

It’s one thing to make Analytics easier to read; it’s another thing to make it worth reading. We believe we have hit the mark on that score as well. From data mining to decision analysis, from microtargeting to revenue management, from perspectives on practicing analytics at a big company to a preview of an upcoming practice conference focused on analytics, we’ve got you covered in this issue, regardless of your job title or professional interests.

Of course, we’ll let you judge for yourself how well we’re doing. We look forward to your feedback. Let us know what you like and dislike. If you have an idea for a story, let us know. If you would like to contribute an article, let us know. If you have a success story to tell, tell us. If you have a spectacular analytical failure to report, you will go to the front of the line because nothing teaches us more than our failures.

And by all means, if you have some colleagues who might enjoy Analytics, e-mail them the link to this issue and encourage them to sign up for their own free subscription at: http://analytics.informs.org/.

As I said at the beginning, we’re a work in progress. We don’t have all the answers. We don’t even know all the questions. But we’re determined to make Analytics a powerful voice and showcase for the profession and its practitioners. With your help, we will all succeed.