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What the web tells us


Tuesday, May 5, 2009


Posted by John McHale

At Military & Aerospace Electronics we think we've done a fairly good job over the years of discerning what types of content our readers are looking for.

Our content crystal ball is getting much clearer through the Internet or more specifically our website, which has become an invaluable tool for tracking what stories and topics get the most attention -- or hits on the site. For example this year stories on a new exoskeleton from Lockheed Martin -- pictured here -- and the jet-powered Predator C unmanned aerial system from General Atomics received a ton of hits on our site.

Much of this traffic comes from search engines and links from other stories. As a result we're taking some of these topics and expanding on them in our magazine. I just finished writing an expanded story on the exoskeleton. After seeing how much attention it got on the web, I went to Lockheed and interviewed the engineers running the program. The article should appear in our magazine this summer.

I'll be doing an expanded piece on the new Predator variant as well.

Worth noting is that for 2007 and 2008 the most viewed article topic was software defined radio (SDR) -- the technology behind the Army's Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program.

Others topic heavily viewed topics included unmanned systems of course and COTS obsolescence challenges.

In a way our website is becoming a guide we can use to better target our magazine content.

When we redesigned our print magazine in January, our goal was to make it reflect our growing digital presence because the future of this business is the Internet not print.

Online media enhances print -- it doesn't mean that print must go away. Print just needs to evolve.

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Welcome to the lighter side of Military & Aerospace Electronics. This is where our staff recount tales of the strange, the weird, and the otherwise offbeat. We could put news here, but we have the rest of our Website for that. Enjoy our scribblings, and feel free to add your own opinions. You might also get to know us in the process. Proceed at your own risk.

John Keller for MAE
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.


Courtney Howard for MAE Courtney E. Howard is senior editor of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine. She is responsible for writing news stories and feature articles for the print publication, as well as composing daily news for the magazine's Website and assembling the weekly electronic newsletter. Her features have appeared in such high-tech trade publications as Military & Aerospace Electronics, Computer Graphics World, Electronic Publishing, Small Times, and The Audio Amateur.


John McHale for MAE John McHale is executive editor of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, where he has been covering the defense Industry for more than dozen years. During that time he also led PennWell's launches of magazines and shows on homeland security and a defense publication and website in Europe. Mr. McHale has served as chairman of the Military & Aerospace Electronics Forum and its Advisory Council since 2004. He lives in Boston with his golf clubs.

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