The future of Bushwalk Australia Magazine

[wildwalks]

The next edition of our digital magazine will be our fiftieth edition - what a great milestone.
We want to include some thoughts about the past and future of the magazine from our community.

It would be great if you can take about 5-10 minutes to write your response to as many of these prompts as you want. Please leave your response below or if you prefer email stephen@bushwalk.com or eva@wildwalks.com

The prompts:
1 The articles I have enjoyed the most are ...
2 The magazine would be better if ...
3 I would love to read an article about ...
4 I wish the Bushwalk Australia magazine would ...
5 Anything else that you can think of.

We will use your responses in two ways: firstly to help us plan future editions and secondly to share the ideas in the next edition.
Thanks heaps for taking the time to share your thoughts on the past and future of the magazine. We always want Bushwalk Australia to be written by and for the bushwalking community.

[wildwanderer]

I'll kick this off.

My favorite parts are the trip reports and the photos sections. (be nice to have more full page photos from the comp)

Id like to see some gear reviews in the magazine.

Big thanks to Stephen, Eva, Matt and all the contributors!

[neilmny]

I'll kick this off.

My favorite parts are the trip reports and the photos sections. (be nice to have more full page photos from the comp)

Id like to see some gear reviews in the magazine.

Big thanks to Stephen, Eva, Matt and all the contributors!

All of the above.

[north-north-west]

Three out of three agree so far: the trip reports are the highlight, especially from other states (which of course depends on where you are but you know what I mean). Maybe make sure different states are featured in turn? Might be tricky, though.

The Mag would be better if ... look, I'm a pedant and autistic with it. Spelling, grammar and punctuation errors derail the brain. PLEASE get a better proof-reader. (I am prepared to volunteer, but walking will always take precedence and I'm a world champion at executive dysfunction so ... not the most reliable option.)

ww's suggestion of gear reviews is good. Or a look at the latest bit of bling to hit the market.

Have we had an in depth look at weather apps? That would be interesting for the techno-crowd.

[crollsurf]

The prompts:
1 The articles I have enjoyed the most are ...
2 The magazine would be better if ...
3 I would love to read an article about ...
4 I wish the Bushwalk Australia magazine would ...
5 Anything else that you can think of.

1. I like the diversity of articles. The trip reports I normally find a bit long until I want to walk that route, then love reading every word. The News also picks up on some issues I wasn't aware of.
2. The thumbs up is a bit of a pain so I don't bother. If it was click on the thumbs up (or down) and your done, that would be better.
3. New gear reviews with a focus on Australian made or game changing gear/ideas. Unboxing reviews do nothing but reviews where people have actually used the gear in anger would be good.
4. I'm pretty OK with the way it is. An email every month telling me when a new edition is available would be good.
5. Not really. The formatting is a bit dated but I kind of like that. Harks back to earlier times, when stuff actually got printed.

[wildwalks]

Thanks guys this really helpful.
I will avoid commenting on specific bits -- but nothing I would argue with here

[stry]

I like it the way it is thank you. I'm sure that some fine tuning or improvement could be made, but I am unable to think of anything.

Although gear reviews can be interesting, the work and the time to do them properly may be prohibitive, and to my mind, such reviews would only clutter the magazine.

I didn't realise that the format was old school until it was mentioned here. Again, improvement may be possible, but for me, not necessary.

Thanks to all involved in providing the mag for your efforts.

[Ms_Mudd]

1 The articles I have enjoyed the most are ... the trips or areas I am most interested in visiting. Not helpful, I know!
Or perhaps if I put it this way, I enjoy trip reports that sound like something I would like to do, but hadn't yet considered. While I enjoy tales of epic feats of adventure from those more skilled than myself, I also like a healthy dose of adventures that are within the scope of the more ordinary folk.
2 The magazine would be better if ... Not possible, but hard copy.
3 I would love to read an article about ...Multiday walks that are not widely known- so long as those areas could support potentially more folk visiting after reading BWA. I know others have indicated that gear reviews could be good, however I am not so sure. I have too much of a gear addiction as it is, so I think it needs little encouragement. Having said that, an Australian made/designed focus could be interesting.
4 I wish the Bushwalk Australia magazine would ... arrive in my letterbox. I know, I know.
5 Anything else that you can think of.

[rwildman]

I agree with most of the sentiments expressed earlier: love the trip reports and gear reviews. Its nice to read reports of people's trips where they haven't climbed the highest mountain or forded the deepest streams - the whole adventure is what I enjoy reading about, including the lows and highs.
Thanks to Matt, Stephen and Eva for all the hard work you put in.