STARTING YOUR FIRST full-time job can feel like playing some kind of office lottery. You might make instant friends with fascinating colleagues, or you might end up stressed and lonely.
My first full-time office job was with Cosmos Media; I started as a trepid grad in March 2008. Filled with highly educated, literary writers and designers from diverse backgrounds, the office teetered constantly on the edge of debate.
From the philosophy of knowledge and Plato’s allegory of the cave to whether one should limit their use of toilet paper for sustainability reasons, these good-humoured and passionate debates would explode at some point during the day and at 5:30pm would often continue out the door and down to the pub. If there is such a thing as the office lottery, I thought I’d won it.
The office was like this every day. Except Thursday.
Thursdays would begin like any other day: sporadic conversation would rock and lull about the office, like a sailboat at sea and in want of a breeze. A passing comment or a news story would begin to stir someone, a flicker of passion would cross their face.
But before any debate could begin, before any raised voices could echo though the stylish warehouse office in inner Sydney, someone or other would glare at the offender. “Shh!” they’d hiss. Our voices would drop and we’d all whisper to one another, ominously: “It’s newsletter day.” Back then, COSMOS Update was laboriously put together in a seemingly unending string of HTML, where a single interruption and lost train of thought could lead to a load of additional work.
Since its inception on 31 August 2006, COSMOS Update has been churned out every Thursday by the COSMOS online editor. And it is with sadness that today, its 324th issue, I will send the last one.
There are several reasons for this. Partly, we are seeing a changing digital landscape – where communications are rapidly shifting to social media and other platforms. In an era where even Facebook is increasingly passé, the future of digital media will not be found in email.
But I appreciate that some of you might still want to receive science updates through your email. I can recommend ABC Science Online’s Science Updates, which has a broad spread of science news from around the world as well as audio from ABC Radio National, the monthly CSIRO Snapshot which gives in-depth reports at the work done by Australia’s national science agency and the Australian Geographic Newsletter, which is more narrative-driven, magazine-style articles, and has a strong Australian slant.
Also, two weeks ago, big changes were announced at COSMOS. Two of the magazine’s four founders, CEO Kylie Ahern and Editor Wilson da Silva, sold their portion of the business to the other two founders, Alan Finkel, Melbourne entrepreneur and chancellor of Monash University, and Elizabeth Finkel, contributing editor and award-winning science writer. This will see several changes across the company, including moving operations to Melbourne. As we focus on a seamless transition, we needed to put time into other areas of production.
The COSMOS Update has seen a few twists and turns along the way. From 29 September 2007, the online editor wrote a mini-editorial for the Update, called In Focus. This was one of the most popular parts of the Update, and would eventually evolve into the blogs section of COSMOS Online. We used the Update’s editorial to discuss trends we were witnessing across science and science reporting, important developments in science, and, well, as a way to mouth off about a topic that we wouldn’t ordinarily publish in the magazine or on the website. Headline rules were relaxed and we had fun with them: “Sorry about the whole genocide thing” (Wilson da Silva, May 2011), “Congratulations, you survived Valentine’s Day” (Becky Crew, February 2012) and “The ‘C’ word” (Jacqui Hayes, 23 July 2010).
Most notable, though, was the fourfold increase in the number of subscribers after COSMOS Media ran Hello From Earth in August 2009. In an intense 13-day project, COSMOS collected messages from the public, which were then beamed to the nearest Earth-like planet by NASA. Many of the participants chose to receive the weekly COSMOS Update.
So to those who joined us in the beginning, those who joined us during Hello From Earth and those who joined us somewhere in between, thanks for coming on the journey with us. So long, and I hope to see you out there again, somewhere in the cosmos.
Jacqui Hayes
Digital Editor
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I’m happy with the RSS feed, set to scroll across the bottom of FireFox
Wow, I’ll miss you Cosmos – I enjoyed reading everything you sent and thank you for the time I did enjoy it. I am sure there are thousands of readers like me who enjoyed your articles and I just wanted to let you know that.
Dr. Caron Goode
I´ll miss you all. Your articles are awesome, fun, fabulous. Making science pleasant to read, to learn. Thank you very much. Mr. Silva, from Brazil.
I’m saddened by this development, as I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading the Cosmos update for a number of years. Thank you, deeply, for your dedication to bringing scientific and technological discovery and commentary to the everyman. You will not be forgotten.
I’ve always loved the newsletter, guys, but having worked on one before, can definitely appreciate the tremendous amount of work it was. It’ll be missed in my inbox! Thank you for the weekly dose of great reads, it was always a Friday treat. Guess I’ll just have to hit the website instead. Cheers!
That’s bad news man :/
Sad news, sad day, sad times. I’ve sat up many a Thursday night waiting for CU and setting the science related news I crave. It was the perfect complement to the hard copy issue, and if I had a choice I’ d much rather do without the Ipad edition. Charge for a subscription to e-mail news if you must, but bring it back. Please!
Guess I will have to acquire a new way to remind me to visit COSMOS.
Wow. I suppose change is the only constant. You guys have done a GREAT job providing cutting edge content in an engaging, accessible and affordable way. I have very much enjoyed Cosmos Update and will miss it. Thank you for providing a venue to enrich my mind, and consequently, my world.
So long, Cosmos Update, and thanks for all the fish!
So very sad to see you go. I enjoyed Cosmos Update. Thank you for all your hard work over the years and for keeping us informed. Thank you again.
Well, this is sad news. COSMOS has been my go-to for Southern Hemisphere science for quite some time. Reading from the U.S., I’ve not found a better source — actually, any other source — for science coming out of Australia. And the Update reminds my scattered brain to check the site out every week. Must.Remember.
Yes, this is very sad news as I have always enjoyed COSMOS. I am a 71 year old Australian and have always had a fascination with all the items that COSMOS has explained.
Sorry to see you go..
JDM
Thank you for all the Cosmos Update e-Newsletters. I am also a U.S. reader, I have enjoyed them over the years. I must say I will miss getting them, but I understand this is necessary to move forward.
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