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It’s always a thrill to write
this column for eJSS. Although I love working on all issues of the journal, it’s especially thrilling to know that its electronic version, linked from the System Safety
Society’s home page, will be seen by hundreds of new readers around the world — and that many of those will follow up
with a request for a sample of the print edition, and then perhaps with an application to join the Society. It’s exciting to think of how far we’ve come.
As I write this, the JSS staff is making preparations to cover the 23rd
International System Safety Conference in San Diego. It has now been eight years since Publisher Ann Waterman and I took over production of the journal at the 15th ISSC in Washington DC. Back then, we got a lot of blank stares (“Why are you photographing people milling around in the lobby?”),
plus a lot of mistaken identity (“No, I can’t talk to you now — I’m waiting for someone from the journal who’s going to interview me”). Now people come
up to us readily, and the journal has transformed from the black-and-white Hazard Prevention into a colorful, state-of-the-art volume packed with
original material, both in print and on the World Wide Web. So I guess the question is, “What’s next?” I’d love to hear your thoughts on the next step in
the journal’s evolution. Please seek me out at the Conference and share your ideas. I’ll be the guy with the Press badge who’s struggling to figure
out his new digital camera. (Some things haven’t evolved just yet.)
This issue of eJSS offers lots of thought-provoking new material for discussion at the Conference and beyond. Dev Raheja and Brian Moriarty
share their knowledge on designing for safety, in an article adapted from their very successful tutorial on the subject. Arlin Cooper and Rush
Robinett offer a fascinating look at structured communication and cohesion as measured by entropy. Popular “Opinion” contributor David O’Keeffe
challenges our preconceptions with “Mishap or Hazard…Where Should System Safety’s Focus Be?” And new columnists Ira Rimson and Ludi
Benner, along with popular feature “Technology Corner” and much more, remind us why the journal remains at the forefront of its field.
If you’re new to the journal and seeing this for the first time on the Web, or picking up your first printed copy at the Conference, we hope you’ll want to
do much more. We welcome new contributors, as well as new readers, and JSS is a great place to publish. And if you’re a regular reader and/or
contributor, we hope you’re pleased with the way the journal continues to evolve, keeping up with technology, trends and groundbreaking new ideas.
I can’t wait to see how JSS will look at the 24th, 25th and 30th ISSCs! I should have this camera figured out by then…
— Niles Welch
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