VIEWPOINT
An IT portrait
One only has to look at the covers of the
last 32 issues of this magazine to get a
picture of what today’s typical IT directors
must look like–they are white, with receding
hairlines and generally more than 45 years
of age. Because of our emphasis on case
studies and their focus on how enterprise IT
directors go about solving data or voice
network challenges, photos of these IT
leaders are a must–and such photos are
usually on our cover (26 of the last 32
issues).
Sometimes, such a lack of diversity can
bring criticism. “Your covers need to be
more exciting, more modern.” (Whatever that
means.) “Why aren’t more women and
minorities represented?” (The people
photographed are who they are, and we
welcome any diversity available.)
A review of the last 32 issues
(2005-2007), shows 24 have featured a white
male on the cover, which you can view in our
online archives (www.comnews.com). Of those
24, 12 might be considered follically
challenged white males. A total of 12 were
probably more than 50 years of age. One
African-American and one Asian made the
cover during the past three years. No women
were included, although there have been
women on the cover in the past.
Of course, we do not care whether the IT
director is white or male when a case study
is selected for a cover story–we’re
interested in the IT challenge that person
faced and the solutions he or she chose. We
figure you want to know how your peers are
solving problems similar to yours, and you
don’t care if that peer is a white male, a
woman or from Mars.
The dearth of women and minorities in IT
is well documented, and our covers reflect
this fact. But we could make them more
“exciting,” more “modern,” couldn’t we?
That would generally mean creating what
is called a “concept” cover–an illustration
or photo meant to represent the topic of the
article (e.g., security, wireless) rather
than a person. A pretty picture, in other
words. We do use this approach when the
cover story is not a case study, but our
thought is that a case study is about people
solving problems, and you want a visual of
those people. And, of course, there are
numerous studies that say a person on the
cover is far more memorable and more apt to
cause you to want to read the article than
an illustration would.
Actually, we consider our covers an
important “branding” aspect for the
magazine. If we’re known as the magazine
with the “white, balding, middle-aged IT
director on the cover,” so be it. At least
that is memorable. But are the people on our
covers representative of the IT management
community as a whole?
Here’s an experiment. Send us a photo of
yourself and we will publish those we
receive in the magazine–maybe on the
magazine cover or in a two-page spread with
all your mugs in it. Make sure to identify
yourself and your organization. Send your
photos to me at 2500 N. Tamiami Trail,
Nokomis, FL 34275, or e-mail a
high-resolution JPEG to me. Let’s see what
the rest of you look like.
kanderberg@comnews.com