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Since launching in 1995, New Media Age (NMA) has followed the ups and downs of the business from set-top boxes to Net providers and from online banking to digital television.
Involved since day one is 27-year-old Scot Nick Jones. As new media editor, Jones has been instrumental in following the Net as well as recently launching NMA's Web site.
Jones has recently been promoted and will soon be editor of NMA spin-off New Media Finance.
So how did the Human Geography graduate get turned on by new media?
"At St Andrews where I studied, I knew of the Net but it was something I didn't have access to," he says.
"It was on a visit to a friend at Princeton University in the US that I saw the Net and how easy it was for students to have access to it," Jones adds.
Jones says he was hooked especially with being able to use e-mail.
On his return to London in 1994, Jones took a job at a law firm and ditched it when a vacancy came up at NMA publisher Centaur in its conference division.
"I started organising new media conferences and the first one attracted around 30-40," he says. "As the industry started to grow we were getting over 200 people coming to them."
A chance meeting at a coffee machine with NMA editor Phil Dwyer, lead Jones to join the magazine. "In May 1995 the team came together and by June we had the first issue," he said.
Jones is enthusiastic about working in new media. "It's a chance to be in the birth of something new. We have the chance to discuss a rule book."
So what companies has Jones been following with interest? "CompuServe's ups and downs have been exciting and fun," he says.
"I now identify with the Web pioneers."
"There's also a company in the US called Marinex which has created an online soap opera and now it is selling the rights to make a film version." he adds.
Having written many times about Web sites, the prospect of creating a site for NMA was a challenge for Jones. "I now identify with the Web pioneers," he says.
The NMA site has been created with designers UXL. Jones supplies all the copy and the folks at UXL do all the coding.
According to Jones the site started coming together last autumn and has been an education for them. "It's been a learning experience," he says. "The site is up now but that's the first battle. We now need to develop it."
"E-mail is a very finely defined version of push media."
The one area which Jones is keen to explore is e-mail newsletters. "E-mail is a very finely defined version of push media," he says. "It goes to the person who requests it."
But according to Jones e-mail alone is not enough. "E-mail delivery is immediate. It can help build a community but not just on its own, it needs to be supported by other services like the Web."
"There are sites out there which would be better as a printed brochure."
Jones acknowledges there is a difference between the UK Net and the US. "We have different demands here. You only have to look at the content of US sites to UK," he says.
Jones believes content is the key and he doesn't mince his words when it comes to bland corporate Web offerings. "There are sites out there which would be better just as a printed brochure," he says.
1997 looks set to be the year when set-top boxes finally come to the UK and Jones thinks the information providers of the systems will make or break them.
"If the content providers are imaginative enough it will do well. Hopefully there will be lots of specially commissioned Web sites for them," he says. "Compelling content is what is needed," Jones adds. | 
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