[Asis-l] Computing Reviews Completes Successful Test Launch, Opens To Paid Subscribers

[John W. Osvald]

This message is being cross-posted.  Apologies for duplication.

Computing Reviews Completes Successful Test Launch,
Opens To Paid Subscribers

To view this release online, visit http://www.reviews.com/Info/PressRelease.pdf

New York, NY May 1, 2002 - Today, Computing Reviews,
the online resource for reviews of the best in computing
literature, announced the completion of its beta testing
period and will now begin accepting paid subscriptions.

"Granting a period of free access was vital to the
development of Computing Reviews," said Bruce Antelman,
President of Reviews.com.  "We wanted to make sure we
were making CR available to as much of the computing
community as possible during the developmental phase
of the site.  Open access enabled us to receive feedback
from a larger group of computer science professionals,
which we used to perfect the technology and systems that
make Computing Reviews possible.  The response was
extremely positive, and word spread quickly... over the past
15 months readership increased in monumental proportions.
There are now more readers every week than previously
subscribed annually."

"The feedback we've received during the launch period has
been invaluable to the development of Computing Reviews
as an online publication," said Carol Wierzbicki, Executive
Editor of Computing Reviews.  "We've used the community's
input to help transform Computing Reviews from a static
print publication to a dynamic online database.  We are very
grateful to all the users who helped us test and refine the
system."

Developed by Reviews.com and the Association for Computing
Machinery (ACM), Computing Reviews helps readers manage
the large amount of new material published in computer
science by pointing them to the best new journal articles
and books and giving them a continually updated overview of
the field.  Readers also benefit from the ability to link to full
text, receive customized alerts and read multiple points of
view.  Reviewers have been carefully screened to ensure that
they are qualified to provide expert opinions on the material
they review.  Computing Reviews is based on ACM's
40-year-old paper journal of the same name.

"To thank all of our users who have contributed to the
refinement of Computing Reviews, we are offering their
institutions a 10 percent discount on a one-year subscription
through June 1, 2002," Antelman said.  "Existing users
requiring an individual subscription will get the first month
free if they subscribe before that date."

He added: "Computing Reviews is an especially important
product to Reviews.com because it is a model for future titles.
The technology, editorial process and user base developed for
CR provides the blueprint to build Reviews.com into the premier
reviewing service for academic and scientific literature."

About Reviews.com:
Founded in 1999, Reviews.com develops community based
reviewing services for academic and professional disciplines.
Reviews.com is affiliated with Information Express, which has
been delivering information both in hardcopy and online for 15
years. For information, visit http://www.reviews.com

About the ACM
Founded in 1947, ACM is the world's first educational and
scientific computing society.  With more than 80,000 members
worldwide who come from industry, research, academia, and
government; a dynamic series of authoritative publications; a
premier Portal to Computing Literature (http://portal.acm.org/dl);
a wide range of special interest groups (SIGs); and an
outstanding array of conferences, workshops and forums, ACM
is a world-class resource for the entire technology field.
For information about ACM, visit http://www.acm.org


Contacts:
Reviews.com
John W. Osvald
Marketing Strategist
Computing Reviews
Phone: 212-691-8844 x10
e-mail: john at reviews.com


ACM
Carol Wierzbicki
Executive Editor
Computing Reviews
Phone: 212-626-0662
e-mail: wierzbicki at acm.org