Will try to go to print???

After some thoughts about the nature of the Internet, and the growth of Generative Artificial Intelligence, I’ve decided to go to a traditional hard copy version of dISorient Journalzine. Again, everything is still in the formative stage, but I believe in hard copy zines can have a more safer situation given how things like ChapGPT scavenges across the net to generate its content.

When the zine was first created, this was before we had 5g on iPhones, and we used desktop publishing programs and print houses with runs of about 500 copies. The costs were about $2000 per run, which also included a designer for the zine. The editorial work was entirely voluntary, and we had several editorial boards rotate over time. Towards the end of the run, I had specific demographics run dedicated versions of the zine, which essentially became almost mini-anthologies. I intend to do much of the same with the revamp.

I am picking up a fancy book scanner, and I intend to scan the old editions of the zine for people to read. All of them are out of print, and therefore only accessible at UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center library.

I had received a number of submissions when I was trying to go online. One of them was from Amy Uyematsu. She had always supported the zine, and she was instrumental in its success.

Much love to Amy Uyematsu.