We Asked: What Recent Articles Do You Recall?
WE ASKED: WHAT RECENT ARTICLES DO YOU RECALL?
fOR THE PAST TWO YEARS, WE HAVE INVITED subscribers to join our online reader panel (www.cornellalumni magpanel.com) and respond to surveys on a number of subjects. In 2005, we asked you about the magazine's editorial content, posing questions about such subjects as how much time you spend reading CAM and which sections you read most regularly.We recently ran another editorial survey, and almost 600 of you responded–for which I thank you. That survey included some open-ended questions including this one: "Please describe or name the articles you remember most from recent issues of Cornell Alumni Magazine.What about them did you like or not like? Why do you think you remember them?"
We received 405 responses, and I asked intern Julia Langer '08 to go through them and tally the number of times individual articles were mentioned. The top ten are shown above, along with the number of readers who named them. (There are actually eleven because there was a tie for fifth place.) And I should note that not everyone liked the articles they named; one reader said the profile of Keith Olbermann '79 was "crap"–but still found it memorable.
Since we asked for articles from recent issues, it's not surprising that most of these ran in the six months preceding the survey. Nor is it surprising that seven are cover stories, as most readers remember magazines because of who or what was on the cover. But the exceptions are quite interesting, especially the inclusion of articles on Paul Wolfowitz '65 (July/August 2004) and the resignation of President Jeffrey Lehman '77 (September/October 2005). Most amazing, perhaps, was the fact that four readers named an article by Brad Herzog '90 called "Locked In," about a Cornell student who suffered a stroke that left her unable to speak or move. It ran in July/August 1999. I can only hope that we'll continue to offer articles that stick in your mind as much as that one did.
— Jim Roberts '71