Spider (internet magazine)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Spider written as SPIDER (written with an inverted 'R') is a monthly magazine circulated in Pakistan by the DAWN group of newspapers, focusing on issues related to software/hardware and internet technologies. The magazine sports a tagline boasting it to be "Pakistan's Internet Magazine", while most of the issues discussed in its leaves are mostly about things not just internet. A symbol that dons its cover pronouncing its identity is that of a mouse with eight limbs and a blinking red sensor as an eye over a web engulfed in a yellow circle, mostly found at the top-right corner of the publication.
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The magazine was launched at the end of the year 1998 in the month of December and created a niche in the publishing market for itself as an internet magazine out of mere perception that not many lasted at the newstands and all were picked off the shelves. It was however the first publishing venture that tied readers more closely to its interface by letting them comment and criticize their work. Reader's comments and criticism are a regular feature in the magazine since then. Completely printed in colour, it holds 136 pages including those containing advertisement. The current volume, the magazine is in, is the eighth. The basic aim and mission of the magazine is to inform its readers of the trends that happen on the information superhighway that is gradually turning the world into a global village.
[edit] Copy features
[edit] Magazine style and content
The monthly comprises of cover stories and feature articles usually on the growth of the internet and how it is affecting Pakistanis. Its known to include thoughts and talks of and with the nation's leading technology evangelists and renowned names in the Pakistani Information Technology Industry.
The magazine has a trend of following up on its cover story accompanied by related topics packed into a single issue with regular features like Spider Zone, Net Basics and Tips and Tricks. In recent years, Spider magazine has put most of its focus on the recent online video gaming trends in Pakistan, e-Governance and the Open Source movement.
With a readership of tens of thousands, the newspaper serves as a knowledge hub for young technology enthusiasts, thus attracting advertisements from Internet Services Providers and hardware vendors. It also attracts IT firms from all over Pakistan to help themselves gain ground by publicising their products via the magazine content.
[edit] Cover price
When the magazine began its steady climb into the world of publishing, its cover price was Rs. 35 per issue. Since March 2005, the cover price of the magazine has risen up to Rs. 50 per issue mainly because the magazine decided to include more pages for the people to read and extract information from.
[edit] Criticism
The magazine has been criticized over the years for the increase in its cover price. Although it seems that the magazine has expanded in terms of paged thickness, but tends to fill most of them with advertisements rather than amusing content, thus failing to provide many a users return on their money.
[edit] Staff
The founding Editor of the magazine was Dr. Altamash Kamal.
As of September 2006, the editor of the magazine is Ali Ahsan Halai, while Reba Shahid is the Assistant Editor. Editorial Assistants include Madeeha Syed and Faras Ghani together with Hafsa Adil. The journal is published by Hoshang S. Master at the Pakistan Herald (Limited) Press for the Pakistan Herald Publications PLC. Ali Ahsan Halai took over as editor in February 2005.
[edit] Offices
The publication comes under the supremacy of the DAWN group of newspapers and has offices all over the major cities of Pakistan. The main office is located at the Haroon House on Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed Road in Karachi. Other offices are situated in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar, Multan, Quetta, and Hyderabad.
