Marriage, like democracy, is an imperfect institution. But, as the clichý has it, show me a better institution to attain the desired ends, and I say go for it. Democracy works to express the will of the majority while attempting to protect the rights of the minority. Marriage works to provide a legal and social construct between two people within which property and parenting rights are articulated.

Bear with us and don't take these anecdotal definitions as gospel. Don't flood us with letters defending socialism, monarchy, or polygamy. We're not a magazine about politics or sociology; we're a magazine about technology.

We're also a magazine involved in a very current conundrum - how to work within the new mindset for information dissemination, a mindset that spans print and web, hardcopy and softcopy, ink and Internet.

And we're not the only ones. This new mindset is befuddling every publisher in the world today. In the age of on-line, when have you got enough - print or web - of each? What is the correct business model and appropriate resource level to commit to each? What is the right mix of content that meets the needs and interests of a reading public that patronizes each?

For now, here at ISD, we think we've got a mix that works for us and for our readers. We pour huge amounts of energy monthly into our print magazine. We labor daily with equivalent zeal over our expanding website. And we see the two efforts as equal in importance.

The magazine offers a physical presence that relishes and requires the luxury of time and space. In my opinion, more contemplative learning goes on when pouring over print copy. One is able to quietly flip back and forth through the pages, to read, examine, think, put it down, walk away, come back to where you were, and start again.

The website is smart and quick and more intense. The bells and whistles, buttons and banners, graphics and animation, blinking and linking, draw the user into multiple channels of networked ideas. In fact, depending on the time of day, your energy level, the immediacy of your information needs, and your learning style, the web is indeed your ticket to knowledge and currency.

Here at ISD, we're offering both the contemplative and the contemporary. We've got our print magazine and we've got our website - and we hope you're taking advantage of both. The magazine has readers. The website has users. The distinctions speak for themselves. It's more than an attraction of opposites. It's a marriage of equals.

Some might argue that the relationship between print and web across the length and breadth of the publishing world is just a betrothal at this point, that the pending marriage is only going to lead to acrimony and divorce. Maybe we need to look at the partnering across print and web less as a marriage, for better or worse, and more like a long-term relationship. We're living together but we're not changing our names. According to some schools of modern thought, this is the only way to keep things fresh and lively. Either way, ISD Magazine and www.isdmag.com are definitely in it together for the long haul.