Airman magazine moves to digital home

By Air Force News on September 4, 2011

Airman magazine entered a new era Sept. 1 with the release of its final hardcopy edition and the unveiling of its new digital home.

Airman is being re-launched as a new website and, while the Web address remains www.airmanonline.af.mil, the site has a fresh format and improved functions, officials said.

In addition to the stories and photos in the print magazine, visitors to the site will notice additional content. Publishing digitally, the Airman staff will be able to provide more and different kinds of stories, officials said.

For example, the print version for September includes a block of stories on the changes in the Air Force since 9/11 with two expansive photo features, a look at Operation Noble Eagle, the personal perspective of a wounded warrior and statistics from overseas operations. On the web, this special 9/11 content is supplemented with an interview with Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz and a question and answer piece with Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James Roy. Additionally, throughout the month of September, the Airman staff will post additional perspectives from Airmen directly involved in or affected by 9/11 and a story on the changes in Air Force technology in the past decade.

In another example of a new storytelling feature available in the digital magazine, a multimedia video accompanies the print and photo tale of Lester West, a barber who has cut the hair of military trainees at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, for the past 50 years.

Airman, the official magazine of the United States Air Force, has been in circulation since 1957. It has changed publication size and frequency many times over the years, having been a quarterly, monthly and, most recently, bi-monthly print publication.

As the staff moves forward into digital publishing, their goal is to continue providing Air Force readers with Airman's trademark feature-length stories and high-quality images while embracing new technologies and new ways of telling the Air Force story, officials said.