The Icelandic connection - 01.06.2010, Side 7

Vol. 63 #1
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
5
ize. Some twenty-seven years later, I wish
we had decided then to proceed. You see,
there were at least three flaws in the
process we followed to solicit reader
input. Firstly, we failed to propose a strik-
ing new name, so many readers simply
responded that the existing name was
fine, although a few strident souls vigor-
ously objected to any change at all. While
board members were virtually unanimous
in believing a change was in order, we
hadn’t arrived at a consensus on a new
name before asking our readers to weigh
in on the matter. Secondly, although the
responses we received were mostly nega-
tive or indifferent, fewer than five percent
of our subscribers actually responded and
we made the “rookie mistake” of general-
izing on the basis of a small sample. In
hindsight, I suspect the overwhelming
majority of our readers didn’t care what
we called the magazine, just as long as we
continued to deliver the interesting and
informative articles they had come to
expect. Finally, one important group was
excluded from our sample, namely those
potential subscribers who didn’t read the
magazine precisely because its name sug-
gested that they were not included in its
target audience. We backed away from a
name change without fully weighing its
effect on those who might have sub-
scribed had we adopted a more inclusive
name and identity.
Over the past two years, the board
decided to act. Our reasons are both prac-
tical and philosophical—practical in the
sense that we need to expand our sub-
scription base if we are to remain viable
as a publication, philosophical in that we
genuinely aspire to be inclusive of all
those who wish to maintain an “Icelandic
connection” in the English language. I
will confess that Icelandic Connection
was not initially my personal favourite
among the new names we considered but
it has really grown on me since it was first
suggested. After all, this is not a matter of
clinging to individual tastes and prefer-
ences. No, we were looking for the name
that would best reflect the magazine’s
current identity and mission—and we
found it in “Icelandic Connection.” More
than any other possibility, it reflects who
we are and what we do.
Beyond its obvious merit as an accu-
rate name to describe what we are about,
Icelandic Connection also serves to help
us better imagine our future. At a time
when the print media is struggling to sur-
vive, and as many newspapers and maga-
zines are closing their doors, it is essential
that we expand our subscriber base. The
truth of the matter is that our readership
has been aging and slowly declining, so it
is essential that we cultivate a new gener-
ation of contributors and subscribers who
will be as committed as previous genera-
tions to preserving and promoting the
Icelandic identity across North America
and beyond.
When The Icelandic Canadian was
first launched in 1942, its editor, Laura
Goodman Salverson, compared the inspi-
ration of its founders to the spirit of the
old Norse mariners who “turned their
prows into unknown seas, their eyes
trained upon far and strange horizons . . .
Not the known but the unknown was their
quest; not the past but the future was their
abiding obsession.” It is easy to forget
what a bold experiment the magazine was
in those early years, proposing as it did to
transmit Icelandic heritage and values in
the English language, while being
accused of deserting the ancestral tongue
by those who predicted the magazine
would not survive for very long. Indeed,