In the Mechanical engineering field there are many different scholarly journals. I chose to compare and contrast two different copies from the journal, Photogrammetric engineering and remote sensing. This journal deals with optics and the machines related to them. In engineering, optics is used for a number of things ranging from land surveying for buildings to lasers for telemetry and timing.
Both of these journals look nearly identical on the outside. However, the newer journal’s title was expanded, whereas the older journal simply shows, Photogrammetric Engineering, on the outside. On the inside of the journals there are a few notable differences as well. The older is printed on a different, non-glossy paper and contains fewer pictures. None of the pictures are color either. The newer copy contains far more pictures all of which are now color. The newer journal also has slightly bigger pages however, so the ratio of words to pictures is still fairly similar. They also use similar font types and sizes all of which are easy to read without causing strain on the eyes. Both journals also contain advertisements. The quantity of the advertisements has stayed roughly the same whereas the quality has gone up significantly. The newer journal has many more ads selling high-tech products that work in tandem with computers as compared to the older one which is more aimed at different machines that one might need. This change in add types shows the evolution of computers and our increased reliance on them.
The journal is published by the same company, The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, the Remote Sensing section was added on a later date after the earlier journal. After approximately 55 years the journals do not share any common board members.
In both the more recent and the older journal, the articles are presented in the IMRAD format. Both articles go through the whole structure of the IMRAD, however, the older journal has a few extra sections. The most important being a section discussing the future regarding the information. The older journal has slightly longer articles in terms of words due to the lesser amount of pictures. The newer journal uses more color pictures of the actual object being discussed as opposed to the older version which uses many hand drawn diagrams representing the mathematics behind the topic. The main difference being the inclusion of actual pictures can be credited to the advancement of technology and the ability to make better photos of what is being discussed.
Both articles I viewed contained their share of jargon. However, the newer article is much more accessible to someone who is not in the field. There is less jargon related to the actual subject and to mathematical terms. They both do a good job of describing in depth the subject matter though. The actual jargon itself is the same though. The idea behind lenses has for the most part has stayed the same and parts such as lenses and reflections are still being used and discussed. Both the old article and new article use basic sentence structure and words in their respective articles in order to communicate with the reader. This may be in an effort to get the point being discussed across in the quickest manner possible. I believe that for the majority of the field, there has not been a lot of growth. There has been an extra “field” added on known as, Remote Sensing. This can be seen simply by viewing the new title of the journal. The field of telemetry has expanded its uses to include that area of study. After viewing the articles, the main audience of this journal is someone who is in the field already looking to further their knowledge of the tools being used in order to do their job better.
