I am thrilled that you are reading this message. And not just because it warms my heart as a former writer to be read by someone. I’m delighted to welcome you to the new COMtalk: the paperless COMtalk, the multimedia COMtalk. In making the leap to an all-digital magazine, we’re bringing you more stories about COM and its alums. We’re able to show you—not just tell you—these stories, by using photos, audio and videos. And we’re delivering this news more quickly, too.

How significant is this change? By way of comparison, I will tell you the story of Alexander Graham Bell and what he called his “harmonic device.”

Bell was a professor in BU’s School of Oratory from 1874 until 1879. Most of us learn the outlines of his story as schoolchildren: Bell was working on a device that he hoped could transmit sound along an electrically charged wire to some kind of speaker at the other end. He fashioned the speaker from thin reeds. In March 1876, after many months of failure, Bell was working on the device in his BU lab while his assistant, Thomas A. Watson, worked in a room one floor below. Suddenly, Watson heard these words coming from the speaker: “Mr. Watson—come here—I want to see you.”

Those are the very first words carried on what we know as the telephone.

I like to tell that story for a couple of reasons. First, because few people know that the telephone was invented at BU. In fact, Bell credited his success to the support he received from his school and his dean (there’s a plug for the value of deans); it seems to me BU is entitled to some bragging rights.

But second—and more relevant to the subject at hand—I like telling that story because it spotlights a moment of epochal change in technology-aided communication. Suddenly, instead of writing words on paper to someone across vast distances, you could talk to them in real time. Imagine how stunning that must have been to people in 1876.

To be sure, the change in COMtalk falls some distance short of epochal. But as creators of this content—and, we hope, for you as a consumer of this magazine—it feels like our world has changed, at least as it relates to the way in which we can deliver our stories to you. There are still words to read in our articles about alums, students and exciting activities at COM. But for the first time, we’re planning and creating a digital-only magazine, not a print magazine with a digital component.

Stories now come alive in new ways. For example, instead of telling you through words how, last fall, students in our Hothouse Productions class went to Los Angeles and New York City to interview some of the most successful female creatives who’ve graduated from COM, we let the students’ video documentaries do most of the talking. And you don’t get just a written profile of Bonnie Arnold (’78), former president of DreamWorks Animation—clips from the many box-office hits she has produced are embedded throughout the article. You can also watch her deliver COM’s 2017 convocation address. COMtalk is responsive, too, which means you can easily enjoy the magazine on your mobile devices. Next edition, I may skip writing a dean’s message and speak to you by video about the latest activities at our alma mater.

While the new COMtalk may be a humble achievement in comparison to Professor Bell’s invention, we think it still ranks as a profound and exciting change. We hope you agree. Please enjoy this digital edition—and please let me know at tfiedler@bu.edu how you think we can improve it.