Welcome to the first issue of Auricular Immersion Media. This publication is a direct result of the mutations that have undergone in my mind, as well as the minds of the contributors, since the onslaught of the World Wide Web as a viable media form. Having dabbled in the many realms of media, inlcuding writing (which involves too many cigarettes and too much coffee), musicianship, and the visual arts, it seems the glories of the web page have presented me with new options. Not only can I work on individual projects, I can lump them all together with the projects of others, create a small world and a means for exchange, and make it all available with a happy little interface for the rest of the world to wander through at will. In the past, to get exposure for an art form of any type there was a large cash expense that was involved. If you have every looked into the cost of publishing a magazine on even the smallest level you understand what I mean. Now with just a little bit of time, a little creativity, a $15 a month PPP connection, and the ability to sponge some server space off an employer, an art form can be served out to any one in the world who can hit a button and log on.

The discovery of the sheer joy and ease of this medium came about back when I was working a job for the state and discovered that because my computer on my desk was on a T1 line I could set it up as a server for my own web page for free. Viola! The Auricular Media Design Web Site was born! Maybe in a future issue I will let all of you state employees know how I did this, granted you haven't figured it all out already.

So, what the hell are we doing anyways? Auricular Immersion Media is a culling of material from a group of friends and acquaintances. When the idea to create an online magazine started it was for no reason other than an excuse to have a place where we could vent our frustrations, share what we like and hate, share our art and our opinions, and maybe even make a few people think and laugh. With luck we might even be able to wake a few people up out of the stupor they are in. The idea was presented to a small group and the responses and submisisons immediately began to fill my email box.

So, what makes it all work? Possibly the most important thing to remember when clicking through the pages of A.I.M. is that absolutely no editorial guidelines or restrictions were put on any of the contributors. Aside from spell checking most of the submissions there are no changes made from the original submitted material. This idea was to present A.I.M. as a true compilation of the works of various artists and less of an edited magazine with an agenda or specific politics behind it. We are trying our best to follow through and expand on the philosophy developed by earlier Auricular projects (who remembers the audio magazine, the sound art festivals, or even those nutty radio broadcasts heard up and down the West coast). Auricular Immersion Media is a free-form magazine powered solely by its' contributors and their minds and of course hours of hyperactive html coding. This does not mean, however, that if you want to send us big bags of money we won't accept them. (wink, wink)

Hopefully, as A.I.M. continues to mutate, more and more people will be encouraged to email in their own stories, art, reviews, rants and raves, and A.I.M. will grow into a beast the likes the web has yet to see. You never know what you'll find here from issue to issue that is for sure. The faster people contribute the faster it all grows.

Finally, to quote the broadcast legend Tom Snyder, "Sit back and fire up the colortinis and watch the pictures as they fly through the air."