I find White's definition useful because I see the journal itself as a weaving together of people, ideas, and resources that have a particular resonance at the time that they become bound together in the process of publication, and I also like to think that we have provided a foundation from which the work we publish will have both the force and accuracy necessary to reach a wide target audience. Whitehead (1987) goes on to say "Putting the two meanings together, one might understand kairos to refer to a passing instant when an opening appears which must be driven through with force if success is to be achieved" (13); I believe that this journal has found the instant, recognized the opening, and acted with force, and in so doing, we have achieved a degree of success. This metaphor also works well for me as I consider the data that I've collected about the journal and whether those measures represent success (or not): The links to the journal (and the citations that appear in print sources) represent the place of Kairos as an integral thread in the broader weave of the discipline and the number of readers of the journal represent the force and aim of the scholarship we release through publication.
"This new journal has a great deal to do with kairos, particularly in terms of its appropriateness and timeliness in our field at this time. ... With this journal, the Kairos staff and authors intend to push many envelopes--of theory and pedagogy, of technology, of composition, and of professional scholarship--at a time when these efforts are vital to continued growth of our field. In essence, we've tried to make this the most kairotic journal we could.” (Doherty, 1996)
From an early incarnation of the Kairos FAQ:
In terms of rhetoric, "kairos" can be seen as an understanding of the subtleties of the rhetorical situation, particularly those dealing with time. I think the reasons this journal is named after this term are numerous: In terms of our hypertext focus and format, our name acknowledges the ways hypertext reintroduces time-related rhetorical issues by allowing the reader to become a more active part of the rhetorical act. In terms of the journal itself, the founders of Kairos were able to seize an opportunity and launch this publication at a propitious moment in our professional history. As the saying goes, "Timing is everything." -Greg Siering