8.0479 Further Rs: E-Publishing (4/167)

Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Wed, 3 May 1995 13:51:31 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 8, No. 0479. Wednesday, 3 May 1995.


(1) Date: Fri, 28 Apr 1995 17:54:02 -0400 (52 lines)
From: mccarty@epas.utoronto.ca (Willard McCarty)
Subject: e-publishing: cautionary tales

(2) Date: Wed, 26 Apr 1995 01:25:07 +0200 (12 lines)
From: cbf@lola.lllf.uam.es ( Charles Faulhaber )
Subject: Re: 8.0478 R: Academic E-Publishing (1/10)

(3) Date: 25 Apr 95 10:06:51 EST (31 lines)
From: "CLAIRE GABRIEL" <GABRIELC@elmer1.bobst.nyu.edu>
Subject: Academic E-Publishing

(4) Date: 28 Apr 1995 12:32:10 +0000 (72 lines)
From: "S.A.Rae " <S.A.Rae@open.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: 8.0474 Opinions Sought: E-Publishing (1/35)

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 1995 17:54:02 -0400
From: mccarty@epas.utoronto.ca (Willard McCarty)
Subject: e-publishing: cautionary tales

The New York Times for 25 April, page B10, features a funny and interesting
review article by Stephen Manes, "User-Friendliness: Book vs. Disk",
comparing a Sierra Club book, "Material World: A Global Family Portrait"
with its CD counterpart, "Material World" from Starpress Multimedia. The CD
comes out the worse: apparently its fatal flaw is the not uncommon marriage
of highly imitative design with unsupportable claims for the superiority of
the medium over the book. I would likely get in trouble with the Times were
I to reproduce the article in full here, so I must urge you to read it on
paper. The reviewer compares the two media, feature for feature, concluding
with the remark that, "The book does not come with a number you can call for
technical help."

Of course we have a long way to go with the technology. Perhaps one day we
will have a machine with which one can curl up in bed comfortably or on
which one can peruse a novel while soaking in the tub. We should all be
prepared to admit that technology does progress, and if we want badly enough
to have a mechanical reading assistant that is good in bed or in the tub, we
will probably get one. (Anyone familiar with the history of automata will
know that such assistants, though for different purposes, have been
available for many centuries.) The real point here, however, is the
stupidity of blind imitation exacerbated by these jump-on-the-bandwagon
claims. Ok, so now our nextdoor neighbours as well as our academic
colleagues have awoken to the machine. No more need for exaggerations, if
there ever was. To quote Yaacov Choueka (1988, ALLC Jerusalem): "The tools
are here. Where are the results?"

Today I was in a meeting with a major publisher and some former students,
whose multimedia project is being seriously considered. The publisher
remarked, after our assurance that we were aware of the problem, that he now
regularly receives and rejects CD and multimedia projects of the kind
reviewed in the Times. Good sign.

All of this is certainly not to suggest that any of us would attempt
thoughtlessly to imitate the book. Rather the opposite. Our projects in
electronic publishing, of which there are not a few, are badly needed as
examples of what can be done well. Humanists are people of the book and word
and picture. It's time to go public with our publications, give lectures,
write letters to editors, and so forth.

Comments?

WM


Willard McCarty, Centre for Computing in the Humanities (Toronto)
(416) 978-3974 voice (416) 978-6519 fax mccarty@epas.utoronto.ca
http://www.cch.epas.utoronto.ca:8080/cch/wm.html

(2) --------------------------------------------------------------22----
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 1995 01:25:07 +0200
From: cbf@lola.lllf.uam.es ( Charles Faulhaber )
Subject: Re: 8.0478 R: Academic E-Publishing (1/10)

Peter Graham's note reminds me of another similar project,
Red Sage, at UC San Francisco, which is a collaborative effort
with several leading publishers of scientific journals, in
particular.

The project is also centered in the UCSF library.

Charles Faulhaber
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------46----
Date: 25 Apr 95 10:06:51 EST
From: "CLAIRE GABRIEL" <GABRIELC@elmer1.bobst.nyu.edu>
Subject: Academic E-Publishing


An additional site to investigate regarding academic e-publishing is
one I recently saw demonstrated by Gail McMillan at the ACRL
(Association of College and Research Libraries) conference: the
Scholarly Communications Project at Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University.

This site allows access to nine journals, most of which are also
distributed in traditional paper format, as well as other
publications, including the Virginia News Archive and a Digital Image
Collection from the University Libraries Special Collections.
Text files are available in HTML, ASCII, or Adobe Acrobat and can be
searched via WAIS for full-text access.

URLS are as follows:

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/
gopher://scholar.lib.vt.edu:70/
ftp://scholar.lib.vt.edu

-------------------------

Claire Gabriel
Bobst Library
New York University
(212) 998-2514
gabriel@is.nyu.edu
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------95----
Date: 28 Apr 1995 12:32:10 +0000
From: "S.A.Rae " <S.A.Rae@open.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: 8.0474 Opinions Sought: E-Publishing (1/35)

With reference to the recent note From:
mccarty@epas.utoronto.ca (Willard McCarty)
Subject: electronic publishing: how is it done?


I got this note from owner-newjour@ccat.sas.upenn.edu about a new Ejournal to
be called HyperJournal - useful perhaps?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ANNOUNCING HYPERJOURNAL
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

WHAT IS HYPERJOURNAL?

Hyperjournal is a discussion list devoted exclusively to electronic
journals, especially those which publish on the World Wide Web. It is
concerned with all aspects of the production and publication of
electronic journals, particularly those managed by academics themselves.

WHAT ARE THE AIMS OF HYPERJOURNAL?

Electronic journals are in the vanguard of the electronic publishing
revolution and the pace of change is rapid. Hyperjournal will provide
information on the latest developments and act as a forum for the
discussion of new ideas. Its overall aim is to promote the development
and use of electronic journals among Higher Education professionals.
The list is based in the UK and will provide a European perspective.

WHO SHOULD SUBSCRIBE TO HYPERJOURNAL?

Academics
Computing Personnel
Learned Societies
Librarians
Multimedia Specialists
Publishers
Researchers

In short ... anyone interested in electronic publishing in an academic
environment.

WHAT SORT OF TOPICS WILL BE DISCUSSED?

This is up to the list members, but obvious topics for consideration include:

-pros and cons of electronic publishing
-practical questions about how to set up and run an electronic journal
-editorial considerations
-the concept of the academic "paper" in a hypermedia environment
-peer review
-copyright
-cutting the cost of periodicals in libraries
-archiving, retrieval, and access for the end user
-electronic journals and the Research Assessment Exercise
etc etc

HOW DO I SUBSCRIBE?

Send an email message as follows:

To: Mailbase@mailbase.ac..uk
Subject:
------------------------------------------
Join hyperjournal-forum Firstname Lastname

Example: Join hyperjournal-forum Michael Fox

[End of Announcement]