VPIEJ-L 01/93
VPIEJ-L Discussion Archives
January 1993
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 08:47:40 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: Stevan Harnad <harnad@princeton.edu>
Subject: Electronic Peer Review: PSYC Call for Commentators
The following article has just been published in PSYCOLOQUY, a
refereed electronic journal of peer commentary.
Commentary is now invited. Instructions for Commentators appear
after the article. Please submit commentaries to psyc@pucc.bitnet
----------------------------------------------------------------------
psycoloquy.92.3.67.peer-review.1.stodolsky Thursday, 31 December 1992
ISSN 1055-0143 (9 paragraphs, 1 reference, 131 lines)
PSYCOLOQUY is sponsored by the American Psychological Association (APA)
Copyright 1992 David Stodolosky
INVITATIONAL JOURNALS BASED UPON EDITORIAL CONSENSUS:
A NEW EDITORIAL ROLE IN ELECTRONIC JOURNAL PUBLICATION
David Stodolsky
Dept. of Computer Science, Bldg. 20.1
Roskilde University
DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
david@ruc.dk (or david@mcsun.eu.net)
(+45) 31 95 92 82
0.0 ABSTRACT: Objectivity has long been both an ideal in
scientific communication and the basis for accreditation claims by
authors of journal articles, yet the evaluation of articles for
publication proceeds on a mostly subjective basis. This has been
particularly true in the case of "invitational journals," where an
unassisted editorial judgement may determine whether or not
something is published. A "consensus journal" has been proposed,
that uses a rigorous measurement model based on multidimensional
peer judgements to generate invitations, but this model assumes an
infrastructure that is not currently available. An invitational
system based on similarity judgements could also yield objective
performance measurements. Such a system could be a transitional one
between currently existing editorial mechanisms and those of a
consensus journal.
0.1 KEYWORDS: invitational journal, editorial role, electronic
publication, accreditation, measurement, peer review, consensus
1.1 A major factor in the transition from paper to electronic journals
concerns the effective use of judgmental resources. The intensity of
evaluation is much greater with electronic journals: Each manuscript
may be reviewed by dozens or even hundreds of persons before it is seen
by an average reader. The typical process of review by two or three
referees prior to publication, common with paper journals, is
inappropriate in the computer-network environment.
1.2 Stodolsky (1990) presented a role-free model for invitational
journals based upon peer consensus. This model is limited in that it
assumes preexisting dimensions for evaluative judgments and the
availability of a robust statistical procedure for calculating
consensus positions among reviewers. The objective of issuing
invitations to the most knowledgeable proponents of different consensus
positions can also be achieved by creating an editorial role. This may
require a redefinition of what is meant by a "consensus" position and a
"most knowledgeable" proponent. It is not clear that the same
performance can be achieved with this new model. However, the new model
can be used to build the set of preexisting dimensions needed to
operate the "fully automatic" invitational journal. The approach
discussed here is "manual," because editorial intervention is required
before invitations can be issued. However, as with the earlier model,
statistical measures of performance are available. We can call this new
model an "invitational journal based upon editorial consensus."
1.3 For the purpose of this discussion, we assume that articles
persist in a database until they are withdrawn. Editorial expertise is
measured by analyzing, in the first instance, the agreement of editors
in issuing invitations. The final criteria depend on what articles are
actually submitted, whether any are determined to be redundant, and how
long articles persist before they are withdrawn.
1.4 After reading a published article, potential authors submit short
(e.g., one-paragraph) reactions to the target article. These reactions
are treated as proposals for new articles and directed to a jury of
editors (this could be done by a set of corresponding editors if more
then one jury was available). The editors then independently select a
subset of the proposals judged to be mutually exclusive and
representing the most competent opinion. The judgment of mutual
exclusivity can be performed by sorting proposals into groups. Within
each group, the potential authors would be addressing the same
question. Between groups there would be a significant difference in
what question was being treated (or how it was to be treated).
Discrepancies among groupings by editors would require a "consensus"
set of groupings to be calculated. Editors' performance could be
calculated from their judgements using rater reliability statistics.
Later articles and responses to them would be the final criterion as to
whether two articles were, in the final analysis, distinctive
(addressing different questions or the same question in a different
way).
1.5 When two or more proposals were sorted into the same group, an
author would be selected on the basis of expertise. In the simplest
case, the editorial choice could also include a judgement of author
expertise, based upon the proposal submitted. A more objective
mechanism would base choice on previously demonstrated performance. For
example, an author might be issued a credential for each week a
submitted article was maintained in the database. Then, in the case of
nonexclusive proposals, the author with the largest number of
credentials (in that subject area) would automatically be issued an
invitation. A further consideration could be the past performance of
the author in responding to invitations. For example, an author who
failed to respond to invitations 10% of the time might lose future
invitations one of ten times to less competent peers.
1.6 Similar objective mechanisms could be applied to editorial
responses, allowing editors' judgments to be weighted according to
previous performance. A system of credentials and selection mechanisms
could also be developed, as suggested above for authors. The final
criterion for editorial performance could be the number of
article-weeks generated by invitations.
1.7 Given a history of operation for the journal structure described,
the groupings made by editors could be used as a basis for generating
dimensions for evaluative judgments. A reliable set of such dimensions
would permit more efficient sorting of proposals within the framework
of an invitational journal based upon editorial consensus; it would
also permit the testing of the more powerful invitational structure
based upon peer consensus.
1.8 Thus, the invitational journal based upon editorial consensus can
be viewed as a stepping stone between current invitational journals
such as sci.psychology.digest (PSYCOLOQUY's Usenet Edition) and the
more advanced invitational structures proposed by Stodolsky (1990). The
transition from current practice requires employing more people in the
editorial process. However, it also permits greater automation in the
administration of a journal. A very important benefit is the
quantitative measurement of editorial performance that could be used to
support claims of journal quality.
REFERENCE
Stodolsky, D. S. (1990). Consensus Journals: Invitational journals
based upon peer consensus. PSYCOLOQUY 1(15) psyc.arch.1.15.90.
Also appeared in: Datalogiske Skrifter (Writings on Computer Science)
No. 29 1990. Roskilde University Centre, Institute of Geography,
Socioeconomic Analysis, and Computer Science (ISSN 0109-9779-29).
------------------------------------------------------------------
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PSYCOLOQUY AUTHORS AND COMMENTATORS
PSYCOLOQUY is a refereed electronic journal (ISSN 1055-0143) sponsored
on an experimental basis by the American Psychological Association
and currently estimated to reach a readership of 20,000. PSYCOLOQUY
publishes brief reports of new ideas and findings on which the author
wishes to solicit rapid peer feedback, international and
interdisciplinary ("Scholarly Skywriting"), in all areas of psychology
and its related fields (biobehavioral, cognitive, neural, social, etc.)
All contributions are refereed by members of PSYCOLOQUY's Editorial Board.
Target articles should normally not exceed 500 lines in length
(commentaries and responses should not exceed 200 lines). All target
articles must have (1) a short abstract (<100 words), (2) an indexable
title, (3) 6-8 indexable keywords, and the (4) author's full name and
institutional address. The submission should be accompanied by (5) a
rationale for soliciting commentary (e.g., why would commentary be
useful and of interest to the field? what kind of commentary do you
expect to elicit?) and (6) a list of potential commentators (with their
email addresses). Commentaries must have indexable titles and the
commentator's full name and institutional address (abstract is
optional). All paragraphs should be numbered in articles, commentaries
and responses (see format of already articles articles in PSYCOLOQUY).
It is strongly recommended that all figures be designed so as to be
screen-readable ascii. If this is not possible, the provisional
solution is the less desirable hybrid one of submitting them as
postscript files (or in some other universally available format) to be
printed out locally by readers to supplement the screen-readable text
of the article.
PSYCOLOQUY also publishes multiple reviews of books in any of the above
fields; these should normally be the same length as commentaries, but
longer reviews will be considered as well. Book authors should submit a
500-line self-contained Precis of their book, in the format of a target
article; if accepted, this will be published in PSYCOLOQUY together
with a formal Call for Reviews (of the book, not the Precis). The
author's publisher must agree in advance to furnish review copies to the
reviewers selected.
Authors of accepted manuscripts assign to PSYCOLOQUY the right to
publish and distribute their text electronically and to archive and
make it permanently retrievable electronically, but they retain the
copyright, and after it has appeared in PSYCOLOQUY authors may
republish their text in any way they wish -- electronic or print -- as
long as they clearly acknowledge PSYCOLOQUY as its original locus of
publication. However, except in very special cases, agreed upon in
advance, contributions that have already been published or are being
considered for publication elsewhere are not eligible to be considered
for publication in PSYCOLOQUY,
Please submit all material to psyc@pucc.bitnet or psyc@pucc.princeton.edu
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 12:57:39 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: Stevan Harnad <harnad@princeton.edu>
Subject: ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION AND THE KNOWLEDGE GLUT
ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION AND THE KNOWLEDGE GLUT
Part I: New Electronic Search/Retrieval Tools Such As VERONICA
Part II: Is There a Substitute for Peer Review?
[Posted with permission]
Despite the eulogy at the beginning, this letter actually raises some
points of criticism, which is why it is being posted, with replies, to
invite further discussion. -- Stevan Harnad, PSYCOLOQUY
aa> From: ashley@cs.unsw.oz.au (Ashley Aitken)
aa> Date: Fri, 1 Jan 93 23:44:29 +1100
aa> To: psyc@pucc.bitnet (PSYCOLOQUY)
aa>
aa> I write to highly commend the APA, particularly those involved with its
aa> initiation, and Stevan Harnad, for the most interesting, appropriate,
aa> and modern form of scholarly discussion you have produced through the
aa> PSYCOLOQUY electronic refereed journal.
aa>
aa> I find PSYCOLOQUY very useful, it gives me the ability to easily (from
aa> the comfort of my office or living room chair) become a part of a large
aa> and international academic community. There are, however, a number of
aa> points which I would like to make - most of which relate also to the
aa> traditional form of published journals.
Thanks for the kind words. I have some replies to your points below:
aa> 1. Thought needs to be given to ways to reduce the amount of material
aa> published (in number and size).
Odd suggestion! I would have thought just the opposite. PSYCOLOQUY
published about 30 nonarchival Newsletter issues and 70 archival
journal items (refereed target articles, commentaries and responses) in
1992, and my explicit goal is to double or even triple the archival
portion in 1993!
If the submission volume gets high enough, PSYCOLOQUY may split into
separate sections that can be subscribed to independently, but it is
too early for that. For now, all it takes to discard an article in
which you are not interested is a keystroke. That means PSYCOLOQUY
could have cost you a MAXIMUM of 100 keystrokes all last year! And
surely reducing the publication volume for everyone is not the right
remedy for saving oneself (or anyone else) those keystrokes! PSYCOLOQUY
should of course continue to grow.
Currently, PSYCOLOQUY postings are set up to contain the most salient
portion at the top, so it is not necessary to scroll further if you find
that an item does not interest you. If we ever switch to posting only
abstracts, and archiving full texts so that only those who are
interested in retrieving them need do so, this still won't save that
many keystrokes, as an abstract takes the same space as the first
half-screenful of the full text. I don't think publishing only periodic
lists of titles will be enough for those who take a more active interest
in the contents, but if this is voted in by the PSYCOLOQUY readership,
I am of course ready to comply.
An even more extreme solution would be to have no subscribership at all
(hence no unnecessary keystrokes). This is not as odd it may sound. At
the end of this message I will demonstrate how anything in the
PSYCOLOQUY archive can be scanned (browsing contents, titles),
full-text searched, and instantly retrieved any time, anywhere, with a
very small, simple number of menu-driven keystrokes using a remarkable
new public-domain search tool called Veronica (which will no doubt soon
be superseded by even more powerful tools). A demonstration of Veronica
follows this message.
So, in principle, the days of direct subscription, even electronic
subscription are already over! You always have the option of just doing
occasional searches on your own initiative, like browsing a journal's
contents in the library (except that that you no longer need to go to
the library -- or scan Current Contents).
Some people will no doubt continue to prefer to subscribe, however,
despite the few extra keystrokes it entails to discard the items that
don't interest them.
aa> 2. Thought needs to be given to more powerful indexing and referencing
aa> techniques.
Look at the sample of Veronica below and you will see that not only has
thought been given, but some unprecedentedly powerful tools are already
available! Boolean search is next, on SGML fields or full text, and even
smarter tools (such as Bellcore's Latent Semantic Indexing, a way of
searching conversationally in ordinary English, now being adapted to
PSYCOLOQUY by Assistant Editor Malcolm Bauer) are not far behind.
aa> 3. The refereeing procedure needs to be made more explicit and open to
aa> discussion.
I don't know how familiar you are with peer review for scholarly and
scientific publication. An Editor normally consults 1 - 3 experts, who
have the option of being anonymous. That system is medium independent.
As it happens, because of the additional goal of eliciting Peer
Commentary, PSYCOLOQUY often consults even more referees than that (the
recent target articles by Garnham and by Glenberg & Mathews were
reviewed by over TEN referees each, and underwent a major round of
revision before acceptance). Commentaries and authors' responses are
also refereed (although often only by the Editor); and of course the
peer commentary is itself a form of open "refereeing." So I would say
PSYCOLOQUY's refereeing system is not only at least as rigorous as
standard peer review, but it is more broad-based and answerable to the
peer community.
aa> For all of these, although I have ideas, I naturally don't have complete
aa> solutions. My one comment would be that with these times of change one
aa> should not hold back - be bold, incorporate new ideas and technologies. I
aa> personally feel we should make a major break from the traditional pub-
aa> lication process.
aa>
aa> Lastly, as with Stevan, I am strongly opposed to charging for individual
aa> issues. I think in the electronic form the distribution (and media) cost
aa> should (eventually) be so minimal not as to warrant an individual charge.
aa> Unfortunately, in other publishing arenas even though the cost of dist-
aa> ribution has been (or could be) dramatically reduced the cost to the in-
aa> dividual has not come down.
aa>
aa> Once again I thank you all for PSYCOLOQUY and trust you take my suggestions
aa> in the good spirit that they are given.
aa>
aa> Ashley Aitken
aa> E-MAIL : ashley@cs.unsw.oz.au AARNet
aa> Academic Address: Residential Address:
aa> Schools of EE and CS&E, (AI Lab) c/o Basser College, (Flat 7A)
aa> University of New South Wales, The Kensington Colleges,
aa> Box 1,PO KENSINGTON,N.S.W.,2033. Box 24,PO KENSINGTON,N.S.W,2033.
aa> AUSTRALIA. AUSTRALIA.
aa> Ph. (02) 697-3940 Fx. (02) 663-4576 Ph. (02) 663-8117 (Preferred!)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO USE VERONICA TO DO FULL TEXT SEARCHING
AND RETRIEVAL OF ALL BACK ISSUES OF PSYCOLOQUY
(1) Call up gopher, by typing "gopher". You will get a screen like this:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internet Gopher Information Client v1.1
Internet Resources
1. Apple Computer Higher Education gopher server/
2. FTP Searches/
3. Federal Information Exchange
4. Geographical Name Service
5. Internet Mail Guide
6. Internet Resource Guide
7. Knowbot Network Email Directory
8. Sun Managers Archive/
9. The Cleveland Freenet
10. The Whole Internet: User's Guide & Catalog/
--> 11. Veronica (search menu items in most of GopherSpace)/
12. WAIS Based Information/
13. Weather/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) Select Veronica (11.). You will get a screen like this:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Veronica (search menu items in most of GopherSpace)
1. About veronica.
--> 2. Search many (300) Internet gopher menus by _SINGLE_ keyword
3. Experimental :) ( specify desired item types )
4. Help on how to use Experimental veronica.
5. Proposals for veronica Development.
6. gopher.protocol.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(3) Select Search 2. You will get a screen like this:
+--------Search many (300) Internet gopher menus by _SINGLE_ keyword --------+
| |
| Words to search for psycoloquy |
| |
| [Cancel ^G] [Accept - Enter] |
| |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
(4) Enter psycoloquy in the blank space (as above). Next screen:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Search many (300) Internet gopher menus by _SINGLE_ keyword : psycoloquy
1. About the PSYCOLOQUY Archive.
--> 2. Psycoloquy Searchable Archive
3. Volume 1 (1990)/
4. Volume 2 (1991)/
5. Volume 3 (1992) [last change Dec.22 1992]/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(5) Select Psycoloquy Searchable Archive (2.). Next screen:
+----------------------- Psycoloquy Searchable Archive-----------------------+
| |
| Words to search for reading |
| |
| [Cancel ^G] [Accept - Enter] |
| |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
(6) Select any topic or author (e.g. "reading," as above). Next screen
yields every issue of PSYCOLOQUY that has "reading" in its text:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Psycoloquy Searchable Archive: reading
1. psyc.arch.2.9.91 /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
2. psyc.91.reading.1.skoyles /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
3. psyc.arch.2.8.91 /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
4. psyc.92.3.06.reading.7.skoyles /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
5. psyc.91.reading.2.coltheart /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
6. psyc.91.reading.5.skoyles /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
7. psyc.91.reading.3.skoyles /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
8. psyc.92.3.13.reading.8.cassidy /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
9. psyc.92.3.61.reading.10.small /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
10. psyc.92.3.63.reading-inference-1.1.garnham ..ves/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
11. psyc.92.3.05.reading.6.cassidy /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
12. psyc.92.3.64.reading-inference-2.1.glenberg-mathew ..oloquy/92.V3/.
13. psyc.91.reading.4.reilly /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
--> 14. psyc.92.3.14.reading.9.skoyles /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
15. psyc.92.index /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
16. psyc.91.index /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
17. psyc.arch.1.11.90 /archives/Psycoloquy/90.V1/.
18. psyc.arch.1.16.90 /archives/Psycoloquy/90.V1/.
19. psyc.arch.1.13.90 /archives/Psycoloquy/90.V1/.
20. psyc.arch.1.8.90 /archives/Psycoloquy/90.V1/.
21. psyc.arch.1.15.90 /archives/Psycoloquy/90.V1/.
22. psyc.arch.2.3.91 /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
23. psyc.arch.2.7.91 /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
24. psyc.arch.1.14.90 /archives/Psycoloquy/90.V1/.
25. psyc.92.3.11.mood.10.plutchik /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
26. psyc.92.3.16.space.1.bryant /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
27. psyc.92.3.23.consciousness.8.laming /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
28. psyc.92.3.27.consciousness.12.noble /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
29. psyc.92.3.07.mood.6.morris /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
30. psyc.92.3.08.mood.7.nesse /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
31. psyc.newsletter.Dec.16.1 /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(7) Finally, select (say) item 14 above, which actually retrieves the
article itself from the archive (only the beginning is displayed
here for illustration):
This section is from the document
'//archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/psyc.92.3.14.read ing.9.skoyles'.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 02 Mar 92 00:29:36 EST
PSYCOLOQUY ISSN 1055-0143 Mon, 02 Mar 92
From: John R Skoyles <ucjtprs@ucl.ac.uk>
Subject: psyc.92.3.14.reading.9.skoyles: Logographic Reading: Are We So Different?
Logographic Reading: Are We So Different?
Reply to Cassidy
John R. Skoyles,
ucjtprs@ucl.ac.uk
Department of Psychology
ucjtprs@ucl.ac.uk
Department of Psychology
University College London
London WC1E 6BT
I do not see where Cassidy and I disagree on children's logographic
reading. I agree that phonological reading follows logographic reading.
I mentioned in my prior reply (PSYC 3.1.2.2 1992) that I had previously
proposed this in (Skoyles 1988): "Children pass through several stages
in learning to read English. Initially -- often before entering school
-- children recognise some frequently occurring words using visual
`logographic' characteristics. Most children then quickly learn to use
the phonological information present in written words. The limited
vocabulary of logographically recognisable word could provide the
examples needed to train the phonological network." I think Cassidy and
I are in agreement.
Cassidy claims that I deny children use an abstract letter-to-sound
--More--(32%)[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]
Press to continue, to mail, to save, or to print:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(8) The file can then be printed out directly, or you can save it in
a local file, or have it emailed to you.
So if you have Gopher/Veronica at your site and you don't want to
receive articles you are not interested in, cancel your PSYCOLOQUY
subscription and simply use Veronica as often as you like to browse
the contents. Veronica will also call up the constantly updated
cumulative Table of Contents for each volume/year of PSYCOLOQUY.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION AND THE KNOWLEDGE GLUT
Part II: Is There a Substitute for Peer Review?
ashley@cs.unsw.oz.au (Ashley Aitken) wrote:
aa> Although I do not mind your posting my suggestions and your replies, I
aa> cringe a little at how they make me look, and at how my suggestions
aa> were interpreted - due completely to the cursory way in which I put them.
aa>
aa> So if you will bear with my attempt to explain in a bit more detail the
aa> real essence of my suggestions, I will rest easier :-) with the
aa> original posting, knowing that I have at least tried to make my points
aa> clearer to you.
aa>
aa> In general, my hope was for PYSCOLOQUY to take bold new steps in
aa> different directions, rather than more electronic steps in the same
aa> direction as the current printed journals.
aa>
aa> In particular then, with regard to each specific point -:
aa>
aa> aa> 1. Thought needs to be given to ways to reduce the amount of material
aa> aa> published (in number and size).
aa>
> sh> Odd suggestion! I would have thought just the opposite.
aa>
aa> Here, my suggestion must have been unclear - as your amazement shows. I
aa> was suggesting that we need to move away from the idea of everyone's
aa> having their say on an issue directly in the form of an article or review.
aa>
aa> As I said before I don't have all the solutions but generally what I
aa> was thinking of was a more constructive approach where we EXPLICITLY
aa> build some sort of 'knowledge' tree (with all its ambiguities and
aa> branches in so many different directions) which is electronically
aa> accessible (as a hypertext document, for example).
aa>
aa> With the approach that is currently being taken we will end up with
aa> hundreds (if not thousands) of electronic journals publishing tens (if
aa> not hundreds) of thousands of editions a year. Yes, they will be
aa> extremely well indexed and on-line but will that make us feel any less
aa> overwhelmed? The knowledge is only implicit in this juggernaut of
aa> publications, not anywhere near explicit.
aa>
aa> Under an 'explicit constructive' approach, research publications would
aa> instead be auxiliary justification for alterations to the 'knowledge'
aa> tree. Note here that I am not operating under any naive impression that
aa> there is one true tree. There would be many branches on this tree
aa> representing the many beliefs and theories - but each explicitly stated
aa> and perhaps with some weighting.
These suggestions are all commendable, and no doubt many new epistemic
forms will evolve in the new medium. Here I wish only to point out that
there IS a means of sorting the wheat from the chaff in (if I may
change metaphors) the expanding grain bowl of knowledge, and that
means is PEER REVIEW. That quality control mechanism, which consists of
nothing more than qualified peers EXPLICITLY reading and evaluating
material PRIOR to publication, is medium independent. Until you find a
means of accomplishing this automatically, without human intervention
(I doubt that I will live to see the day -- especially in cognitive
science, where to suppose that we already have such a mechanism is
tantamount to supposing we have already solved most of the problems of
cognition!) we are stuck with this "traditional" tool.
No need to despair, though, because most of the information that is
burgeoning on the net does not ASPIRE to be refereed. For that small
subet of it that does, there are still, and will continue to be, enough
peer reviewers to go around. And once they have exercised their
gate-keeping function for us all, we are free, if we wish, to use this
authenticated archive to help filter our reading. In other words, as
long as there is peer review, and a clear means of distinguishing what
in the archive has and has not been peer-reviewed (and how rigorously,
for this too varies from journal to journal), there is still a
medium-independent way of calibrating our knowledge consumption,
despite the epistemic explosion.
There are many exciting things to be done beyond the scope of this
quality-controlled canon, in the vast vanity press that will soon
materialize, but that is not the terrain to which PSYCOLOQUY is
dedicated. There is also room for revolutionary innovation WITHIN the
canon, as it is implemented electronically. That is the domain that
interests me: How to implement peer review electronically, how to speed
it up and make it more even-handed, and how to couple it with the
subsequent phase of open peer commentary.
I wish the knowledge tree well, but I already know (from experience
WITHIN peer review) that mere box scores, publication counts, and citation
counts (in other words, the kinds of variables that would govern the
arborization of the knowledge tree) will never substitute for the acute
insight of a knowledgeable individual. Or not for some time, anyway.
aa> aa> 2. Thought needs to be given to more powerful indexing and referencing
aa> aa> techniques.
aa>
> sh> Look at the sample of Veronica below and you will see that not only has
> sh> thought been given, but some unprecedentedly powerful tools are already
> sh> available!
aa>
aa> Yes, you are correct - there are powerful tools. I knew of Archie (for
aa> software) and read of Veronica and Gopher in one of the five or more
aa> editions of PYSCOLOQUY still remaining in my mail box after I had
aa> posted to you (BTW, I wonder if there is a universal physical constant
aa> pertaining to the number of issues of a journal which are always
aa> present in one's mail box :-).
aa>
aa> However, no matter how powerful these methods may be (and at present I
aa> believe they are limited to indexing on the file name) at some time in
aa> the future they will surely produce far too many matches to be
aa> useful. If everyone is having their say in the same old manner, and
aa> 'everyone' is growing exponentially, then this path is always
aa> doomed.
aa>
aa> I don't think we should have to do the searches to find the papers to
aa> find the theories and facts to piece together the present state of
aa> knowledge.
Electronic search tools will become ever more subtle and sophisticated,
however it will be some time before they (or hypertext links and
arborization paths) will substitute for informed judgments of quality.
So I predict that the most valuable single source of information about a
retrieved item for some time to come will be whether or not it passed
peer review.
As to unread email: When you will have redirected most of your
telephone, paper mail, face-to-face, conference, and even paper-reading
traffic to your email, as I have, you'll find that "unread email" is not
an informative descriptor, for virtually all your information will be
electronic, and how quickly you attend to it will depend on what
indicators you have of how important it is. Just as in paper days I read
refereed journals before looking at unrefereed preprints, there will be
ways of ordering priorities on the Net too.
aa> aa> 3. The refereeing procedure needs to be made more explicit and open to
aa> aa> discussion.
> sh> I don't know how familiar you are with peer review for scholarly and
> sh> scientific publication.
aa>
aa> I am familiar, to a point, with the process for peer review for
aa> scholarly and scientific publications. I am not sure, however, how much
aa> justification there is for it as the best way to choose the best
aa> publications. Again, I read in a later edition of PYSCOLOQUY of more
aa> radical ideas, viz consensus review. This type of rethinking of the
aa> refereeing procedure is what I was hoping for.
The article advocating consensus review was refereed and accepted as a
speculative hypothesis. But what is needed before we abandon peer review
in its favor is empirical research on the matter, with its results
submitted to refereed journals for peer scrutiny.
aa> Perhaps, I am just naive about the real nature of scientific research
aa> and the reasons for publication, or perhaps I am looking too far into
aa> the future. Anyway these suggestions are just some that linger in my
aa> head when I should be instead concentrating on my graduate research.
aa>
aa> As before, I am very grateful for the PYSCOLOQUY electronic journal and
aa> offer this discussion only as an attempt to make it better.
I have posted your thoughts because I think many others are thinking
along similar lines and because the thoughts are worth discussing. There
are, however, certain prima facie answers that should also be taken into
account, and I have tried to provide some of them here.
With thanks for your comments, which will, I am sure, generate still
further discussion.
Stevan Harnad
Editor, Behavioral & Brain Sciences, PSYCOLOQUY
Cognitive Science Laboratory | Laboratoire Cognition et Mouvement
Princeton University | URA CNRS 1166
221 Nassau Street | Universite d'Aix Marseille II
Princeton NJ 08544-2093 | 13388 Marseille cedex 13, France
harnad@princeton.edu | harnad@rrmone.cnrs-mrs.fr
609-921-7771 | 33-91-611-420
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 08:01:01 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: MICHAEL STRANGELOVE <441495@acadvm1.uottawa.ca>
Subject: Support org. address query
Does anyone have the e-mail addresses of the the following two organizations?
Society for Scholarly Publishing
Seminars, educational symposia, panels at annual metings, occasional
publications, quarterly newsletter.
Contact:
Jerry Bowman & Francine Butler
The Resource Center for Associations
(Society for Scholarly Publishing)
10200 West 44th Avenue, Suite 304
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033
Bookbuilders West
Standing Committee on Electronic Publishing; Advanced education
seminars on various subjects dealing with copyright, technical
graphics, electronic book, separation technology, PostScript and so
on.
Contact:
Chair
Electronic Publishing Committee
Bookbuilders West
P.O. Box 7046
San Francisco, CA 94120-9272
_____________________________________________________________________
Thank you,
Michael Strangelove
Department of Religious Studies
University of Ottawa
BITNET: 441495@Uottawa
Internet: 441495@Acadvm1.Uottawa.CA
S-Mail: 177 Waller, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5 CANADA
Voice: (613) 747-0642
FAX: (613) 564-6641
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1993 16:13:06 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: "RICHARD P. JASPER" <librpj@emuvm1.bitnet>
Subject: EPDG MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
Please post the following on your list. Barbara Winters, previous
chair of EPDG, has sent similar announcements regarding this
group to your list. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience
such cross-posting may present your or your readers.
Thanks! Richard Jasper
ASSOCIATION FOR LIBRARY COLLECTIONS
AND TECHNICAL SERVICES
Electronic Publishing Discussion Group
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Sunday, January 24, 1993
Colorado Convention Center
A110
PROPRIETARY OBSTACLES ON THE ROAD TO THE ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING ERA:
A CONVERSATION WITH ANN OKERSON
Dr. Richard Rowe, president of the Faxon Company, coined the term
"proprietary obstacles" at last year's ALA Midwinter Meeting in San
Antonio as an umbrella covering "several interrelated issues swirling
around the basic concept of information as property and as having
increased perceived value." Included are such issues as privatization
of knowledge, control of copyright, and the potential reluctance of
librarians to shift from the ownership paradigm.
Please join us as Ann Okerson, director of the Association of Research
Libraries' Office of Scientific & Academic Publishing and recognized
expert on the emerging electronic information environment, helps
identify these obstacles and discuss strategies librarians might
employ to become key players in the decision-making processes of the
new information industry.
Note:
This topic was to have been discussed at the ALA Annual Conference in
San Francisco but a scheduling problem necessitated postponing it
until this time. Our thanks to Ann Okerson for agreeing to the
rescheduling.
For more information, please contact:
Richard P. Jasper, Chair
ALCTS Electronic Publishing Discussion Group
Emory University
PH: (404) 727-0122; FAX: (404) 727-0053; EMAIL: LIBRPJ@EMUVM1.BITNET
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1993 16:39:54 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: Stevan Harnad <harnad@princeton.edu>
Subject: Computer Networking Postdoc Position
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1993 16:45 EST
From: SCHOF@vms.cis.pitt.edu Janet Schofield
Subject: Post-doc Position
To: PSYC@pucc
POST-DOCTORAL POSITION AVAILABLE
Post-doctoral Research Associate to assist full time in the study
of the social and educational impact of computer networking in a
large urban school district. The position requires a broad range
of methodological skills, including knowledge of questionnaire
design, interviewing techniques, and case study techniques. A strong
background in social psychology, sociology, policy studies, or
evaluation research with an emphasis on educational issues is desirable,
as is experience in working in schools or other complex organizations.
Writing skills are essential as are initiative, independence, and
the ability to work harmoniously with others. This two-year position
is available immediately, pending finalization of contract negotiations
with the funding agency, NSF. Recruiting will continue until a suitable
candidate has been found. The stipend is $25,000 per year. Interested
candidates should send a vita and a letter summarizing their
qualifications for the position AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Three letters
of recommendation should also be sent as soon as possible to:
Professor Janet W. Schofield, 816 Learning Research and Development
Center, 3939 O'Hara Street, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
15260 (e-mail SCHOF@PITTVMS).
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1993 16:40:24 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: Ann Okerson <ann@cni.org>
Subject: E-copyright survey
In preparation for a discussion group at the upcoming American Library
Association Meeting next week and also for another project we are working
on at the Association of Research Libraries, I would like to ask any
of you who are willing, to fill in and return the survey on e-publication
copyright that follows and return it to me. Sometime next month I will
be happy to circulate the results.
With many thanks, Ann Okerson,
Association of Research Libraries
(ann@cni.org)
E-Networked Publishing/Copyright Questionnaire
Complete 1 or 2 or both, whichever apply:
1. I am responsible for the following form of publishing on the e-networks:
(check all that apply)
List owner
USENET newsgroup
Newsletter editor
Journal editor
Papers on ftp sites
Software
Other (specify) _______________________________________________
2. I contribute to publication(s) on the e-networks:
(check all that apply)
Lists
USENET newsgroup
Newsletter contributions
Journal contributions
Papers
Software
Other (specify) ______________________________________________
3. The publication I am responsible for has a copyright, reproduction
or ownership statement with it:
Copyright
Reproduction rights
Ownership
Other (specify) _______________________________________________
None
4. My posting or article(s) has a copyright, reproduction or
ownership statement with it:
Copyright
Reproduction rights
Ownershp
Other (specify) ______________________________________________
None
Depends (on) _________________________________________________
5. The statement appears (answer only if applicable)
During initial signup for the publication
At regular intervals on the publication (how often? ___________)
On each posting I publish or that I contribute
Other (specify) ________________________________________________
6. Have you had any problems with your publication (indicate any that
apply) such as:
Illicit reproduction in other network venues
Inaccurate reproduction in other network venues
Unauthorized reproduction in other nework venues (reproduced even
though you denied permission)
Don't know
It doesn't matter to me; any reproduction or copying is welcome
Unacceptable (in any way) reproduction in another medium
Reproduction for sale without your knowledge or authorization
Other (specify) ______________________________________________
7. What kind of use or copying of your work would you find to be
troublesome or upsetting?
None
The following (specify): _______________________________________________
8. Please reproduce the statement(s) that you use, if you use one or
more and describe anything about it that seems important: how you use
it, what caused you to create it, how you chose the language -- would
all be of interest.
9. If you do not feel "private" about your reply, please indicate
the name of your publication, in case we would like to follow up.
10. In case we might wish to follow up, your id@node would be of use.
Optional, of course.
With many thanks, Ann Okerson/ARL
ann@cni.org
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1993 16:41:07 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: jbcondat@attmail.com
Subject: New French computer security e-journal
In-Reply-To: your message of Wed Jan 13 18:57:48 -0500
1993
Bonjour!
A new computer security e-journal is already published in France. It's the
first in my country:
* weekly;
* name: _Chaos Digest_;
* last issue available: #1.03 (18 Jan 1993);
* for a subscription send an e-message to: jbcondat@attmail.com
Thanks, and hope to hear from you soon!
jbc
--
_-_|\ Jean-Bernard Condat
/ \ Chaos Computer Club France [CCCF] B.P. 8005
\_.-*_/ E-Mail: jbcondat@attmail.com 69351 Lyon Cedex 08, France
v Phone: +33 1 40101775 Fax: +33 1 47877070
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1993 16:41:41 EST
Reply-To: Alis Whitt <libajw@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was libajw@EMORYU1.CC.EMORY.EDU
From: Alis Whitt <libajw@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu>
Subject: How to start an e-journal?
I'm writing for a faculty member who interested in starting a refereed
e-journal in Spanish. Can anyone recommend any documents which might get
this started? We're starting from scratch and have no idea what time
commitment is involved, what distribution options are available, etc.
Please respond directly to me as I do not subscribe to this list.
Thanks,
Alis Whitt Internet: libajw@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu
Computer Assisted User Services Librarian Bitnet: libajw@emoryu1.bitnet
Emory University The Real Thing (maybe): (404) 727-8932
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 09:59:39 EST
Reply-To: Alis Whitt <libajw@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was libajw@EMORYU1.CC.EMORY.EDU
Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was VPIEJ-L@VTVM1
From: Alis Whitt <libajw@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu>
Subject: How to start an e-journal?
I'm writing for a faculty member who interested in starting a refereed
e-journal in Spanish. Can anyone recommend any documents which might get
this started? We're starting from scratch and have no idea what time
commitment is involved, what distribution options are available, etc.
Please respond directly to me as I do not subscribe to this list.
Thanks,
Alis Whitt Internet: libajw@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu
Computer Assisted User Services Librarian Bitnet: libajw@emoryu1.bitnet
Emory University The Real Thing (maybe): (404) 727-8932
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 10:03:04 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: brendan@cygnus.com
Subject: Re: New French computer security e-journal
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri,
15 Jan 93 16:41:07 EST." <9301152154.AB12010@cygnus.com>
> Bonjour!
>
> A new computer security e-journal is already published in France. It's the
> first in my country:
>
> * weekly;
> * name: _Chaos Digest_;
> * last issue available: #1.03 (18 Jan 1993);
> * for a subscription send an e-message to: jbcondat@attmail.com
FYI, this is now part of the Computer Underground Digest archives, on
the system ftp.eff.org in /pub/cud/misc/chaos-1.03. It will soon be
on these other systems that mirror the archives as well:
* red.css.itd.umich.edu (141.211.182.91) in /cud
* halcyon.com (192.135.191.2) in /pub/mirror/cud
* ftp.ee.mu.oz.au (128.250.77.2) in /pub/text/CuD
* nic.funet.fi (128.214.6.100) in pub/doc/cud
Brendan
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 17:34:32 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
From: Tim Maletic <tmaletic@phil.indiana.edu>
Subject: Symbolization standards?
Are there any emerging standards regarding math/logic symbolization in ascii?
Are there any relevant docs available on the net? Thanks!
--
Tim Maletic
Computer Consultant
Philosophy Department, IU
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1993 08:54:48 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: Robin Cover <robin@utafll.uta.edu>
Subject: Symbols (ASCII representation, standards)
Re:
> From: Tim Maletic <tmaletic@phil.indiana.edu>
> Subject: Symbolization standards?
> To: Multiple recipients of list VPIEJ-L
>Are there any emerging standards regarding math/logic symbolization in ascii?
> Are there any relevant docs available on the net? Thanks!
You might want to check out the ISO 8879 SGML "entities" for such
purpose. There are registered sets for math and electronic publishing.
The entities are highly mnemonic. The way they work is that they are
declared as part of a document grammar (more often, just referenced,
since they reside in files at system level), then used as "entity
references" within documents with opening delimiter "&" and closing
delimiter ";" which is recognized by an SGML parser. I've included
some samples from the "binary operators" set below. They are used
for "high bit" (accented) characters as well, as in:
François
Such entity references travel across networks, are completely
unambiguous, are public, and with appropriate software are rendered
on-screen in a WYSIWYG environment just as you would expect (whatever
symbol sets your computer supports). You make the appropriate
declarations in the (system) files to make this happen.
Hope that helps.
----------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robin Cover BITNET: zrcc1001@smuvm1 ("one-zero-zero-one")
6634 Sarah Drive Internet: robin@utafll.uta.edu ("uta-ef-el-el")
Dallas, TX 75236 USA Internet: zrcc1001@vm.cis.smu.edu
Tel: (1 214) 296-1783 Internet: robin@ling.uta.edu
FAX: (1 214) 709-2433 Internet: robin@txsil.sil.org
=========================================================================
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1993 08:01:48 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: MICHAEL STRANGELOVE <441495@acadvm1.uottawa.ca>
Subject: E-Serials as News Services RFC
The following is from a forthcoming article (draft version), posted
for comments - Michael Strangelove
Electronic Serials as News Services
A relatively recent development in the history of networked-based e-
serials is the rise of electronic newsletters that provide news on
late breaking events around the world. Daily and weekly news e-
serials span the globe and include such titles as Chile News
Database, China News Digest, News of the Earth,
RFE/RL Research Institute Research Bulletin, Somolia News
Update, and St. Petersburg Business News.
An indication that e-serial news services are coming of age is seen
in there ability to beat traditional commercial news services in
providing fast breaking news on world events. Somalia News
Update, published by Dr. Bernhard Helander, (Department of
Cultural Anthropology, University of Uppsala, Sweden), provides both
analysis and commentary on political developments in Somalia. It is
entirely independent and is not linked to any organization or
faction. Unlike most other electronic serials it is possible to
subscribe via fax. The fax edition, however, is restricted to
organizations, agencies and groups working actively in Somalia.
Dr. Helander relates how Somalia News Update has a widespread
impact: "During the summer and in the mid autumn (1992), I urged
people to write to various people in the State Department and in the
UN urging massive aid to Somalia. During late August so many faxes
arrived to the United States State Department that they unplugged
their fax machine!"
Somalia News Update is able to beat the media through an
extensive electronic network of contacts. "People in the UN system
in Kenya and Ethiopia receive radio messages from Mogadishu
Headquarters and forward them to me via the FIDO computer network.
A message from Addis, (add COUNTRY?) can reach me in Sweden within
the hour. Recently when all the major bureaus reported that the
negotiations on Addis were running along smoothly, I knew that was
not so and wrote about it. Two hours after that issue was published
Associate Press called me for further details! A contact in Saudi
wrote about an article in an Arab daily newspaper about how Boutros-
Ghali had turned down Israeli medical relief to Somalia. I ran that
story too, and the next day the Israeli radio called me. When I was
in Africa during the autumn I met with Kenyan based pilots who
occasionally flew for the UN and they gave me a lot of first hand
information which I was able to write about. As a result, Somalia
News Update was first with breaking the story about an outburst
of fighting in the north in October-November."
This combination of informal contacts connected though computer
networks and simultaneous fax and e-serial publication demonstrates
the trend in network-based publishing towards influencing media
coverage and global political awareness. In its fist ten years, the
Net has been largely hidden from the surrounding world of politics
and mass media. The beginning of the 1990's has been characterized
by growing public awareness of the Internet and the need for national
computer information "super-highways". Regardless of its apolitical
charter, it is difficult to see how the Net can remain outside of the
realm of politics when the simple act of accurate reporting and
informed analysis has the potential to influence both the global
media and government policy. It is entirely possible that the
network-based publishing will evolve into the mass media of
the next century. This possibility is enhanced by the present ability
of the Net to transmit sound recordings, photographic images and,
eventually, motion picture. At the close of 1992 individuals with
sufficiently sophisticated workstations were able to listen to sound
recordings of presidential campaign speeches archived and transmitted
via the Internet.
Michael Strangelove
Department of Religious Studies
University of Ottawa
BITNET: 441495@Uottawa
Internet: 441495@Acadvm1.Uottawa.CA
S-Mail: 177 Waller, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5 CANADA
Voice: (613) 747-0642
FAX: (613) 564-6641
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1993 08:02:37 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: "Charles Bailey, University of Houston" <lib3@uhupvm1.bitnet>
Subject: Call for Papers
The Public-Access Computer Systems Review (PACS Review) seeks
papers for volume four (1993). Dependent upon the section of the
journal they are published in, papers can either be refereed or
selected by the editors. Interested authors should contact
Charles Bailey at LIB3@UHUPVM1. A description of the PACS Review
follows.
The PACS Review is an electronic library journal, associated with
the PACS-L and PACS-P lists, that is distributed at no charge to
over 6,390 subscribers in 49 countries via BITNET, Internet, and
other computer networks. The journal deals with end-user
computer systems in libraries, covering topics such as
campus-wide information systems, CD-ROM LANs, document delivery
systems, electronic publishing, expert systems, hypermedia and
multimedia systems, locally-mounted databases, microcomputer
labs, network-based information resources, and online catalogs.
It was established in September 1989 and became refereed in
November 1991. It is published by the University of Houston
Libraries. The Editor-in-Chief is Charles W. Bailey, Jr., who
recently won a Network Citizen award from the Apple Library for
his electronic publishing efforts. A review in ONLINE gave the
journal a rating of "Excellent."
The first two volumes of The Public-Access Computer Systems
Review are also available in book form from the American Library
Association's Library and Information Technology Association
(LITA). The price of each volume is $17 for LITA members and $20
for non-LITA members. To order, contact: ALA Publishing
Services, Order Department, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL
60611-2729, (800) 545-2433.
Volume one has a special section on SPIRES that describes how
this powerful system is being used for locally mounted databases
and campus-wide information systems, plus an in-depth symposium
about staffing issues and public-access computer systems. It
also has articles about Carnegie Mellon University's Library
Information System II (and other innovative library automation
systems), text management software, CD-ROM LAN implementations
and network licensing agreements, Z39.50, and other topics.
Volume two has a special section about major electronic serials
on networks that includes papers by the editors and publishers of
EJournal, The Electronic Journal of Communication, the Journal of
the International Academy of Hospitality Research, New Horizons
in Adult Education, the Newsletter on Serials Pricing Issues,
Postmodern Culture, and PSYCOLOQUY as well as a guide to the
important LISTSERV software. It also has a substantial symposium
about network-based information resources and scholarly
communication, plus a paper on machine-readable data files in
libraries.
Volume three has papers on campus-wide information systems and
tools, including UC Berkeley's Infocal Campus Information
Service, HYTELNET, LIBS Internet Access Software, and
nonbibliographic applications of Z39.50. It includes an in-depth
investigation of the future of electronic publishing, a paper on
The Online Journal of Current Clinical Trials, and a bibliography
about electronic publishing on networks. It also contains papers
on reshaping library services and staffing to support emerging
electronic information systems; the Canadian Network for the
Advancement of Research, Industry, and Education; and search
failures in information retrieval systems.
All three volumes include columns by Walt Crawford and Martin
Halbert, plus book reviews. Volume three introduced a new
columnist, Priscilla Caplan. Topics covered include artificial
intelligence, the Common Command Language, copyright and digital
media, enhanced OPACs, help systems, hypermedia, Internet
resources, and USMARC format integration.
To get a cumulative index to the first three volumes of the
journal, send an e-mail message to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1 or
LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU that says: GET INDEX PRV1 F=MAIL.
To subscribe to the free electronic version of the PACS Review,
send an e-mail message to one of the above list server addresses
that says: SUBSCRIBE PACS-P First Name Last Name. Subscribers
also receive two electronic newsletters: Current Cites and
Public-Access Computer Systems News.
+------------------------------------------------------------+
| Charles W. Bailey, Jr. Voice: (713) 743-9804 |
| Assistant Director For Systems Fax: (713) 743-9748 |
| University Libraries BITNET: LIB3@UHUPVM1 |
| University of Houston Internet: |
| Houston, TX 77204-2091 LIB3@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU |
|------------------------------------------------------------|
| Co-Editor, Advances in Library Automation and Networking |
| Editor-in-Chief, The Public-Access Computer Systems Review |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1993 08:02:59 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: MICHAEL STRANGELOVE <441495@acadvm1.uottawa.ca>
Subject: The Prehistory of E-Publishing - RFC
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
This is a draft section from a forthcoming article. Any comments would be
welcomed.
The Pre-History of Network-Based Publishing
New Horizons in Adult Education was the first the first
successful e-journal, but it was not the first network-based
all-electronic journal. This distinction belongs to Mental
Workload, a research journal concerned with the study of person-
machine interfaces that operate complex systems. Mental
Workload started all-electronic publication in 1980 on the
Electronic Information Exchange System (EIES), one of the
world's oldest computer conferencing system. It thus appears to be
the first (unsuccessful) bid at the creation of an all-electronic
network-distributed journal. This early experiment in electronic
publication appears to have quickly failed due to the primitive state
of computer conferencing systems at this time (EIES had less than
2,000 users worldwide) and, like many early experiments, it was
designed on the premise of imitating the structure of traditional
print journals. (FN: Murray Turroff and Starr Roxanne Hiltz, "The
Electronic Journal: A Progress Report," Journal of the American
Society for Information Science 33, no. 4 (1982): 195-202. END
FN). The unsuccessful American EIES experiment was followed by a
British e-journal experiment known as BLEND. Although BLEND tried to
learn from the Mental Workload experience, it too failed after
less than two years (January, 1981 to December 1983) for much the
same reasons. (FN: For details on BLEND, see B. Shackel, "The BLEND
System: Programme for the Study of Some 'Electronic Journals',"
Journal of the American Society for Information Science 34,
no. 1 (1983): 22-30. END FN). The significant improvements in
computer systems, the enormous size of the Net (estimated at well
over ten million users, with the Internet doubling in size every
year), and the growing percentage of graduate students who own
computers ensures that the present generation of experimental e-
serials will have a much higher survival rate.
Attempts to find alternatives to scholarly journals began in earnest
in the late 1950's. Anne B. Piternick has written a concise overview
of many of these early efforts to find various alternative mediums
and models to print journals. A striking aspect of most of the early
efforts at the creation of e-journals is the underlying assumption
that the form of e-journals must closely imitate the form of their
print counterpart. In contrast, the 1990's are witnessing a
proliferation of e-serial publication models that are enlarging the
conceptual boundaries of Text itself, let alone print-based journals.
A possible complete paradigm shift surrounding nature of text in the
next century may lead to an unforeseeable future of scholarly
publishing that is as different from today's pioneering efforts as
the Hammurapi stela is different from floppy disks. (FN: Anne B.
Piternick, "Attempts to Find Alternatives to the Scientific Journal:
A Brief Review," The Journal of Academic Librarianship 15, no.
5 (1989): 260-266. For an account of an attempt to create a mainframe
based model for publishing, see Harold Coward and O. Standera,
"Refereeing and Editing Problems in Electronic Journal Publication,"
Computer Compacts 3, no. 2 (1985) 48-51. END FN)
end of draft section.
Michael Strangelove
Department of Religious Studies
University of Ottawa
BITNET: 441495@Uottawa
Internet: 441495@Acadvm1.Uottawa.CA
S-Mail: 177 Waller, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5 CANADA
Voice: (613) 747-0642
FAX: (613) 564-6641
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1993 10:29:46 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: Harald Lux <lux@dmrhrz11.bitnet>
Subject: Electronically published scholarly journals
Hello,
attached to this message you find the objective and the
proposed structure of my diploma thesis about electronically
published scholarly journals. The title is:
The Role of Publishers in the Age of Electronically
Published Scholarly Journals
- Current Situation and Recommendation -
I started with the work two month ago and deadline is the 21st
of May. This diploma thesis is part of my studies at the
University of Marburg/Germany. It is accepted by the department
for economic informatics (Prof. Dr. U. Hasenkamp). Size should
be 60 pages, language is German.
I would be interested to here from others who do research in
similar topics, but I hope there is nobody who works exactly on
the same.
If you know some other mailing-lists of interest, please let me
know. Currently I know about: aesj-l, arachnet, asis-l, pacs-l,
viflis and vpiej-l. Are there any lists which are dedicated to
publishers?
Thank you for your interest.
Harald Lux
P.S.: Please excuse my English. I know I have to work on it. If
you find wrong or misused technical terms, please let me know.
Attached: objective and proposed structure
(If you would like to see the German version, please let me know.)
The Role of Publishers in the Age of Electronically
Published Scholarly Journals
- Current Situation and Recommendation -
Objective:
==========
Analysing the publication process of electronic journals
shows that the functions of the publisher are often taken
over by other participants of the publication chain. Aim
of this diploma thesis is to investigate which functions
publishers can hold in the age of electronically
published scholarly journals under economic aspects. The
main focus lies on the distribution via networks. Other
electronic forms are seen only as complementary.
The general functions of publishers, as found in the
literature, are the basis for the representation of the
current situation of publishing scholarly journals. This
is followed by a separate analysis of the publisher's
functions which can be found by electronically published
scholarly journals. Each function will be investigated
with regard to its economic relevance. Results should be
rated recommendations with consideration of possible
problems. The thesis concludes with a consolidated
analysis of the isolated recommendations.
Structure:
==========
1 Foundation
1.1 Electronic Publishing
1.2 Publishers and their Functions
1.2.1 Primary Functions
1.2.1.1 Selection
1.2.1.2 Financing
1.2.1.3 Production
1.2.1.4 Distribution
1.2.2 Complementary Functions
2 (Scholarly Journals Today)
2.1 Traditional Publication
2.1.1 (Examples)
2.1.2 Functions of the Publisher
2.2 Electronic Publication
2.2.1 Reasons
2.2.2 (Examples)
2.2.3 Functions of the Publisher
3 Possibilities for Publishers in the Age of Electronically
Published Scholarly Journals
3.1 Separated Analysis
3.1.1 Primary Functions
3.1.1.1 Selection
3.1.1.2 Financing
3.1.1.3 Production
3.1.1.4 Distribution
3.1.2 Complementary Functions
3.2 Consolidated Analysis
------------------------------------------------------
Harald Lux lux@dmrhrz11.hrz.uni-marburg.de
Moischter Str. 45 lux@dmrhrz11.bitnet
W-3550 Marburg 7 CIS: 100024,3231
Germany Tel.: +49 228 461853
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1993 10:30:25 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: "Marian Dworaczek,
Univ. of Saskatchewan (306)-966-6016" <dworaczek@sklib.usask.ca>
Subject: Re: E-Serials as News Services RFC
Another e-serial of this nature is DONOSY. It reports news
from Poland, in Polish and recently published issue no. 1006.
Issued daily (almost), it started under the former Communist
government and, in my opinion, was an excellent source of
objective news from Poland. Good luck with your article!
Marian Dworaczek
Univ. of Saskatchewan Library
|----------- Beginning of Original Message -------------
|From: SKYCAT::IN%"@cunyvm.cuny.edu:VPIEJ-L@VTVM1.BITNET" "Publishing
E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving, and Access" 29-JAN-1993
07:09
|To: IN%"@cunyvm.cuny.edu:VPIEJ-L@VTVM1.BITNET" "Multiple recipients of list
VPIEJ-L"
|CC:
|Subj: E-Serials as News Services RFC
|
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|Date: 29 Jan 1993 08:01:48 -0500
|From: MICHAEL STRANGELOVE <441495@acadvm1.uottawa.ca>
|Subject: E-Serials as News Services RFC
|Sender:
| "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving, and Access"
| <@cunyvm.cuny.edu:VPIEJ-L@VTVM1.BITNET>
|To: Multiple recipients of list VPIEJ-L <@cunyvm.cuny.edu:VPIEJ-L@VTVM1.BITNET>
|Reply-to:
| "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving, and Access"
| <@cunyvm.cuny.edu:VPIEJ-L@VTVM1.BITNET>
|Message-id: <93Jan29.080754est.9484@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca>
|X-Envelope-to: DWORACZEK@sklib.usask.ca, NELSON@sklib.usask.ca,
| SCOTT@sklib.usask.ca
|Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
|
|The following is from a forthcoming article (draft version), posted
|for comments - Michael Strangelove
|
|Electronic Serials as News Services
|
|A relatively recent development in the history of networked-based e-
|serials is the rise of electronic newsletters that provide news on
|late breaking events around the world. Daily and weekly news e-
|serials span the globe and include such titles as Chile News
|Database, China News Digest, News of the Earth,
|RFE/RL Research Institute Research Bulletin, Somolia News
|Update, and St. Petersburg Business News.
|
|An indication that e-serial news services are coming of age is seen
|in there ability to beat traditional commercial news services in
|providing fast breaking news on world events. Somalia News
|Update, published by Dr. Bernhard Helander, (Department of
|Cultural Anthropology, University of Uppsala, Sweden), provides both
|analysis and commentary on political developments in Somalia. It is
|entirely independent and is not linked to any organization or
|faction. Unlike most other electronic serials it is possible to
|subscribe via fax. The fax edition, however, is restricted to
|organizations, agencies and groups working actively in Somalia.
|
|Dr. Helander relates how Somalia News Update has a widespread
|impact: "During the summer and in the mid autumn (1992), I urged
|people to write to various people in the State Department and in the
|UN urging massive aid to Somalia. During late August so many faxes
|arrived to the United States State Department that they unplugged
|their fax machine!"
|
|Somalia News Update is able to beat the media through an
|extensive electronic network of contacts. "People in the UN system
|in Kenya and Ethiopia receive radio messages from Mogadishu
|Headquarters and forward them to me via the FIDO computer network.
|A message from Addis, (add COUNTRY?) can reach me in Sweden within
|the hour. Recently when all the major bureaus reported that the
|negotiations on Addis were running along smoothly, I knew that was
|not so and wrote about it. Two hours after that issue was published
|Associate Press called me for further details! A contact in Saudi
|wrote about an article in an Arab daily newspaper about how Boutros-
|Ghali had turned down Israeli medical relief to Somalia. I ran that
|story too, and the next day the Israeli radio called me. When I was
|in Africa during the autumn I met with Kenyan based pilots who
|occasionally flew for the UN and they gave me a lot of first hand
|information which I was able to write about. As a result, Somalia
|News Update was first with breaking the story about an outburst
|of fighting in the north in October-November."
|
|This combination of informal contacts connected though computer
|networks and simultaneous fax and e-serial publication demonstrates
|the trend in network-based publishing towards influencing media
|coverage and global political awareness. In its fist ten years, the
|Net has been largely hidden from the surrounding world of politics
|and mass media. The beginning of the 1990's has been characterized
|by growing public awareness of the Internet and the need for national
|computer information "super-highways". Regardless of its apolitical
|charter, it is difficult to see how the Net can remain outside of the
|realm of politics when the simple act of accurate reporting and
|informed analysis has the potential to influence both the global
|media and government policy. It is entirely possible that the
|network-based publishing will evolve into the mass media of
|the next century. This possibility is enhanced by the present ability
|of the Net to transmit sound recordings, photographic images and,
|eventually, motion picture. At the close of 1992 individuals with
|sufficiently sophisticated workstations were able to listen to sound
|recordings of presidential campaign speeches archived and transmitted
|via the Internet.
|
|
|Michael Strangelove
|Department of Religious Studies
|University of Ottawa
|
| BITNET: 441495@Uottawa
| Internet: 441495@Acadvm1.Uottawa.CA
| S-Mail: 177 Waller, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5 CANADA
| Voice: (613) 747-0642
| FAX: (613) 564-6641
|-------------- End of Original Message ----------------|
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1993 15:31:49 EST
Reply-To: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: RBANKS@UWSTOUT.BITNET
Subject: A new library list
Project EASI, Equal Access to Software and Information, has just
started a new electronic discussion list on disability access to
libraries. Dick Banks from U. Wisconsin at Stout will be its
moderator. Anyone wanting to join the list or get further
information about it should contact Dick rbanks@uwstout.edu.
EASI is starting the list to:
1. provide a forum to share questions and answers about how to
make
2. provide a platform from which to reach libraries which are not
yet considering seriously the question of access for users with
disabilities.
3. provide a platform from which to lobby vendors of electronic
library services to create tools that are already highly
accessible.
4. encourage electronic networks and network information services
to make their facilities as accessible as possible to users with
disabilities.
5. create and provide EASI services to assist campus libraries and
information providers with resources to assist them in becoming
more disability accessible.
The print handicapped have the possibility of making ready use
of libraries for the first time. Mobility impaired persons have
the possibility of making use of libraries without travel. It is
important that these new electronic services be built from the
ground up with access awareness rather than having to become
modified later. Please join us in this important task.
Norman Coombs
Chair, Project EASI
Professor of HIstory
Rochester Institute of Technology.
nrcgsh@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
Dick BAnks
easilibxs moderator
Adaptive Technologist
Library Learning Center
University of Wisconsin-Stout
rbanks@uwstout.edu
For information about Project EASI:
easi@educom.bitnet or easi@educom.edu
A project of EDUCOM's Educational Uses of Information Technology
Program (EUIT), EASI provides information and guidance on campus
applications of adaptive computer technology for access to
information resources, instruction, research and employment.
EASI's membership includes professionals from throughout the United
States, Canada and other countries.
</vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l%vtvm1.bitnet@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca></dworaczek@sklib.usask.ca></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></lux@dmrhrz11.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></lib3@uhupvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></tmaletic@phil.indiana.edu></robin@utafll.uta.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></tmaletic@phil.indiana.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></libajw@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></libajw@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu></libajw@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></libajw@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu> </vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></ann@cni.org></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></harnad@princeton.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></librpj@emuvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
</ucjtprs@ucl.ac.uk> </tel></tel></harnad@princeton.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></harnad@princeton.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
__________________________________________________________________
James Powell