VPIEJ-L Discussion Archives
January 1994
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 09:12:33 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: BETTY JOHNSON <johnson@stetson.bitnet>
Subject: Call for Papers - S.E.L.A. Univ. & College Section
CALL FOR PAPERS: The University and College Library Section of
the Southeastern Library Association, is soliciting papers for
its Biennial meeting in Charlotte, N.C., October 25-28, 1994.
Theme: Electronic Information Access and Delivery. The keynote
speaker will be Laverna Saunders, and we seek three papers.
Suggested topics are: Methods of access and delivery; The
library's role in the campus information environment; Service
issues (changes in job descriptions of reference librarians,
support staff, etc.); Collection development and management
issues.
Papers will be juried, and authors will be notified by May 7, 1994.
Oral presentations should be 20-30 minutes. Papers must be submitted
by March 11, 1994. Send papers to and receive additional
information from:
Betty D. Johnson
Associate Director for Technical Services
duPont-Ball Library
Stetson University
DeLand, FL 32720.
Phone: 904-822-7178; FAX: 904-822-7199
E-mail: Johnson@Stetson(Bitnet) or Johnson@SUVAX1.Stetson.edu.
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 07:57:35 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: CONSERLINE
From: WILLIAM C ANDERSON <hawkins@mail.loc.gov>
Subject: CONSERLINE
------------------------------------
AUTHOR: WILLIAM C ANDERSON
------------------------------------
Press release excerpted and forwarded from newjour-l. -- Birdie
----------------------------Original message---------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL:
Jean Hirons, LC, 1-202-707-5947
Liz Bishoff, OCLC, 1-614-761-5173
CHANGES MADE TO CONSER NEWSLETTER
DUBLIN, Ohio, Dec. 30, 1993--The Library of Congress and OCLC
announce name, format, and distribution changes for the
newsletter, _CONSER_, which has provided news of the Cooperative
Online Serials program since 1976.
Effective January 1994, the new newsletter, _CONSERline_, will be
issued only in electronic format. _CONSERline_ will be
transmitted semiannually, in January and June, with additional
issues released as needed to relay information of timely
interest.
Like its predecessor, _CONSERline_ will be a cooperative effort
of the CONSER program and will contain contributions from program
members as well as news of the CONSER program and related serials
cataloging issues.
There is no charge for _CONSERline_. Subscriptions may be
obtained by sending an e-mail message--SUBSCRIBE CONSRLIN,
followed by your name--to: listserv@sun7.loc.gov. Back issues
of _CONSERline_ will be made available through LC Marvel, a
campus-wide information system of the Library of Congress, and
through the listserver.
Topics of interest or suggestions for _CONSERline_ may be
forwarded to the editors: Jean Hirons, serial record division,
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 20540-4160, or Liz
Bishoff, OCLC member services division, OCLC, 6565 Frantz Road,
Dublin, Ohio, 43017-3395.
CONSER, the Cooperative ONline SERials program, is a source of
authoritative bibliographic records and standardized
documentation for cataloging serials. The 18 national and
full-member participants in the CONSER program authenticate
serials records in the CONSER database, which resides in the OCLC
Online Union Catalog. CONSER records are now linked to the
journals cited in 10 reference databases available in The
FirstSearch Catalog and the EPIC service, which assists users in
determining whether the serial titles in which they find
citations are available in their local library or if they need to
place an interlibrary loan or document delivery request. (ND)
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 07:58:15 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: phil-preprints-admin@phil-preprints.L.chiba-u.ac.jp
Subject: Placing a paper on the IPPE
=================================
Time to place a paper on the IPPE
================================= With the beginning of the new year
and the new semester, the rate of submissions to the International
Philosophical Preprint Exchange has climbed dramatically, suggesting
that over the last few months many people have postponed submitting a
paper until quieter times.
This note, then, is a reminder to all these (conjectural) postponers.
If you have a paper you'd like to place on the IPPE, please contact
Carolyn Burke, cburke@nexus.yorku.ca, who will be pleased to assist you.
For the impatient, I attach some notes on how to submit a paper without
assistance.
Richard Reiner, Coordinator
International Philosophical Preprint Exchange
=================
Call for Comments
================= The purpose of a preprint exchange is to provide
the authors of working papers with access to a large number of their
peers world-wide so that their pre-published work can nonetheless
receive the benefits of criticism and commentary. Many of our
submitters have indeed received interesting and useful comments,
although so far these have all been addressed through private email.
At this time, I would like to encourage you to get involved, either by
sending a private comment on some a paper to its author(s) (their email
addresses may be found in the first line of each abstract), or by
submitting a comment or discussion of publishable quality for inclusion
within the IPPE paper directory beside the corresponding preprint. If
you would like to submit a comment, see the attached notes on how to
submit a comment below.
Please note that it is in order to receive feedback on their work that
many of our submitters have placed preprints with the IPPE.
Carolyn L Burke,
International Philosophical Preprint Exchange
===============================
Submitting a paper to the IPPE:
===============================
You can submit papers by ftp or by mail.
1. by ftp:
ftp to Phil-Preprints.L.Chiba-U.ac.jp, cd to pub/submissions, and put
your paper there (full instructions on how to use ftp are available
on the system in the file pub/info/preprints-manual).
2. by email:
mail your paper to phil-preprints-admin@Phil-Preprints.L.Chiba-U.ac.jp.
To make life easier for the coordinators of the service, please
abide by the following guidelines when uploading papers.
If you're uploading a comment, please see the section "Uploading
comments" later in this file.
================
Uploading papers
================
If you're uploading a paper, please include at least the following:
- a short file named e.g. frege.abs, containing an abstract of the
paper in plain ASCII format. Please start your abstract as follows,
with a few lines stating who you are, the title of the paper, and
where you'd like us to store it.
Jane Jones : University of Wisconsin : jones@foo.wisc.edu
The Problem of Universals in Frege's Grundlagen
preprints/Phil_of_Language
< text of the abstract starts here >
- if at all possible, a file named e.g. frege.txt containing the
text of the paper in plain ASCII format.
- the text of the paper in Postscript (in a file named e.g.
frege.ps), SGML/TEI (frege.sgm), and/or in the form in which it was
prepared (frege.wp, frege.tex, etc.).
You may upload these files separately, or all together in a zip, zoo,
tar.Z, or tar.gz file.
==================
Uploading comments
==================
Comments should be in plain ASCII if at all possible, and named e.g.
frege.cmt.
Please start your comment as follows, with a few lines stating who you
are, what paper you're commenting on, and where the paper is stored, as
follows:
Harry Halden : Australian National U. : halden@bar.anu.au
Comment on Jane Jones, The Problem of Universals in Frege's Grundlagen
preprints/Phil_of_Language/Jane_Jones.Frege
< text of the comment starts here >
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you absolutely can't use ftp, you can also submit papers by email
to the address displayed when you logged on. Please remember that
you CANNOT email documents in formats like WordPerfect or Microsoft
Word without uuencoding them first (please ask your local computing
guru for help if you do not know what uuencoding is).
As a last resort, you can mail us your paper on a diskette. Please
format the paper as described above, and mail it to
IPPE
Dept. of Philosophy
Ross S424
York University
4700 Keele St
Toronto, Ontario
M3J 1P3 Canada
========================
Quick Access to the IPPE
========================
By ftp: "ftp Phil-Preprints.L.Chiba-U.ac.jp" or,
"ftp mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu"
By gopher: "gopher apa.oxy.edu" or,
"gopher kasey.umkc.edu"
By email: "mail phil-preprints-Service@Phil-Preprints.L.Chiba-U.ac.jp"
Questions: "mail phil-preprints-Admin@Phil-Preprints.L.Chiba-U.ac.jp"
To upload a paper or comment: see pub/submissions/README
(Copyright remains with the author(s), unless otherwise indicated.)
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 11:22:29 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: Donnice Cochenour <dcochenour@vines.colostate.edu>
Subject: Gopher archives for electronic journals
PLEASE disregard this message if you are not using GOPHER to store and access
electronic journals --
I am interested in determining how libraries who use the GOPHER software are
choosing to make electronic journals available to their patrons. My primary
question is whether the local library is downloading the files to a local
computer or if they are only using GOPHER to point to another remote archive
for these files. If you could take a few minutes to answer the following
5 questions, I would appreciate your assistance.
[Note: these questions have been cross-posted to VPIEJ-L and SERIALST.]
************************************************************************
1) How many electronic journal titles (menu choices) do you have on your
GOPHER server?
# of titles/menu choices ______
2) How many electronic journal titles do you have stored on your local
(institution or library) computer?
# of titles stored locally ______
3) What is the name of your institution?
4) Please give the address and menu path to your electronic journals on
your GOPHER server.
5) If I have other questions about your GOPHER server and electronic
journals, who can I contact?
Thank you for your time. I will summarize for the list if there is
sufficient interest in the question.
***************************************************************************
Donnice Cochenour (303) 491-1821 (voice)
Serials Librarian (303) 491-1195 (fax)
Colorado State University Libraries
Ft.Collins, CO 80523 Internet: dcochenour@vines.colostate.edu
***************************************************************************
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 1994 09:35:15 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: Guedon Jean-Claude <guedon@ere.umontreal.ca>
Subject: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
In-Reply-To: <199401111650.AA16631@condor.CC.UMontreal.CA> from "Donnice
Cochenour" at Jan 11, 94 11:22:29 am
> ************************************************************************
>
> 1) How many electronic journal titles (menu choices) do you have on your
> GOPHER server?
>
> # of titles/menu choices _1_____
>
> 2) How many electronic journal titles do you have stored on your local
> (institution or library) computer?
>
> # of titles stored locally 1______
>
> 3) What is the name of your institution?
>Universite de Montreal
>
> 4) Please give the address and menu path to your electronic journals on
> your GOPHER server.
>Either gopher.umontreal.ca or gopher.litteratures.umontreal.ca 7070.
>
>
> 5) If I have other questions about your GOPHER server and electronic
> journals, who can I contact?
>
Either Guy Basque (basque@ere.umontreal.ca) for the general gopher of
the university, or Christian allegre for the literary gopher
(allegre@ere.umontreal.ca).
I am answering from memory so that minor errors may have crept up
in my responses, but, essentially, for the moment, our university
stores only our own electronic journal (refereed and indexed in MLA)
Surfaces. However, the situation will certainly evolve quickly
as other journals may see the light of day very soon.
>
>
> Thank you for your time. I will summarize for the list if there is
> sufficient interest in the question.
>
> ***************************************************************************
> Donnice Cochenour (303) 491-1821 (voice)
> Serials Librarian (303) 491-1195 (fax)
> Colorado State University Libraries
> Ft.Collins, CO 80523 Internet: dcochenour@vines.colostate.edu
> ***************************************************************************
>
I hope this is useful.
Best,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jean-Claude Guedon Tel. 514-343-6208
Professeur titulaire Fax: 514-343-2211
Departement de litterature comparee Surfaces
Universite de Montreal Tel. 514-343-5683
C.P. 6128, Succursale "A" Fax. 514-343-5684
Montreal, Qc H3C 3J7
Canada guedon@ere.umontreal.ca
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 1994 09:35:32 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>
From: "Charles Bailey, University of Houston" <lib3@uhupvm1.bitnet>
Subject: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
In-Reply-To: Message of Tue,
11 Jan 1994 11:22:29 EST from <dcochenour@vines.colostate.edu>
Having examined library Gophers to determine how the PACS Review is
handled, my impression is that the majority of sites just point to
well-known archives. Unfortunately, these archives may not have
complete holdings of the journal. From the publisher's point of
the view, the solution to this problem seems to be to create your
own Gopher archive and encourage libraries to point to it. This
is what we intend to do for the PACS Review.
Best Regards,
Charles
+------------------------------------------------------------+
| Charles W. Bailey, Jr. Voice: (713) 743-9804 |
| Assistant Director For Systems Fax: (713) 743-9811 |
| 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: Wed, 12 Jan 1994 09:36:06 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: Casey Hill <chill@garnet.msen.com>
Organization: Msen, Inc. -- Ann Arbor, MI (account info: +1 313 998-4562)
Subject: vpiej archived anywhere?
Are copies of discussions from bit.listserv.vpiej-l archived anywhere?
Also: I need info on how to prepare an online magazine. Technical details
like max number of characters per line, any characters NOT to use, is
there a size limit of file that will be placed into a newsgroup, What are
copyright guidelines, that sort of stuff. Can anyone point me the way?
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 1994 09:40:34 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: Casey Hill <chill@garnet.msen.com>
Organization: Msen, Inc. -- Ann Arbor, MI (account info: +1 313 998-4562)
Subject: vpiej archived anywhere?
VPIEJ-L Resources
These resources provide access to the VPIEJ-L list and/or archives of VPIEJ-L
posts. Additional files relevant to electronic journal publishing are
available at the FTP, Gopher, Listserv and WWW sites.
FTP Archive:
The Scholarly Communications Project of Virginia Tech has an anonymous FTP
archive which includes the VPIEJ-L archive, along with many electronic texts
and electronic publishing utilities. To access this site, FTP to
BORG.LIB.VT.EDU and login as userid anonymous. This FTP archive is available
to the Gopher literate through the Gopher at gopher.micro.umn.edu. Select item
5, Internet file server (FTP) sites/, then item 2, Popular FTP Sites via
Gopher/.
Gopher Access:
The FTP archive files are available via a Gopher+ server at borg.lib.vt.edu
port 5070. VPIEJ-L files are in /pub/vpiej-l. Menu items are likely to gain
new names, but this server is now permanent.
Listserv Archive:
There is a listserv archive available at listserv@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu
(listserv@vtvm1 for BITNET) for VPIEJ-L. Send a command as the body of a mail
message to get a current filelist: INDEX VPIEJ-L to listserv. Use the get
command to retrieve items from the archive in a mail message: GET EJ-BIB TXT.
Usenet Gateway:
Subscribers may want to consider reading VPIEJ-L on Usenet. Check with your
system administrator to see if your site receives bit.listserv.vpiej-l. If it
does, you can unsubscribe your email account by sending a SIGNOFF VPIEJ-L
command to listserv@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu. You will still be able to post to the
list by email to vpiej-l@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu. If your site does not carry this
group, please encourage them to add it.
WAIS Source:
The discussion logs for the VPIEJ-L list are searchable via WAIS. The wais
source may be retrieved from the directory-of-servers by searching for VPIEJ-L,
or by FTP to borg.lib.vt.edu in the pub/WAIS/sources directory.
World Wide Web Access:
Point your WWW or Xmosaic client at the Scholarly Communications Project page:
http://borg.lib.vt.edu/ There is a link to a hypertext version of the VPIEJ-L
archives, which are still under construction, but complete. There is also a
link to the Usenet newsgroup bit.listserv.vpiej-l.
-----------------------
VPIEJ-L@VTVM1
VPIEJ-L@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU
bit.listserv.vpiej-l
VPIEJ-L is a discussion list for electronic publishing issues, especially
those related to Scholarly Electronic Journals. Topics for discussion include
SGML, PostScript, and other e-journal formats; as well as software and hardware
considerations for creation of, storage, and access to e-journals. Publishers,
editors, technical staff, programmers, librarians, and end-users are welcome
to join. One goal of the list is to provide better feedback from users to
creators, so we are very interested in receiving and archival issues. This
should give those of us involved in publishing an idea as to what distribution
methods work and how end-users are accessing and using these publications.
Current readers of and contributors to VPIEJ-L have discussed readability
and screen display, copyright, and advertising (noncommercial).
Archives of VPIEJ-L are available. A listing may be retrieved by sending a
command INDEX VPIEJ-L to LISTSERV@VTVM1.
To subscribe, send the following command to LISTSERV@VTVM1 via mail or
interactive message:
SUB VPIEJ-L your_full_name
where "your_full_name" is your name. For example:
SUB VPIEJ-L Joan Doe
Or you may read and post to VPIEJ-L via Usenet in the group
bit.listserv.vpiej-l
Owner: James Powell <jpowell@vtvm1>
James Powell ... Library Automation, University Libraries, VPI&SU
1-4986 ... JPOWELL@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU
... jpowell@borg.lib.vt.edu - NeXTMail welcome here
... Owner of VPIEJ-L, a discussion list for Electronic Journals
Archives: http://borg.lib.vt.edu:80/ gopher://oldborg.lib.vt.edu:70/
file://borg.lib.vt.edu/~ftp
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Are copies of discussions from bit.listserv.vpiej-l archived anywhere?
Also: I need info on how to prepare an online magazine. Technical details
like max number of characters per line, any characters NOT to use, is
there a size limit of file that will be placed into a newsgroup, What are
copyright guidelines, that sort of stuff. Can anyone point me the way?
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 1994 11:14:11 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: James O'Donnell <jod@ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
Subject: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
In-Reply-To: <9401121452.AA17187@mail.sas.upenn.edu> from "Charles Bailey,
University of Houston" at Jan 12, 94 09:35:32 am
I agree with Charles Bailey that publishers are best advised to assure the
integrity of their e-journal archives by maintaining their own and
exhorting all libraries to point to their collection. For the Bryn Mawr
Reviews, the authorized archive is handled by John Price-Wilkin of the
University of Virginia's Alderman Library. There is a clone on the CICNET
gopher server in Michigan, but that clone is regularly at least a few days
behind the times and it worries me to have it out there outside my
supervision. I think we have persuaded most others to give up managing
such clones and simply to point to U.Va.
Jim O'Donnell
Classics, U. of Penn
jod@ccat.sas.upenn.edu
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 1994 11:16:48 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: Howard Pasternack <blips15@brownvm.bitnet>
Subject: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
>Posted on 12 Jan 1994 at 09:34:16 by Charles Bailey, University of Houst
>
>Having examined library Gophers to determine how the PACS Review is
>handled, my impression is that the majority of sites just point to
>well-known archives.
It really is highly inefficient for every gopher site to archive
the journals. However, one of the problems with the current system
of pointing to the well-known archives is that these archives do not
have any contractual or formal arrangement to maintain the archives.
When one is "dependent on the kindness of strangers", one can not
really complain about an archive not being current.
*************************************************************************
Howard Pasternack E-mail: BLIPS15@BROWNVM
Library Systems/Planning Officer Phone: (401) 863-3346
Brown University Library Fax: (401) 863-2753
*************************************************************************
This space is for rent. Cheap. Will subdivide to suit.
*************************************************************************
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 1994 11:20:29 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: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
PSYCOLOQUY seems to be archived in several ways in gopher space. There
is the home ftp archive on princeton.edu which many gopher menu items
point or link too (under listings for electronic journals or the
subject headings Psychology, Biology, Philosophy, etc., including an
excellent link from WWW, and another, I believe, from a .ch site).
There are also several important mirror images of the PSYCOLOQUY
archive (such as CICNet and University of Michigan, but the latter is
unfortunately WOEFULLY out of date, and I hope someone representing
Umich's admirable archiving project reads this and takes steps to
remedy it!), as well as some excellent, innovative restuctured versions
of the archive (such as the one at University of Pennsylvania, which
gathers all articles and comments on a given thread into a directory of
its own -- though this too is lagging a bit behind in updating the
archive).
There are also, alas, "ghosts" of old archives lingering on the Net,
retrieved by veronica searches, but no longer actively updated by their
hosts. These are unfortunate, because a reader might mistake them for
the current archive. I hope there will be a way to exorcise these ghosts,
or to breathe life back into them.
There are also archives that are unreachable, such as Ohio-State,
which used to be one of the best and most current sources
for PSYCOLOQUY.
The best way to get an idea of what's available is to do a veronica or
jughead search on "psycoloquy" (or any other e-journal name).
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Stevan Harnad
Editor, Behavioral & Brain Sciences, PSYCOLOQUY
Cognitive Science Laboratory
Princeton University
221 Nassau Street
Princeton NJ 08544-2093
harnad@princeton.edu
609-921-7771
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 09:07:21 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: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
Distributed archives, providing the reliability of multiple backup and
room for the ingenuity of local structuring and presentation are, I
think, more desirable than just fingers pointing to one unique home
archive. The problem of more frequent updating should be addressed, but
a temporary fix would be for all mirror archives to stamp their
versions with the date of the latest update and a pointer to the home
archive in case more current sources are needed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Stevan Harnad
Editor, Behavioral & Brain Sciences, PSYCOLOQUY
Cognitive Science Laboratory
Princeton University
221 Nassau Street
Princeton NJ 08544-2093
harnad@princeton.edu
609-921-7771
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 09:07:58 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: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
In-Reply-To: Message of Wed, 12 Jan 1994 11:16:48 EST from <blips15@brownvm>
Taking another point of view, libraries should be wary of relying on
the "kindness of publishers" to preserve their information forever.
Just because a Net archive exists today is no guarantee that it will exist
tomorrow. It will take strong institutional commitments to ensure permanent
archives.
Best Regards,
Charles
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 09:08:35 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: "A. Ralph Papakhian" <papakhi@iubvm.bitnet>
Organization: Indiana University Music Library
Subject: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
In-Reply-To: Message of Wed,
12 Jan 1994 11:20:29 EST from <harnad@princeton.edu>
On Wed, 12 Jan 1994 11:20:29 EST Stevan Harnad said:
>PSYCOLOQUY seems to be archived in several ways in gopher space. There
>is the home ftp archive on princeton.edu which many gopher menu items
>point or link too (under listings for electronic journals or the
>subject headings Psychology, Biology, Philosophy, etc., including an
>excellent link from WWW, and another, I believe, from a .ch site).
>
>There are also several important mirror images of the PSYCOLOQUY
>archive (such as CICNet and University of Michigan, but the latter is
>unfortunately WOEFULLY out of date, and I hope someone representing
>Umich's admirable archiving project reads this and takes steps to
>remedy it!), as well as some excellent, innovative restuctured versions
>of the archive (such as the one at University of Pennsylvania, which
>gathers all articles and comments on a given thread into a directory of
>its own -- though this too is lagging a bit behind in updating the
>archive).
>
>There are also, alas, "ghosts" of old archives lingering on the Net,
>retrieved by veronica searches, but no longer actively updated by their
>hosts. These are unfortunate, because a reader might mistake them for
>the current archive. I hope there will be a way to exorcise these ghosts,
>or to breathe life back into them.
>
>There are also archives that are unreachable, such as Ohio-State,
>which used to be one of the best and most current sources
>for PSYCOLOQUY.
>
>The best way to get an idea of what's available is to do a veronica or
>jughead search on "psycoloquy" (or any other e-journal name).
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>Stevan Harnad
>Editor, Behavioral & Brain Sciences, PSYCOLOQUY
>
>Cognitive Science Laboratory
>Princeton University
>221 Nassau Street
>Princeton NJ 08544-2093
>harnad@princeton.edu
>609-921-7771
All of this sounds like what happens to paper journals.
*GO* Cordially, forever more, (and HAPPY NEW YEAR)
*!!* A. Ralph Papakhian, Music Library (Co-Listowner for MLA-L@IUBVM)
*IU* Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405
(812) 855-2970 papakhi@iubvm.bitnet papakhi@iubvm.ucs.indiana.edu
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 09:09:05 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: Martha Tucker <mtucker@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
In-Reply-To: <9401121618.AA14101@tolstoy.u.washington.edu>
What happens if/when commerical journals are published
electronically--who maintains the archive? Traditionally libraries
perform the archiving role. I don't think we can let this role pass to
the commercial sector.
===========================================================================
Martha Tucker Mathematics Research Library, GN-50
mtucker@u.washington.edu University of Washington
(206) 543-7296 Seattle, WA 98195
===========================================================================
On Wed, 12 Jan 1994, Howard Pasternack wrote:
>
> >Posted on 12 Jan 1994 at 09:34:16 by Charles Bailey, University of Houst
> >
> >Having examined library Gophers to determine how the PACS Review is
> >handled, my impression is that the majority of sites just point to
> >well-known archives.
>
> It really is highly inefficient for every gopher site to archive
> the journals. However, one of the problems with the current system
> of pointing to the well-known archives is that these archives do not
> have any contractual or formal arrangement to maintain the archives.
> When one is "dependent on the kindness of strangers", one can not
> really complain about an archive not being current.
>
> *************************************************************************
> Howard Pasternack E-mail: BLIPS15@BROWNVM
> Library Systems/Planning Officer Phone: (401) 863-3346
> Brown University Library Fax: (401) 863-2753
> *************************************************************************
> This space is for rent. Cheap. Will subdivide to suit.
> *************************************************************************
>
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 09:09:51 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: GVG <atgvg@asuacad.bitnet>
Subject: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
In-Reply-To: Message of Wed,
12 Jan 1994 11:20:29 EST from <harnad@princeton.edu>
Let me second Steven Harnard's complaint about the CICNET journal
archives. I have an ejournal gophered there (Education Policy Analysis
Archives) and it is so poorly kapt up by whoever there is responsible
that people get a very bad impression of the journal. (CICNET is six months
behind the times and they have all the issues in one massive file that
anyone would be a fool to retrieve). I have written soemone named
Southworth, I believe, who is supposed to be in charge of things to ask him
to point to my own gopher server that I maintain, and I get no response.
Can someone on this list please give me advice as to what recourse
I have in these circumstances?
-------**********======================================**********--------
GENE V GLASS Glass@ASU.BITNET
College of Education Glass@ASU.EDU
Arizona State University 602-965-2692 Tempe, AZ 85287-2411
"To talk in public, to think in solitude,
to read and to hear, to inquire and to
answer inquiries, that is the business
of a scholar." -- Samuel Johnson
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 09:12:28 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: Erik Jul <jul@oclc.org>
Subject: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
> From: Howard Pasternack <blips15%brownvm.bitnet@vtbit.cc.vt.edu>
> However, one of the problems with the current system
> of pointing to the well-known archives is that these archives do not
> have any contractual or formal arrangement to maintain the archives.
This is a critical problem and one that must be solved before electronic
publication can take its next great leap forward.
While the approach promoted in earlier messages by Charles Bailey and
Jim O'Donnell are sensible and pragmatic for the time, they make sense only
within a scheme of electronic publishing and access to information that, for
*some* applications, is still inadequate and will not well serve the needs
of information producers and users.
Among Gopher's many strengths--providing structured, network access to
distributed information that remains within the control of local
system administrators--lie some of its chiefest limitations, namely, the
informality underlying this approach to networked information.
It is difficult to imagine that, as a society, we would want to commit the
nation's steadily increasing volume of intellectual, artistic, and cultural
output to the keeping of a casual system that is, to quote Mr. Pasternack,
"dependent on the kindness of strangers."
Assured access, authenticity, intergrity, and long-term preservation are
critical if we are to shift, as, in time, we will, to a method of distributing
informtion that is primarily digital.
In the three-dimensional world of real objects, libraries have long served
the nation, its government and its people, by collecting, organizing,
describing, and providing access to a significant percentage of the world's
intellectual and artistic products, and selectively preserving materials of
importance.
The need for these and other similar traditional library services does not
cease simply because the format or method of accessing information changes
from print-on-paper (among others) to electronic, and the need for some
services actually increases because of the volatile and mutable nature of the
medium.
Thus, while a casual network of Gophers may suffice for now, particularly
in the absence of a better alternative, it is my assertion that certain
fundamental problems remain to be addressed, and that among them are
guaranteed access, authenticity, data integrity, and long-term preservation.
I suggest that, for some materials, these functions, in conjunction with
traditional information management services now provided by libraries, may be
better supplied by a third party and not by information producers and
publishers. It is not beyond the scope of my imagination to think that
libraries will evolve to provide their value-added services to include
their electronic holdings (yes, a computer instead of a bookshelf!), and that
other organizations may also evolve to provide assured, long-term access,
data/technology upgrades, authenticity, and data integrity, along with
traditional description and access functions.
For your thoughts, respectfully submitted,
Erik Jul
Project Manager
Consulting Services,
OCLC
jul@oclc.org
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 09:13:09 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: VPIEJ-L <vpiej-l@f33.n125.z1.fidonet.org>
Subject: GASSHO v1 n2
GASSHO
Electronic Journal of DharmaNet International
and the Global Online Sangha
Volume 1, Number 2 ISSN 1072-2971 January/February 1994
=======================================================================
Editor-in-Chief: Barry Kapke dharma@netcom.com or
Fidonet: 1:125/33.0
Copy Editor: John Bullitt john.bullitt@metta.ci.net
Contributing Editor: Charles S. Prebish csp1@psuvm.psu.edu
Board of Advisors: Robert Aitken Roshi Amaro Bhikkhu
Carl Bielefeldt Bhikkhu Bodhi
Thubten Chodron T. Matthew Ciolek
Roger Corless Gangcen Tulku Rinpoche
Maha Ghosananda Joseph Goldstein
Joan Halifax Ayya Khema
Anne C. Klein Jack Kornfield
Jacqueline Mandell Ken McLeod
Andrew Olendzki Charles S. Prebish
Alan Senauke Thanissaro Bhikkhu
others to be announced
========================================================================
GASSHO is a Buddhist newsletter, published by DharmaNet International,
P.O. Box 4951, Berkeley, CA 94704-4951, a not-for-profit organization.
========================================================================
Table of Contents:
{1} EDITORIAL: Message from the Editor
{2} NEWS: Dharamsala Goes E-mailing
{3} DHARMANET NEWS: Dharma Book Transcription Project; Electronic
Growth in 1993
{4} LETTERS
{5} DIALOGUE: The First Precept: Reverence for Life (Thich Nhat Hanh)
{6} ARTICLE: The Greatest Gift (John Bullitt)
{7} ARTICLE: The Academic Study of Buddhism in America: A Current
Analysis (Charles S. Prebish)
{8} ARTICLE: Exploring New Approaches: The Barre Center for Buddhist
Studies (Andrew Olendzki)
{9} ARTICLE: The American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting: 1993
{10} PRACTICE: Nothing Special (Ayya Khema)
{11} CALENDAR: January - March 1994
{12} REVIEWS: "Fundamentalism, Anyone?" (Richard Hayes)
{13} RESOURCES: Publishers - Book, Audio, Video, Electronic
{14} SANGHA: Massachusetts Dharma Centers (USA)
{15} A PARTING THOUGHT
{16} ABOUT GASSHO
=======================================================================
How to Get Electronic Copies of GASSHO:
=======================================================================
Internet users may receive GASSHO by electronic subscription in
Mailing List format. Send an email message to: dharma@netcom.com
asking to subscribe to GASSHO. This is *not* a Listserv.
Back issues are available by anonymous ftp to the Dharma Electronic
Files Archive at FTP.NETCOM.COM (192.100.81.100). Change directory to
/pub/dharma/Gassho/Gassho-01-jan94/
gass0102.zip Compressed version of GASSHO v1n2 (Jan/Feb 94)
gass0102.nws Uncompressed, full-text version of GASSHO v1n2
gassho-01-jan94-01of02.txt Uncompressed version of GASSHO in 2 parts
gassho-01-jan94-02of02.txt Uncompressed version of GASSHO in 2 parts
readme.1st DharmaNet electronic distribution agreement
The first edition is available in /pub/dharma/Gassho/Gassho-01-nov93/
If you have difficulty ftp-ing files from the Dharma Electronic Files
Archive (DEFA) at FTP.NETCOM.COM, remember that capitalization and
spelling counts.
GASSHO is also archived at the Electronic Buddhist Archives at
coombs.anu.edu.au and is available by COOMBSQUEST gopher.
Additionally, these files may be retrieved via "ftpmail" for those
without "anonymous ftp" capability. Send an e-mail message addressed
to "ftpmail@metta.ci.net". In the message body put "GET GASS0102.ZIP"
(current edition) or "GET GASS0101.ZIP" (first edition) or "GET
ALLFILES.LST" (list of all available files). The file will be returned
to you as uuencoded e-mail.
Back issues are also available for dial-up download from DharmaNet
File Distribution Network (DFN) Sites listed below. To become a DFN
site, please contact Barry Kapke at BODY DHARMA ONLINE.
Quarto Mundista BBS, Olympia WA 206-786-9629 Fidonet: 1:352/333
I CAN! BBS, Chicago IL 312-736-7434 Fidonet: 1:115/738
The Magic Bus, Royal Oak MI 313-544-3653 Fidonet: 1:120/418
Santa Cruz Online, Santa Cruz CA 408-458-2528 DharmaNet: 96:105/25
Access to Insight, Barre MA 508-433-5847 DharmaNet: 96:903/1
Sir James BBS, Oakland CA 510-261-6863 Fidonet: 1:161/453
BODY DHARMA ONLINE, Berkeley CA 510-836-4717 Fidonet: 1:125/33
DangFool, Waverly Hall GA 706-582-3238 Fidonet: 1:3613/8
Mysteria, Tujunga CA 818-353-8891 Fidonet: 1:102/943
The Electric Fox, Memphis TN 901-327-1008 Fidonet: 1:123/10
Converse, Raunds UK 44-933-460744 Fidonet: 2:2504/209
DoJo, Lindfield NSW, AUSTRALIA 61-2-416-3547 Fidonet: 3:711/918
GASSHO may also be received through the Fidonet "filebone" by
subscribing to the file area, DN_NEWS. Note: not all filebone hubs
carry the DharmaNet File Distribution Network areas. Please see the
weekly Fidonet file, FILEBONE.NA, for more information. The DharmaNet
file areas are also available via satellite feed through Planet
Connect.
=======================================================================
[end]
--
VPIEJ-L - via FidoNet node 1:125/1
UUCP: ...!uunet!kumr!shelter!33!VPIEJ-L
INTERNET: VPIEJ-L@f33.n125.z1.FIDONET.ORG
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 08:52:17 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: Steve Minton <minton@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov>
Subject: CICNET
I've also been concerned about the situation with CICNET. I'm the
executive editor of JAIR (the Journal of Artifificial Intelligence
Research), and I was notified by Southworth that JAIR would be added
to the collection last September. Since then, we have still not been
added, although JAIR is produced regularly and has a large readership.
My email and phone calls have produced no result. ("They will get to
it eventually".) I suppose I shouldn't mind, since it's really up to
them how they maintain their library....Except that many university
gopher servers (e.g. UMN) have only "Electronic Journal Collection
from CICNET" near the top-level, and if you are a casual user looking
for e-journals, that's all you'll probably find. Since JAIR isn't
there, readers who haven't heard about JAIR already probably won't
find it unless they go wandering around the net (or check out INTERNIC).
I'd be happy just to have a pointer to JAIR.
Although I'm sure the creators of CICNET are well-intentioned, it
seems to me to be more of a disservice than a service to have a poorly
maintained e-library.
- Steve Minton
Minton@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 08:52:39 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: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
> From: GVG <atgvg@asuacad.bitnet> Gene V Glass
>
> Let me second Steven Harnad's complaint about the CICNET journal
> archives. I have an ejournal gophered there (Education Policy Analysis
> Archives) and it is so poorly kept up by whoever there is responsible
> that people get a very bad impression of the journal. (CICNET is six months
> behind the times and they have all the issues in one massive file that
> anyone would be a fool to retrieve). I have written soemone named
> Southworth, I believe, who is supposed to be in charge of things to ask him
> to point to my own gopher server that I maintain, and I get no response.
> Can someone on this list please give me advice as to what recourse
> I have in these circumstances?
>
> GENE V GLASS Glass@ASU.BITNET
> College of Education Glass@ASU.EDU
> Arizona State University 602-965-2692 Tempe, AZ 85287-2411
Three comments: (1) The out-of-date archive I referred to was University
of Michigan's, not CICNet's, which is now up-to-date for PSYCOLOQUY.
(2) CICNet was previously out-of-date, and messages to
Paul Southworth and colleagues eventually remedied the problem.
(3) "Recourse" is probably the wrong concept, because
these archiving efforts are, so far, voluntary and pro bono. I do think
they are in the interests of Universities and Libraries, however (CIC is
a 10 University consortium), and not just of the journals themselves
(which are likewise largeley pro bono initiatives), so some collective
putting of heads together might be in order, to ensure a reliable,
permanent, up-to-date archiving effort.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Stevan Harnad
Editor, Behavioral & Brain Sciences, PSYCOLOQUY
Cognitive Science Laboratory
Princeton University
221 Nassau Street
Princeton NJ 08544-2093
harnad@princeton.edu
609-921-7771
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 08:53:29 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: "Susan B. Jones" <sbjones@mit.edu>
Subject: ACM SIGDOC'94 Call For Papers
SIGDOC '94
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
ACM 1994 SIGDOC Conference;
October 2-4, 1994
The Banff Centre for Conferences
Banff, Alberta, Canada
TECHNICAL COMMUNICATORS AT THE GREAT DIVIDE:
FROM COMPUTING TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
In 1982, SIGDOC held its first meeting. A respectable computer was a
mainframe or perhaps a minicomputer. Microcomputers were just appearing
on the scene. WordStar and VisiCalc were coming into the vocabulary. A
new breed of technical writers was writing third-party manuals to
explain to computer neophytes what the vendor manuals didn't tell.
Twelve years later we convene in a vastly different world --- a
world
in which
* millions of microcomputers, mainframes, minis, and supercomputers of
many different makes and models are expected to work together
* people believe they should be able to use a computer the way they use
their other toys and appliances --- easily
* everyone who can afford a computer may not have the skills to read
about them
* people want more than the keyboard and mouse as primary accesses to
computers
The 80s brought us chunking, usability, ease-of-use, graphical
interface design, user friendly. The 90s' jargon includes
interoperability, device independence, virtual reality, the information
highway, and electronic document distribution.
The 1994 conference theme, "Technical Communicators at the Great
Divide: From Computing to Information Technology," gives us a context to
explore how we fit into this turn-of-the-century world; to talk about
the change and continuity in our roles as documentors of information
technology, and to share our experiences as we stand at a watershed in
our profession.
For more information, send e-mail to sigdoc94@mit.edu.
=============================================================
SUGGESTED TOPICS
Share your thoughts, research, experiences, and practical solutions with
us in Banff. Show off a special skill. Suggest a tutorial. The
following are suggestions to get you thinking.
INTEROPERABILITY
using the networks to collaborate and gather information
distributing documentation and software electronically
helping customers cope with "all the information in the world"
using the Internet to leverage existing resources
making documents available through virtual libraries and the Internet
HELP ON BOARD
producing on-line help
developing multimedia training tools
dealing with the customer's expectations
KEEPING UP
using new adaptive technology tools
providing "documentation" for users of adaptive technology
providing documentation for non-English speaking customers and
non-literate customers
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
using innovative technologies that support authoring, document
management, group work, hypertext design and mapping, networks and
distribution, multimedia, testing, integration of tool sets
CHANGING ROLES
using the Internet for professional development
merging with training and support
joining the GUI design team
PRESENTATION TYPES
Papers
30-minute presentations of a paper by one or more authors
20- to 30-minute presentations of two or three related papers
Panels
discussion involving a moderator and a number of speakers with
audience participation
Tutorials
half-day or full-day workshops
Posters
visual presentations, including text and multimedia demos, of
solutions to documentation/communication problems
PROPOSALS MUST INCLUDE:
PAPERS: A 500- to 1000-word description of the session topic,
outlining the thesis, main points, and implications for the field.
POSTERS: A 200- to 300-word abstract of your poster topic and,
if you plan to do one, multimedia demo.
On a separate page, the name, title, organization, address, and
telephone number of each participant. Please indicate which
participant is the principal contact.
The software discussed and demonstrated in your presentation. The
software should also be available for display at the conference
PLEASE SEND PROPOSALS TO:
SIGDOC '94
c/o Susan B. Jones
MIT 11-321
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
E-mail: sigdoc94@mit.edu
Fax: (617) 253-8665
Tel: (617) 253-0877
The Program Committee must receive all proposals by March 1, 1994. We
will let you know by May 1, 1994, whether or not your proposal is
accepted. Accepted papers and abstracts will appear in the proceedings
(copyright ACM). We must receive an electronic, final copy of your
paper via
e-mail or on diskette by July 15, 1994.
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Chair, Susan B. Jones, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
<sbjones@mit.edu>
Paul Beam, University of Waterloo <pdbeam@watarts.uwaterloo.ca>
John Brockmann, University of Delaware <jbrockma@chopin.udel.edu>
Stanley Dicks, Bellcore <stan2@oscar.ims.bellcore.com>
Phyllis Galt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology <pgalt@mit.edu>
Barbara Mirel, DePaul University <bmirel@pmxpost.depaul.edu>
Ray Siemens, University of British Columbia <siemens@unixg.ubc.ca>
=====================================================
WHERE'S BANFF?
Nestled in the Canadian Rockies, one hour west of Calgary, is Canada's
first National Park - Banff. The park's 2,564 square miles boasts some
of the most spectacular scenery and wildlife in the Rockies. Rolling
foothills, pristine glacial lakes and streams, rugged mountains,
unspoiled evergreen valleys - that's Banff.
Banff offers endless combinations of attractions and activities.
* Walk the trails near the town where you can see bald eagles, elk,
bighorn sheep, deer, coyote, beaver, bison, and even the occasional
bear.
* View the life that thrives on hot mineral waters along the Marsh
Trail.
* Take the Sulphur Mountain Gondola up 7,500 feet for afternoon tea at
the teahouse and a 90-mile view of the Banff townsite and the Bow
Valley.
* Tour the town of Banff in a horse-drawn carriage or on a bicycle, or
see Banff from a helicopter.
* Relax in the steamy waters of the Upper Hot Springs Pool.
In addition to the scenery, the rates are remarkable. The Banff
Centre for Conferences includes three meals and two coffee breaks a day
in their room rates of $106 CDN single and $167 CDN double (includes
meals for two).
TWO CONFERENCES - ONE TRIP!
=== ===
The week preceding SIGDOC '94 is IPCC 94, the IEEE Professional
Communication Society Conference, September 28-30. Its theme is
"Scaling New Heights in Technical Communication."
Contact Pamela Kostur, IPCC 94 General Chair, SaskTel Corporate
Affairs, 2121 Saskatchewan Dr., Regina, S. Sask, Canada S4P 3Y2, Tel.
(306) 777-2894, Fax (306) 522-3718.
------- End of Forwarded Message
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 08:54:24 EST
Reply-To: Paul Southworth <pauls@locust.cic.net>
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: Paul Southworth <pauls@locust.cic.net>
Subject: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
In-Reply-To: <9401131837.AA07778@clarity.Princeton.EDU>
> Three comments: (1) The out-of-date archive I referred to was University
> of Michigan's, not CICNet's, which is now up-to-date for PSYCOLOQUY.
I believe that was the UM library gopher or perhaps SILS; I don't know
offhand who maintains that.
> (2) CICNet was previously out-of-date, and messages to
> Paul Southworth and colleagues eventually remedied the problem.
We had a broken mirror script that I didn't catch until Steven brought it
to my attention.
> (3) "Recourse" is probably the wrong concept, because
> these archiving efforts are, so far, voluntary and pro bono. I do think
> they are in the interests of Universities and Libraries, however (CIC is
> a 10 University consortium), and not just of the journals themselves
> (which are likewise largeley pro bono initiatives), so some collective
> putting of heads together might be in order, to ensure a reliable,
> permanent, up-to-date archiving effort.
Dedicated human resources are definitely the problem -- just not enough
time to do everything. My primary job here at CICNet is Unix system
administration, Netware support and putting together end-user-oriented
dial-up PC networking packages. With about 15% of my appointment
dedicated to archiving, I spend most of that time repairing mirror jobs
as they break and adding new mirror jobs. The things that get left out
are the time-intensive jobs, such as acquisitions from BITNET Listservs,
gopher-only servers that I can't mirror via ftp, and Usenet news. With
the proper tools those would become easier but for now I concentrate on
efforts that yield the most product in the least time.
In the next year I want to obtain reliable tools to mirror gopher
servers, generate a variety of indexes and maintain the mirror jobs in a
more automated fashion. CICNet will be funding those efforts which will
probably end up including hiring a programmer to produce the pieces that
don't exist or can't be done in-house.
I am already working on automation of email-only journal collection and
hope to finish a production-quality system using procmail within a few
months.
Additionally I have been acquiring volunteer help from a small but
growing group of individuals interested in maintaining one or more of the
archive areas. Some of these are journal publishers, others are just
interested in e-journals in general. This year I also hope to obtain
some assistance from Library Science students at CIC schools, although
some of them will have missions apart from the daily chores of archive
maintenance.
Paul
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 08:55:41 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: L Zeredo <l.zeredo@sheffield.ac.uk>
Subject: Publishing with Windows Help
Have you seen the article below, and have you tried the
Software Development Kit (SDK) mentioned there?
---------------------------------------------------------------
extracted from PC Magazine, page 32, ed. no.26, October,
volume 12, number 18, USA version.
Publishing with Windows Help
Flipping through an electronic publication may never be the same as
flipping through a magazine. Take this page, for instance. You can
browse the headlines, or maybe the red graphic down in the corner
catches your eye. Try browsing an electronic publication, and these
visual clues are lost.
One creative solution to developing interactive documents is buit into
Windows itself. The Windows help engine (WINHELP.EXE) is becoming an
attractive mechanism for delivering electronic magazines and
newsletters. It offers graphics, pop-up definitions, and indexed search
capabilities that can turn standard documents into interactive hypertext
files.
To create a Windows help file, you first write the document in Rich Text
Format (most word processor can save RTF) with all the graphics and
hyperlink information. Then you compile the file using the Windows
Help Compiler, which comes with the Windows 3.1 software development
kit (SDK).
You don't need to be a programmer to do this. Several third-party help
authoring tools are now available to simplify the process. WexTech
System's Doc-to-Help (212-949-9595) converts Microsoft Word for Windows
documents into interactive help files. Windows Help Magician from Soft-
ware Interphase (800-542-2742) and Robo-Help from Blue Sky Software
(702-456-6365) also create documents specifically for the Windows help
system. And Microsoft's Multimidia authoring system can spice up
your publication with sound and video.
Now that more tools are available to create help files, publishers are
starting to distribute interactive electronic newsletters. WinOnLine
Review is an electronic monthly magazine distributed worldwide to
major on-line services. Compared to a linear document that permits
only scrolling, this electronic makes finding, reading, and browsing
reviews easy. And unlike print magazines with limited editorial space,
the electronic reviews are rich in graphics ans screen shots.
The benefits of the Windows help file format have not gone unnoticed
by on-line services. ZiffNet now publishes the Monthly Shareware
Review, which offers the latest news, highlights, and advice about
downloadable software, as well as tips from the Solution section of
PC Magazine, both in Windows help format. - Paul Gudelis
Trends plus: The help file discussed here can be found in the Trends
section (LIB 5) of PC Magazine's Editorial forum. Just type
GO ZNT:EDITOR at any ZiffNet or CompuServe prompt. Search on the
keyword "WINHELP".
Luis Zeredo
list-owner of the sis list
general editor of the sis-ejournal list
=========================================================================
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 09:30:53 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: Dirk Herr-Hoyman <hoymand@joe.uwex.edu>
Subject: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
>Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 09:07:21 EST
>From: Stevan Harnad <harnad@princeton.edu>
>Subject: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
>
>Distributed archives, providing the reliability of multiple backup and
>room for the ingenuity of local structuring and presentation are, I
>think, more desirable than just fingers pointing to one unique home
>archive. The problem of more frequent updating should be addressed, but
>a temporary fix would be for all mirror archives to stamp their
>versions with the date of the latest update and a pointer to the home
>archive in case more current sources are needed.
The problem of long term access to e-journals is one that will, IMHO,
require a new model for the publishing/acquisitions process. Stevan has
laid out a new model here that I have seen batted around before, and it is
one I feel has some chance of coming to pass.
Already in the world of FTP archives we see the emergence of what I might
term super-archives. Sites such as wuarchive.wustl.edu and sunsite.unc.edu
that contain not only local material, but mirrors of many other FTP sites.
When I want to find something that I know is available in FTP, I will look
at one of these sites first.
While the discussion here is based on Gopher, it's not hard to generalize
it to other forms of access on the Internet, such as (and especially IMHO)
WWW. There is some work a foot in the IETF (Internet Engineering Task
Force) to create an infrastructure to support this brave, new distributed
access model. The basis is something new called URN or Uniform Resource
Name.
The idea of a URN is similar to an ISSN/ISBN. It is a unique handle for
referring to a resource on the Internet, regardless of where it exists and
how it is accessed. Clearly, this would support the distributed archive
model. Its implementation would require URN servers and cooperation of
publishers in registering URNs for their works.
URNs are not something that will happen overnight, but it is in the works.
I'm not going to predict exactly when this infrastructure might be in place
nor exactly what it will look like, but I would guess that within 5 years
we will see something like it.
=========================================================================
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 09:35:26 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: "Zane Berge, Ph.D." <berge@guvax.bitnet>
Subject: IPCT Journal Announces Gopher Access
ANNOUNCING IPCT JOURNAL AVAILABLE VIA GOPHER
Interpersonal Computing and Technology:
An Electronic Journal for the 21st Century
The publisher and editors of "IPCT: An Electronic Journal for the
21st Century" are pleased to announce that IPCT Journal, including all
back issues, is available via gopher from GUVM.CCF.GEORGETOWN.EDU
(or 141.161.71.1). Point your gopher to this location (port 70) and
select from the top menu, "LISTSERV maintained Files and Notelogs/."
Alternatively, coming in via Gopher menus, from "Other Gopher Sites"
or "International Gopher Networks," follow the menus down: North
America/USA/Washington D.C./Georgetown University/Information
Systems/Listserv maintained Files and Notelogs. (Note: The IPCT-L
Discussion List Notelogs can be found here, too.)
This new option for accessing IPCT Journal will not effect
any person already subscribed to IPCT-L or IPCT-J. Anyone can, if
preferred, subscribe to the IPCT-J@GUVM.GEORGETOWN.EDU list and receive
the Journal via LISTSERV distribution, (see instructions below). The
next issue (v2n1) will be published later this month.
Articles in IPCT Journal are full length (10-20 pages with
notes and bibliography) done in APA format. Published articles
have been rigorously peer-reviewed and include, but are not
limited to, the following topics: use of electronic networks in
the classroom, electronic publishing, use of electronic networks
and information exchange, library applications of electronic
communication, professional relationships carried on via electronic
communication, use of electronic communication in higher education,
business, industry and government and related topics. Articles may
have a humanistic or social science cast. Technological articles are
considered to the extent that they are intelligible to the bulk of the
readers and are not specific to any particular hardware configuration.
Articles can be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief, Gerald
Phillips, GMP3@PSUVM.BITNET or gmp3@psuvm.psu.edu (internet).
TO SUBSCRIBE TO IPCT-J PLEASE FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW:
Send a message in following form to LISTSERV@GUVM or
LISTSERV@GUVM.GEORGETOWN.EDU
To: LISTSERV@GUVM.GEORGETOWN.EDU
-----------------
SUBSCRIBE IPCT-J YOURFIRSTNAME YOURLASTNAME
Regards,
Zane Berge, Publisher
Interpersonal Computing and Technology: An Electronic
Journal for the 21st Century
BERGE@GUVAX.ACC.GEORGETOWN.EDU
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 17:11:47 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: "EDWARD M. (TED) JENNINGS" <jennings@albnyvms.bitnet>
Subject: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
About the (embryonic)) URN: Since it seems to be modeled on the ISSN, the
question "Why not use the ISSN?" comes to mind. There will be documents
(texts? files? spaces?) that are not serials, to be sure, but it would seem
redundant to have two "unique" labels. Perhaps the ISSN plus a time-stamp
would satisfactorily ID "issues." Ted Jennings
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 17:12:43 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 Richardson <mcr@spiff.carleton.ca>
Organization: Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Subject: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
In article <9401141409.AA29193@joe.uwex.edu>,
Dirk Herr-Hoyman <hoymand@joe.uwex.edu> wrote:
>access model. The basis is something new called URN or Uniform Resource
>Name.
>
>The idea of a URN is similar to an ISSN/ISBN. It is a unique handle for
>referring to a resource on the Internet, regardless of where it exists and
>how it is accessed. Clearly, this would support the distributed archive
>model. Its implementation would require URN servers and cooperation of
>publishers in registering URNs for their works.
Just to add one thing: one possible URN format is in fact the ISSN/ISBN.
>URNs are not something that will happen overnight, but it is in the works.
>I'm not going to predict exactly when this infrastructure might be in place
>nor exactly what it will look like, but I would guess that within 5 years
>we will see something like it.
It is going to take some time, and some organization. The essential pieces
of technology all exist. It requires an integration effort, and probably a
second
draft after a prototype has been played with a bit.
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 08:39:04 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: James Powell <jpowell@vtvm1.bitnet>
Subject: Information Technology and Disabilities
Knowing of your concerns for electronic journal, I want to share information on
a new journal that started yesterday. Actually, it was born yesterday but has
been in process for months. Information Technology and Disabilities is planned
to be the journal of record in its field. It juries articles and has an
international editorial board. Its first issue includes an article from
Australia as well as several from the US.
I will send you a copy in the next mailing. I hope you will consider
adding us to our online collection.
Norman Coombs
IT&D V1N1 Table of Contents 230 lines
*********************************************
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND DISABILITIES
ISSN 1073-5127
Volume I, No. 1 January, 1994
*********************************************
Individual _ITD_ articles and departments are archived on the St.
John's University gopher. To access the journal via gopher,
locate the St. John's University (New York) gopher. Select
"Disability and Rehabilitation Resources" and from the next menu,
select "EASI: Equal Access to Software and Information."
_Information Technology and Disabilities_ is an item on the EASI
menu.
To retrieve individual articles and departments by e-mail from the
listserv:
address an e-mail message to:
listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu
leave subject line blank
the message text should include the word "get" followed by the
two word file name; for example:
get itdV01N1 contents
Each article and department has a unique filename; that name is
listed below the article or department in parentheses. Do NOT
include the parentheses with the filename when sending the "get"
command to listserv.
NOTE: ONLY ONE ITEM MAY BE RETRIEVED PER MESSAGE; DO NOT SEND
MULTIPLE GET COMMANDS IN A SINGLE E-MAIL MESSAGE TO LISTSERV.
To receive the journal regularly, send e-mail to
listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu with no subject and either of the following
lines for text:
subscribe itd-toc "Firstname Lastname"
subscribe ITD-JNL "Firstname Lastname"
(ITD-JNL is the entire journal in one e-mail message while ITD-TOC sends
the contents with information on how to obtain specific articles.)
To receive a copy of the author guidelines, send e-mail to:
listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu with no subject and this text:
get author guidelin
*********************************************
ARTICLES
*********************************************
INTRODUCING _INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND DISABILITIES_
(itdV01N1 mcnulty)
Tom McNulty, Editor
*********************************************
BUILDING AN ACCESSIBLE CD-ROM REFERENCE STATION
(itdV01N1 wyatt)
Rochelle Wyatt and Charles Hamilton
ABSTRACT: This case study describes the development of an
accessible CD-ROM workstation at the Washington Library for the
Blind and Physically Handicapped. Included are descriptions of
hardware and software, as well as selected CD-ROM reference
sources. Information is provided on compatibility of individual
CD-ROM products with adaptive technology hardware and software.
*********************************************
DEVELOPMENT OF AN ACCESSIBLE USER INTERFACE FOR PEOPLE WHO
ARE BLIND OR VISION IMPAIRED AS PART OF THE RE-COMPUTERISATION
OF ROYAL BLIND SOCIETY (AUSTRALIA)
(itdV01N1 noonan)
Tim Noonan
ABSTRACT: In 1991, Royal Blind Society (Australia) and Deen
Systems, a Sydney-based software development company, undertook a major
overhaul of RBS information systems intended to enhance
access to RBS client services as well as employment opportunities for
blind and vision impaired RBS staff. This case study outlines the steps
taken and principles followed in the development of a
computer user interface intended for efficient use by blind and
vision impaired individuals.
*********************************************
THE ELECTRONIC REHABILITATION RESOURCE CENTER AT
ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY (NEW YORK)
(itdV01N1 holtzman)
Bob Zenhausern and Mike Holtzman
ABSTRACT: St. John's University in Jamaica, New York, is host to
a number of disability-related network information sources and
services. This article identifies and describes key sources and
services, including Bitnet listservs, or discussion groups, the
UNIBASE system which includes real-time online conferencing, and
other valuable educational and rehabilitation-related network
information sources.
*********************************************
THE CLEARINGHOUSE ON COMPUTER ACCOMMODATION (COCA)
(itdV01N1 brummel)
Susan Brummel and Doug Wakefield
ABSTRACT: Since 1985, COCA has been pioneering information
policies and computer support practices that benefit Federal
employees with disabilities and members of the public with
disabilities. Today, COCA provides a variety of services to
people within and outside Government employment. The ultimate
goal of all COCA's activities is to advance equitable information
environments consistent with non-discriminatory employment and
service delivery goals.
*********************************************
DEPARTMENTS
JOB ACCOMMODATIONS
(itdV01N1 jobs)
Editor: Joe Lazzaro
lazzaro@bix.com
K - 12 EDUCATION
(itdV01N1 k12)
Editor: Anne Pemberton
apembert@vdoe386.vak12ed.edu
LIBRARIES
(itdV01N1 library)
Editor: Ann Neville
neville@emx.cc.utexas.edu
ONLINE INFORMATION AND NETWORKING
(itdV01N1 online)
Editor: Steve Noble
slnobl01@ulkyvm.louisville.edu
CAMPUS COMPUTING
(itdV01N1 campus)
Editor: Daniel Hilton-Chalfen, Ph.D.,
hilton-chalfen@mic.ucla.edu
*********************************************
Copyright (c 1994) by (IT&D) Information Technology and Disabilities.
Authors of individual articles retain all copyrights to said articles,
and their permission is needed to reproduce any individual article. The
rights to the journal as a collection belong to (IT&D) Information
Technology and Disabilities. IT&D encourages any and all electronic
distribution of the journal and permission for such copying is expressly
permitted here so long as it bears no charge beyond possible handling
fees. To reproduce the journal in non-electronic format requires
permission of its board of directors. To do this, contact the editor.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Tom McNulty, New York University
(mcnulty@acfcluster.nyu.edu)
EDITORS
Dick Banks, University of Wisconsin, Stout
Carmela Castorina, UCLA
Daniel Hilton-Chalfen, PhD, UCLA
Norman Coombs, PhD, Rochester Institute of Technology
Joe Lazzaro, Massachusetts Commission for the Blind
Ann Neville, University of Texas, Austin
Steve Noble, Recording for the Blind
Anne L. Pemberton, Nottoway High School, Nottoway, VA
Bob Zenhausern, PhD, St. John's University
EDITORIAL BOARD
Dick Banks, University of Wisconsin, Stout
Carmela Castorina, UCLA
Danny Hilton-Chalfen, PhD, UCLA
Norman Coombs, PhD, Rochester Institute of Technology
Alistair D. N. Edwards, PhD, University of York, UK
Joe Lazzaro, Massachusetts Commission for the Blind
Ann Neville, University of Texas, Austin
Steve Noble, Recording for the Blind
Anne L. Pemberton, Nottoway High School, Nottoway, VA
Lawrence A. Scadden, PhD, National Science Foundation
Bob Zenhausern, PhD, St. John's University
*********************************************
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 09:48:03 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: Janet Fisher <fisher@mitvma.bitnet>
Subject: Re: Gopher archives for electronic journals
In-Reply-To: Message of Thu,
13 Jan 1994 09:09:05 EST from <mtucker@u.washington.edu>
In light of the recent discussions on this list of archiving plans
for electronic journals, I am writing on behalf of MIT Press and the
MIT Libraries to detail our plans for archiving of our new electronic
journal _Chicago Journal of Theoretical Computer Science_.
We have worked closely together to develop archiving plans that we
hope the library community will feel comfortable with. For now we
plan to assure a permanent archive of the journal in the following way:
* Articles will be delivered from the typesetter to MIT Information
Systems in LaTex source; MIT Libraries in Postscript; MIT Press in
both LaTeX and Postscript. In addition, the typesetter will deliver to
the Libraries at the end of each calendar year a Linotronic file of all
articles published.
* The Press will put both LaTex and Postscript on its WAIS server and
will keep articles there for a few years. (The Press additionally
will store the articles in DVI form.) The Press will then move
articles to CD-Rom or some other off-line electronic form.
* MIT Information Systems will store LaTeX source on magnetic tape
and will refresh every 5 years. The tapes will be available for
retrieval (probably within an hour). Copies of the tapes will be
kept off site for security purposes.
* MIT Libraries will print copies from initial Postscript files and
supply paper copies of articles from those prints for the first year.
At the end of each year, they will produce fiche from the Linotronic
file. The Libraries will continue to provide paper copies of articles
on request and, after the Press no longer keeps articles on its
server, will scan fiche to provide dot image electronic copies on
request.
We are also considering the need to provide another archive point
for the LaTeX source files. No decision has been made to date on
that issue.
As the premiere gets closer, we will provide a more general announce-
ment of our plans for the journal to this list and others. If anyone
has comments on these archiving plans, please contact me or Carol
Fleishauer at the MIT Libraries (Fleish@mitvma.mit.edu).
Janet Fisher
MIT Press
Fisher@mitvma.mit.edu
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 13:55:35 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: Frank Quinn <quinn@math.vt.edu>
Subject: final, library elec. publication
A ROLE FOR LIBRARIES IN ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION
Frank Quinn
Mathematics, Virginia Tech
quinn@math.vt.edu
ABSTRACT: This is a proposal for direct involvement of libraries in
the publication of scholarly journals. The issues discussed are money,
standards, copyright and access, and the roles of individuals. The goal
is a managed transition to electronic publication which does not
sacrifice quality and is within current budgetary constraints.
THE PROBLEMS
Journal subscription costs have been rising rapidly and have
absorbed all movable resources in many libraries. Subscriptions are
being cancelled, and access to scholars has been reduced. Even so
shelves are filling rapidly. Knowledge continues to grow, and more
outlets are needed, not fewer. Miraculously, a solution seems at hand:
electronic communication is cheap, fast, and accessible. Electronic
journals seem a wonderful solution: pay less, get more. Unfortunately
serious problems with access, quality control, and financing have
held up development of this medium. The first experimental
offerings by commercial publishers are unattractive in several ways:
they restrict access; some of them shift traditional library functions
(e.g.. archiving) to the publishers; and there are no indications that
they will be much cheaper. At the other extreme preprint data bases
and homebrew journals have sprung up on the network. These are
free, but have problems with stability, quality control, visibility, and
acceptance. It is not at all obvious how these disparate interests and
forces will eventually come together.
One approach to electronic journals is to simply wait and see what
happens. No doubt a satisfactory system will eventually evolve,
much as paper journals evolved. But there are strong motivations for
implementing a consciously designed system, if a satisfactory one can
be found. First, evolution is slow and expensive, and the library crisis
is here now. Second, there are serious concerns that pressures from
preprint databases and electronic journals, on top of financial
problems, will cause a collapse of paper publication before a
replacement is ready. Third, evolution involves trying different
systems and weeding out the ones which don't work. But the failures
will pollute the literature and impose a burden on the scholarly
enterprise at a time when efficiency and effectiveness are more
important than ever.
Finally important features of the current system are simplicity,
credibility, and inertia. Scholars write to high standards and submit
to a relatively rigorous editing and refereeing process because the
options are simple: do that or don't get published; they are used to
the system; and they accept this discipline because they believe
everyone else does, and everybody gains from it. An unmanaged
transition will lose much of this. It will be complex, will have to earn
its own credibility, and will have widely accessible outlets for
substandard work. No doubt some areas will manage to keep high
standards, but many will not, and there will be a net decline in
quality. A key goal in a managed transition is not just to find a
system that works, but also transfer the credibility and acceptance of
the current system to the new one.
THE IDEA
The basic idea is that every research library should publish
electronic scholarly journals. However the terms "publish" and
"journal" need clarification, and "why libraries?" needs an answer.
We give a first pass here, and add detail in the following sections.
First "publish": this would mean permanently maintaining a file of
reviewed and edited papers, freely accessible over the electronic
network. It would also mean managing the editorial structure (see
"Standards") to maintain standards. It need not involve editorial
work, keyboarding, file formatting, etc. These, to the extent they are
done, could be the responsibility of editors and authors.
Next "journal": this is a repository for primary scholarly work. In the
beginning it should look like a paper journal, except for format. Some
additions might be made, for instance attaching to each paper a list
of errata, and forward citations approved by the editor. But at
present real experiments with the electronic medium should be left
to the secondary literature, to preserve the credibility of the process.
This scenario does not address the secondary literature: texts, review
and survey books, encyclopedias, many monographs, etc. The basic
structure for dealing with these does not seem to be in immediate
trouble, so we can afford to let them evolve. Technical issues such as
file standards, formats, and access modes are also not addressed
here. These vary from field to field, and information should be
available from professional societies.
Finally "why libraries?": first, to maintain standards (and credibility)
editors must be accountable to someone. Now they are usually
directly accountable to publishers, and indirectly to librarians who
decide whether or not to subscribe to the journal. Ideally publishers
would continue in this role, but most are unlikely to adopt policies
which would make this possible (see "Money"). So it makes sense for
librarians to move forward a few steps in the quality-control chain.
The other reason is, to quote the bank robber, "that's where the
money is." Most scholarly journals are primarily supported by
library subscriptions, paid from monies earmarked for the support of
scholarly information needs. It is not realistic to expect new sources
of support, nor is it realistic to hope that library subscription budgets
can be shifted elsewhere for this. So research libraries are nearly the
only places professionally managed electronic journals can be
supported.
STANDARDS
The greatest problem is maintanence of standards of correctness and
quality of exposition. Not only ensuring that the material published is
of good quality, but providing ways for readers, authors, and
librarians to be assured of this.
The key to quality is, of course, the editor or editorial board. But it is
not satisfactory to rely on the reputation of the editor as a gauge of
quality. Librarians and readers often do not have information about
reputations. There are not enough people with appropriate
reputations who are willing to do editorial work. And it is unstable: a
change of editors might significantly change the quality of the
journal.
For a journal to have a reputation (and existence) separate from that
of the editor, the editor must be accountable to someone. In this
proposal that person would be a librarian. Files for the journal would
be maintained in the library. This would address important concerns
about security and permanence, but the main point here is that it
provides a mechanism for accountability. In an extreme situation,
analogous to the firing of an editor by a publisher, the librarian could
deny write access to the file.
In most instances librarians do not have the expertese to monitor the
standards of a journal, or even the qualifications of editors. Further,
they would lack the feedback (and discipline) that publishers get
from subscription levels. There are several ways to get expert advice,
and distribute the responsibility for monitoring. One is to have a
"board of trustees" of recognized experts. The editor would serve "at
the pleasure" of the trustees: they appoint new editors and would
have the authority to remove an editor if necessary. Trustees would
meet periodically--say yearly--for a report from the editor and to
review standards and policy. Since trustees would not be directly
involved in editorial work it should be much easier to recruit
eminent trustees than eminent editors. And listing the names of
trustees as well as editors would allow readers to use the trustees'
reputations as guides to quality of the journal.
Another possibility for accountability is that a department could
sponsor a journal: "The Wobegone Journal of Irony, published under
the auspices of the Wobegone University Department of Ironical
Studies, G. Kellor editor." Care should be taken to ensure it is not a
vanity journal for the department. Finally, professional societies
might respond to the electronic confusion by establishing
accreditation boards for journals. This would amount to a partial
centralization of the "trustee" function.
There is actually not much new in this. Editors of commercial
journals are accountable to the publisher, and people often use the
publisher as a guide to quality of the journal. Professional societies
usually have committees of de facto trustees to oversee editors of
society journals. The "trustee" mechanism for ensuring quality and
stability is used by universities and major corporations. And
Universities, physicians, and barbers are subject to accreditation or
licensing. The only novelty is the location of the person to whom the
editor would be accountable.
It should be emphasized that the standards issues of concern here
are correctness, reliability, and quality of exposition. Importance or
interest are not involved. The first reason for this is that boring but
correct and well-exposed work does not damage the integrity of the
literature, and may eventually be useful to someone. The other
reason is that we already have a satisfactory way to grade papers
according to interest: a large array of journals with varying degrees
of specialization and standards of importance. Electronic publication
should preserve this diversity, and not be just one huge database.
What we largely do not have now (particularly in the sciences), and
don't want to have, are large numbers of journals which vary
significantly in two dimensions: standards of correctness as well as
significance.
MONEY
Electronic journals based in libraries would lack most of the obvious
expenses of paper journals: printing, mailing, bookkeeping costs
associated with subscriptions, and publisher profit. Keyboarding costs
can be shifted to authors by requesting submission in standard file
formats, and assessing page charges otherwise. Copyediting can be
abandoned, or reserved for extreme cases. Most editors and
reviewers of scholarly journals are already unpaid. But some
expenses would remain, and there might be new one. If a journal has
trustees it would be appropriate to at least help pay their travel
expenses to meetings with the editors. A reasonable guess is that
costs could be held to about 20% of the current levels.
In support of this guess I would like to relate my own experiences as
editor. In 1991-92 expenses charged to my publisher were
$1,300 for postage and some secretarial support. Postage
costs have declined since then due to a nearly complete change to
electronic mail. During this time 154 papers were processed, and
about 40 accepted for publication. Most authors provided useable
electronic files. Keyboarding services for the remainder were readily
available locally, but I expect offering these services to authors at
cost would have increased the number of author-prepared files to
near 100%. I would have wanted to support the keyboarding of
a few third-world submissions. There was essentially no copyediting:
most rewriting involved technical issues and was done by the author.
In cases of linguistic difficulty it was usually effective to suggest
seeking help from a colleague. This experience leads me to believe I
could have delivered complete electronic files for this journal--
lacking professional polish, to be sure, but completely usable--for
about $2,000.
Many economies are also available to commercial publishers. We
could stay with publishers and avoid this whole scenario if they
would seriously address the cost and access issues. For example by
offering scholarly journals electronically, with liberal use restrictions,
at 25% the current price. Less generous terms would just continue a
process which will lead to the collapse of commercial journal
publication. In some fields this collapse is nearly certain within ten
years, and possible within five.
Expenses of library publication must be borne by the publishing
institution. Attempts to shift them to users will meet with the same
problems of access and collection which make commercial electronic
publication unattractive. Shifting expenses to other
departments in the institution would create conflicts of interest, and
might create vanity presses. Also the money isn't there. But in
research libraries these expenses would not be new, or unrelated to
the mission. These costs are already borne through subscription
charges. It will cost more to publish an electronic journal than to
subscribe to a paper one. But the proper perspective is that each
library-published journal saves the community of research libraries
80%. If a small fraction of subscription budgets were diverted to
direct publication then it would result in a huge increase of easily
accessible material. And movement of a small fraction of existing
journals into libraries would even render cancellations unnecessary
for such a diversion.
COPYRIGHT AND ACCESS
Copyrights are currently used primarily to protect the revenue
stream of publishers. Library-based journals could be much more
relaxed about this. It would make sense to allow the copying of
entire articles, with the original citation, in any medium for any
purpose. Other libraries might want to load them into their own
archives, for instance to speed up searches. Any user should be able
to download and print them. The local copy store or library could
download and print copies for the electronically disadvantaged. They
could be included in specialized reprint collections, and accessible
through commercial databases. In short they should have all the
functionality that preprint databases do. The only remaining
functions of copyrights would seem to be to provide legal recourse in
cases of plagiarism, and to avoid having individual authors
imposing restrictions on access.
Commercial publishers who want to retain a journal presence will
also have to relax about access. For instance back issues over two or
three years old probably should be freely accessible over networks
from any library. There is really not much benefit to "protecting"
back issues, and it would be onerous to libraries and unattractive to
authors and users. The general principle is that functionality must be
as close as possible to that of preprint databases: they are now the
competition.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
If you are a librarian: work toward having someone in the library
(with experience and integrity) designated as the "publisher".
Develop (if you do not have) the ability to access electronic journals
and print out copies as needed. Develop the capacity to securely
maintain on-line journal files. Make known your willingness to take
on electronic journals, but insist on visible quality control through
some mechanism like trustees: do not create a vanity press. Cancel
subscriptions to provide resources for this (this will cause temporary
inconvenience, but is easily justified). And work toward having this
accepted in the library community as a professional responsibility
rather than an option. This is a community problem, and requires a
community response: it will go very slowly if everyone waits for
Harvard to do it all.
If you are a commercial publisher: if you can bring yourself to do it,
slash costs and offer journals electronically with the freest possible
access, at 25% of list price. Offer unprofitable or marginal journals
"free to a good home" in a library. And shift your offerings toward
monographs. The end result of this scenario is that libraries will
service their journal needs with a fraction of the current budget. But
a great deal of this budget was kidnapped from monograph budgets
and would return there if freed. Monograph sales can be expected to
increase substantially, and should be safe well into the next century.
In the short run this scenario offers lower profits than toughing it
out until the collapse. The advantages are control over the
transition and a graceful exit which will minimize damage to the
disciplines you service.
If you are an institutional administrator: encourage your library to
participate vigorously. Encourage your University Press (if you have
one) to transfer its journals to the library. Encourage subscription
cancellations, or provide bridge funding to support these journals
until similar transfers elsewhere generate savings to pay for them.
This transition will help with several very pressing problems
(information access, library budgets and space shortfalls). Vigorous
and concerted action will bring relief rapidly.
If you are an editor: encourage your publisher to participate
voluntarily in this transition. Explore the possibility of moving to a
library. You should be prepared to offer a visible accountability
system, for instance by recruiting eminent scholars or previous
editors to serve as trustees. This will substantially increase the
confidence of authors and readers in a smooth transition.
If you are a scholar: seriously consider publishing your work in a
library-based journal, if you are satisfied an appropriate chain of
accountability is in place. Your work will probably appear more
quickly, and may be far more accessible to most of the profession. If
you are thinking about starting a journal, approach your library (or
someone else's library). But be prepared to address the
accountability issue. And be aware that electronic publication does
not avoid many of the problems of starting a journal. In particular
gaining acceptance and having an impact still requires recruiting
outstanding papers for the first few issues, and establishing high
standards.
SUMMARY
Change is coming, forced by rising production of knowledge and
falling library budgets, and enabled by electronic communication.
Left to itself the transition will be chaotic and damaging. A
controlled transition has been described which would serve the
needs of scholarship within current budgets and without sacrificing
quality. The major features are a shift of primary journal publication
to research libraries, and concentration of commercial publishers on
texts and monographs.
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 11:55:14 EST
Reply-To: mzltov@nwu.edu
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: Herbert Jacob <mzltov@nwu.edu>
Subject: Using Acrobat for preprint archive
I am considering using Acrobat and its portable data format for the Law and
Politics preprint archive (which presently is stumbling along in ASCII). I
realize that distribution of readers is a huge problem, although perhaps
soluble within a defined community of readers (in my case, members of a
couple of scholarly associations). Does anyone have experience with using
Acrobat or presently planning to do so?
Herbert Jacob, Northwestern University
Voice Mail 708 491-2648
e-mail mzltov@nwu.edu
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 10:48:23 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: Jon Schull <schull@softlock.com>
Subject: >A ROLE FOR LIBRARIES IN ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION
re Frank Quinn's essay, >A ROLE FOR LIBRARIES IN ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION
One economic strategy which was virtually designed for this kind of
approach comes from SoftLock Services tools and technologies for
SoftLocking, Selling, and monitoring the distribution of freely-copyable
documents and applications.
With our freely available tools, Library/Publishers could encrypt (for
example) just the bibliographies of their electronic publications in such a
way that they are instantly unlockable with the purchase of SoftLock
Passwords available instantly by telephone or Email. We sell passwords on
the Publisher/Author's behalf, take a modest commission, and pass the rest
on. This service is available NOW, and I'm eager to have it be used to
increase the availabilty and decrease the cost of scholarly communications.
Inquiries welcome, of course.
A 400 line overview of SoftLock Services is available by sending (any)
Email to IntroLong@SoftLock.com.
Jonathan Schull, Ph.D., President, SoftLock Services Inc. Schull@SoftLock.COM
963 East Ave. #1, Rochester, NY 14607-2251 716-242-0348 (voice/fax)
For info about SoftLock Services (400 lines), Email
IntroLong@SoftLock.com
=========================================================================
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 1994 18:50:41 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: Janet Fisher <fisher@mitvma.bitnet>
Subject: Elec Journal from Univ Press
In light of Frank Quinn's recent posting, "A Role for Libraries in
Electronic Publication," it seems like a good time to post an initial
announcement of a new electronic journal forthcoming from MIT Press.
It is tempting to present a counterargument to Mr. Quinn's thesis,
but that will have to wait for either more time or someone else. For
now, I think it will be instructive for members of this list to get
a glimpse of another model that we believe is a positive step in
answering Mr. Quinn's concerns. And it comes from a university press
that understands and participates in the journals business -- MIT Press.
Beginning in late spring (hopefully April) we will begin publishing
a peer-reviewed electronic journal called _Chicago Journal of Theoretical
Computer Science_. With the same attention to peer-review and editorial
quality that the Press applies to its twenty-eight print journals, we
believe this journal will be important to the scholarly community for
several reasons:
* high-quality, backed by standard publisher
* incorporates the advantages of the electronic medium that scholars
need
* gives librarians an electronic publication purchased by standard
subscription procedures, accompanied by liberal use guidelines
consistent with its electronic form of publication, and available
through vendors
* commitment to inclusion in traditional indexing and abstracting
services
* commitment to archiving by agreement with the MIT Libraries and a
back-up archive
We anticipate publishing 15 articles in the first calendar year
(the equivalent of a standard tri-annual publication), and sub-
scriptions will be available for $125 for institutions and $30 for
individuals for a calendar year period. Subscribers will recieve
a notice each time an article is published and instructions on how
to retrieve the article from the Press's FTP site. Because of the
need to transmit math, graphics, and symbols, articles will be
available in LaTeX source (which is ubiquitous in the field of
computer science and, thus, preferred by individuals) and PostScript
(which is preferred by libraries). Hardcopy of articles will be
available from MIT Libraries Document Services Department.
The journal will publish peer reviewed articles describing new
and significant research results in all areas of theoretical
computer science. In addition, articles will have an associated
file called Forward Pointers that will refer to subsequent papers,
results, improvements, etc., that are relevant to it. These
Pointers will change with time as conjectures stated in the paper
are settled or new relevant results are discovered, and insertion
of Forward Pointers will be controlled by the editors. Articles
will also have an associated file of comments which will be
unrefereed, unmoderated, and easily accessible from the article.
The editors are Janos Simon, Michael J. O'Donnell, and Stuart
Kurtz from the Computer Science Department at the University of
Chicago.
Subscribers will be allowed unlimited access to the articles
published during the calendar year. In future years, subscribers
will be able to access the file of articles published before the
current subscription year by paying an additional fee above their
subscription fee. We are considering providing electronic copies
of articles to non-subscribers for a per-article fee.
We are publishing this journal without difficult-to-administer
restrictions with the assumption that librarians and individuals
will be willing to pay for what they use. Having paid a subscription
price, we believe libraries should be able to use the journal in a
way that reflects what they currently do with paper journals and
that recognizes the differences inherent in the electronic medium,
such as:
* store articles electronically on library server and allow local
community to print or download copies
* print out and store articles on library shelves
* print out articles and allow users to take from library
* print out articles and store on reserve if requested by professor
* print out articles and share with other libraries under standard
interlibary loan procedures
* place on campus network for access by local users
* convert to another medium (i.e. microfilm/fiche/CD) for storage
Individual subscribers will be able to:
* store articles on their personal computer
* download and retain a paper copy of the article
* convert the files to another program
* perform reasonable format conversions
As mentioned in a message earlier this week, the journal will
be archived by agreement with the MIT Libraries and Information
Systems department. We will also establish a back-up archive
at another location.
We are anxious to see if a model such as this one is viable.
We believe it has the potential to meet the needs of the scholarly
academic community, librarians, and publishers. Obviously, how
it is received in the market will be the true test. We'll see if
scholars are willing to submit articles to such a publication.
We'll see if enough librarians are willing to buy an electronic
journal to support its cost. (And there are indeed costs.) We'll
see if individuals are willing to support the cost of providing
such publication outlets for their field. (There are no "page"
charges for this journal.)
I welcome any questions or comments you may have about this
publication.
Janet Fisher
Journals Manager
MIT Press
Fisher@mitvma.mit.edu
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 13:52:33 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: Guedon Jean-Claude <guedon@ere.umontreal.ca>
Subject: Re: Elec Journal from Univ Press
In-Reply-To: <199401242148.AA21776@harfang.CC.UMontreal.CA> from "Janet
Fisher" at Jan 23, 94 06:50:41 pm
I read janet Fischer's announcement about ther new journal
and was in agreement with everything she wrote, as it parallels
closely our own approach with Surfaces. The only difference
is that we are not yet backed up by a publisher but we expect
to move into the collection of our own university presses soon.
The only point where I would disagree is the commercial dimension
of the enterprise. Standard subscription procedures may be useful
for librarians used to doing things in a certain way. But I would
advise librarians to look at their procedures more closely. Let me
tell a story. We produce Surfaces elctronically and it is free.
One library from a large, unspecified Canadian university asked
a well-known outfit speacialize din the ordering of journals
to get a *paper* copy of our journal. We told the outfit that we
would have to charge for that service. They said it did not matter.
We asked them to tell us the name of the university and they refused.
We decided then to go ahead, but we found the whole thing absolutely
irrational. Anyone in that library could have freely downloaded all
the articles of Surfaces very quickly. A good printer would have
provided well-formatted pages of our articles in a matter of a couple
of hours at most, I suppose. Then sending this to the binder would have
been child's play. However, routine prevailed and procedures were followed
blindly. Pity!
But going back to the commercial dimension of journals, let me state that
I just don't understand, except in terms of historical tradition, why
texts aiming at increasing knowledge manged to be transformed into
commodities. This is all the more absurd that, with print, the main function
of journals is no longer communication -- pre-prints do that -- but
archiving and legitimizing. Moreover, most learned journals in the
world are subsidized in some fashion. Our argument is that the present
level of subsidies is sufficient to produce and distribute electronic
journals freely (including eduiting, refereeing, etc...). So, let us
keep subsidies about where they are and let us produce electronically,
thus freeing knowledge creation and dissemination from commercial shackles.
The MIT journal also anticipates to publish 15 articles per year in
the first year, but what is the reason for this beside the fact that
this is about the output of a printed journal. Normally, printed
journals limit their printed output because print costs are proportional
to the number of pages being printed (not number of copies, mind you, just
number of pages). But electronic journals are not printed. They are just
stored, which is dirt cheap these days. We store our journal in three formats.
We have two articles available each in a French and English version. In
all of this, the cost is in the preparation of the file, which is editing
cost, but there is no printing cost. For this reason, we also encourage
lengthy book reviews.
So, in summary, the MIT project appears quite interesting, but obviously
it is too constrained by traditional economic visions, which leds me to
think that e-journals had better start alone, finding money where they
can (we used gifts, university support, governmental grants for experiments,
etc...) and, in this fashion they can explore the best way to evolve as
technology swiftly moves along. Once certain forms and solutions appear
stable and viable for a while, than it is time to nogotiate with a
pres of some kind so as to gain the added legitimacy such a cover may give.
But legitimacy commes first from the quality of the authors and of their
texts, and from the ability of the e-journal to be indexed in reputable
bibliographies (such as MLA for us).
Sorry for this long posting, but the matter appears crucial to me. I
also apologize for any gallicism that may have crept into this text as I
wrote it on the fly.
Jean-Claude Guedon
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jean-Claude Guedon Tel. 514-343-6208
Professeur titulaire Fax: 514-343-2211
Departement de litterature comparee Surfaces
Universite de Montreal Tel. 514-343-5683
C.P. 6128, Succursale "A" Fax. 514-343-5684
Montreal, Qc H3C 3J7
Canada guedon@ere.umontreal.ca
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PS. You may check Surfaces at ftp.umontreal.ca in the Surfaces directory.
It is also available through gopher.umontreal.ca in the "litteratures"
sub-entry.
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 08:23:10 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: Re: Elec Journal from Univ Press
I have to second all of Jean-Claude Guedon's thoughtful comments on the
MIT project. In reading about it, I was split between cheering it on,
as another electronic journal to be encouraged, and wondering how the
"real costs" add up to a $125/year subscription. It seemed as if,
again, the trade model was being emulated, but with no good reason. Yes
there are real costs. Let them be recovered up front, as an information
subsidy. Let's not waste our wits on figuring out ways to PREVENT
people from accessing the information once it's been paid for and
provided (as in MIT's fees for past issues, etc.). It had been my
understanding from Mike O'Donnell's preview of the project that the
library "subscriptions" were explicitly regarded as a subsidy to cover
the true costs, and this was the advance agreement; and that the
information itself would then flow freely. But the description Janet
posted sounds more restrictive and, as Jean-Claude points out,
conformed to the paper/trade model in many respects that were at best
arbitrary and at worst at odds with the goal of free flow of esoteric
scholarly information that this new medium is supposed, at last, to make
possible. Bravo to MIT for taking on this forward-looking project, but
DO look forward, not back, in implementing it.
Stevan Harnad
Editor, Behavioral & Brain Sciences, PSYCOLOQUY
Cognitive Science Laboratory
Princeton University
221 Nassau Street
Princeton NJ 08544-2093
harnad@princeton.edu
609-921-7771
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 08:24:05 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 R. Boudreau" <boudreau@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Journals as commodities
A quibble with one point in Jean-Claude Guedon's discussion of electronic
journals:
>But going back to the commercial dimension of journals, let me state that
>I just don't understand, except in terms of historical tradition, why
>texts aiming at increasing knowledge manged to be transformed into
>commodities. This is all the more absurd that, with print, the main function
>of journals is no longer communication -- pre-prints do that -- but
>archiving and legitimizing.
I doubt that all--or even most--of the significant communication of journal
scholarship is accomplished by pre-prints. Every journal article that
appears in print reaches readers who are unknown to the author (and thus
not likely to receive pre-prints) or who do not know of pre-print archives,
if they exist. And pre-prints themselves are not a universal phenomenon: I
have the impression that they are common in the sciences, but I know from
experience that they are not so in the humanities. Add to the danger of
thinking in traditional ways the danger of assuming that all disciplines
are like the ones we know best.
To be sure, printed journals do indeed have important archiving and
legitimizing functions. But they also communicate, and are valuable
commodities for those scholars who can afford to buy them as well as those
who merely benefit from access to them in a nearby library.
--Michael Boudreau
University of Illinois Press
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 13:03:39 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: Janet Fisher <fisher@mitvma.bitnet>
Subject: Re: Elec Journal from Univ Press
In-Reply-To: Message of Wed,
26 Jan 1994 08:23:10 EST from <harnad@princeton.edu>
To clarify a couple of questions that have been raised regarding
our electronic journal project, we are not restricting the number
of articles published to 15 in the first year. That number is
only given in response to questions from the library community in
particular about how much material we anticipate publishing.
When they look at purchasing a journal, the only comparison they can
currently make is to the print world. We have no intention of
limiting the number of articles published. Costs will increase
somewhat as the volume of material increases -- in terms of costs
for formatting and copyediting -- but not to the extent that they
do in the print world. We hope that there will be no need to
increase subscription rates.
Second, "free" electronic journals are not without costs.
Somebody is paying for those journals, and I am afraid for their
ability to continue once the initial bloom is gone and universities
(mostly) move on to other priorities. In print journals, we find
it harder and harder to get support for editors and editorial
offices. I believe this will eventually happen to university-
based electronic journals also, and they will have to look elsewhere
for support. If there is no paying model that works by then, I
fear that many of them will die.
Third, we are not restricting access. We are not passwording
access to the FTP site, encrypting, or anything else to make it
tough for people to get the material. We only ask for people to
pay for what they use, and hope they will do so based on the
honor system. It is important to know how what percentage of
the user community will actually pay for use.
We have budgeted for subscription levels in the first three
years of 200 Institutions and 150 Individuals in 1994; 300
Institutions and 200 Individuals in 1995; and 350 Institutions
and 250 Individuals in 1996. We have projected no income initially
in traditional categories such as back issue sales, list rental,
offprints, and advertising. Production expenses are predominantly
in initial macro development for formatting electronic text files
received from authors; clean-up of text (plant cost, what used
to be called "typesetting"); and copyediting. Marketing expenses
are approximately half of what we usually spend to launch a
journal, but are still substantial. Under our current budget
we reach break-even in the third year, with substantial losses
in the first and second year. We hope our initial projections
of subscription levels are too low, and the rates can be adjusted
if the paying market turns out to be larger than we thought.
I strongly believe that it is in the best interests of the
academic community to develop a self-supporting model for
electronic journal publication. Many truly valuable and needed
journals will not have the ability to fund their costs from
subsidies from other institutions and associations. And those
that currently receive such subsidies may not receive them
forever, given the shifting priorities and resources of their
sponsors. And we will see little movement to shift paper
journals to electronic form -- where they could of more
value to the academic community -- unless a paying market
is shown to exist for electronic journals.
Janet Fisher
MIT Press
P.S. Stevan, our initial idea for raising support for the
journal expenses by finding 300 "library sponsors" didn't turn
out to be workable in actual practice. I'd be happy to explain
this to you further if you give me a call.
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 13:03:56 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: Re: Journals as commodities
Michael Boudreau is right that there is a great divide between
the preprint and the published literature, and that divide is peer
review. And it is also true that preprints cannot in general
be relied upon, and would become even less reliable if most of them
were not destined to pass through the filter of peer review. And it is
not archiving but the quality control vouchsafed by peer review that is
the essential function of publication, whether paper or electronic. But
even so, Jean-Claude Guedon's conclusion is valid: That the trade model
is the wrong one for scholarly and scientific information. (Besides, as
legions of loyal peer reviewers -- which is to say, the scholarly
community itself, ourselves, and, incidentally, the same population
that is both the producer and consumer of the scholarly literature --
will tell you, our services are and always have been free. So they are
not part of any "real cost" that must be recovered (see Harnad 1994,
below).
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Stevan Harnad
Editor, Behavioral & Brain Sciences, PSYCOLOQUY
Cognitive Science Laboratory
Princeton University
221 Nassau Street
Princeton NJ 08544-2093
harnad@princeton.edu
609-921-7771
The following file is retrievable from directory pub/harnad/Harnad on
host princeton.edu (citation is followed by FILENAME and ABSTRACT):
Harnad, S. (1994) Implementing Peer Review on the Net:
Scientific Quality Control in Scholarly Electronic Journals. Proceedings
of International Conference on Refereed Electronic Journals: Towards
a Consortium for Networked Publications. University of Manitoba,
Winnipeg 1-2 October 1993 (in press)
FILENAME: harnad94.peer.review
ABSTRACT: Electronic networks have made it possible for scholarly
periodical publishing to shift from a trade model, in which the author
sells his words through the mediation of the expensive and inefficient
technology of paper, to a collaborative model, in which the much lower
real costs and much broader reach of purely electronic publication are
subsidized in advance, by universities, libraries, and the scholarly
societies in each specialty. To take advantage of this, paper
publishing's traditional quality control mechanism, peer review, will
have to be implemented on the Net, thereby recreating the hierarchies
of journals that allow authors, readers, and promotion committees to
calibrate their judgments rationally -- or as rationally as traditional
peer review ever allowed them to do it. The Net also offers the
possibility of implementing peer review more efficiently and equitably,
and of supplementing it with what is the Net's real revolutionary
dimension: interactive publication in the form of open peer commentary
on published work. Most of this "scholarly skywriting" likewise needs
to be constrained by peer review, but there is room on the Net for
unrefereed discussion too, both in high-level peer discussion forums to
which only qualified specialists in a given field have read/write
access and in the general electronic vanity press.
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 13:04:31 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: Guedon Jean-Claude <guedon@ere.umontreal.ca>
Subject: Re: Journals as commodities
In-Reply-To: <199401261334.AA17817@condor.CC.UMontreal.CA> from "Michael R.
Boudreau" at Jan 26, 94 08:24:05 am
> I doubt that all--or even most--of the significant communication of journal
> scholarship is accomplished by pre-prints. Every journal article that
> appears in print reaches readers who are unknown to the author (and thus
> not likely to receive pre-prints) or who do not know of pre-print archives,
> if they exist. And pre-prints themselves are not a universal phenomenon: I
> have the impression that they are common in the sciences, but I know from
> experience that they are not so in the humanities. Add to the danger of
> thinking in traditional ways the danger of assuming that all disciplines
> are like the ones we know best.
>
> To be sure, printed journals do indeed have important archiving and
> legitimizing functions. But they also communicate, and are valuable
> commodities for those scholars who can afford to buy them as well as those
> who merely benefit from access to them in a nearby library.
>
> --Michael Boudreau
> University of Illinois Press
>
I agree with Michael Boudreau's comment that disciplines do not all work
in the same way, even though the pull of the scientific ethos is gradually
invading all the disciplines. And I was quite aware of this problem as I
was writing (I have not been trained in the history of science for nothing :-) )
But I would argue that the function of most printed journals is archival
rather than communicational, the possible exception being those journals
with very strong ties to a learned society (e.g. Isis for the history of
science, and also the official journal of the History of Science Society)
or with a very strong visibility (i.e. those journals that are in the
top 100 most cited or most consulted journals).
In the case of the humanities, one must take into account the lag between
submission date and publication date, which can easily reach three years
and is rarely less than a year. To speak of communication with a one-year
lag, and a fortiori, with a three-year delay, is to give a much broader
meaning to this word than I am prepared to do. And although preprints
are far more common in the hard sciences, specialists of a well-defined
field (e.g. the Encyclopedie or Cromwell or Naturphilosophie in Schelling
or whatever) know each other as well as specialists of some protein structure
in chemistry and do communicate regularly by mail, telephone and regular
meetings through congresses so as to keep ahead of current research, as
it is soewhat ahead of the published front. In fact, this is the most
important discovery one makes in grad school: having done the library
homework is only the beginning. Then begins the really hard part: the yet
unpublished, yet already established results in one's specialty. This
correlates, incidentally, with the institutional prestige of universities,
as the more prestigious a university is, the more people tend to try and speak
in it and, as a result, you hear the latest. By contrast, someone in a
not so prestigious university, even though it may have a decent library
and a good inter-library system, will have a tougher time keeping in touch.
And this is as true of the humanities as of the sciences, even though the
pace of the humanities may be more leisurely.
This said, of course, articles that are printed will reach readers unknown
to the author, but it may well be 5 or 10 years down the line, and,
once more, I call that an effect of archiving, not of communicating.
Jean-Claude Guedon
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jean-Claude Guedon Tel. 514-343-6208
Professeur titulaire Fax: 514-343-2211
Departement de litterature comparee Surfaces
Universite de Montreal Tel. 514-343-5683
C.P. 6128, Succursale "A" Fax. 514-343-5684
Montreal, Qc H3C 3J7
Canada guedon@ere.umontreal.ca
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 20:09:28 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: Rich Wiggins <wiggins@msu.bitnet>
Subject: Re: Journals as commodities
In-Reply-To: Message of Wed,
26 Jan 1994 08:24:05 EST from <boudreau@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
>I doubt that all--or even most--of the significant communication of journal
>scholarship is accomplished by pre-prints. Every journal article that
>appears in print reaches readers who are unknown to the author (and thus
>not likely to receive pre-prints) or who do not know of pre-print archives,
>if they exist. And pre-prints themselves are not a universal phenomenon: I
>have the impression that they are common in the sciences, but I know from
>experience that they are not so in the humanities. Add to the danger of
>thinking in traditional ways the danger of assuming that all disciplines
>are like the ones we know best.
This certainly does vary by discipline today. In the physics community
there is considerable reliance on preprints. The temporary shutdown
of the major physics preprint archive resulted in a major hue and cry.
And that's the story as of today, when understanding of how to fetch
and display items from the archive is admittedly not universal, and
when our tools are crude.
But the tools are advancing rapidly, so I wouldn't gauge the level of
reliance on preprints as a primary mode of distribution on today's
"market penetration" regardless of what field you are discussing.
Print still has advantages over online delivery, and print journals
certainly aren't dead, but a lot of serious reading does take place
over the Internet, whether via preprint archives or informal passing
of articles back and forth.
/Rich Wiggins, CWIS Coordinator, Michigan State U
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 1994 08:58:24 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: "Tom Bayston Jr." <ind00007@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu>
Subject: Re: Journals as commodities
In-Reply-To: <199401271820.AA25407@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu>
Disks are for data
Paper is for bathrooms
*%*%*%*%*
Tom Bayston Jr.
Editor, UCF.CUG E-News
UCF Computer Users Group
University of Central Florida
bayston@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu
*%*%*%*%*
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 08:31:19 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: Avi Hyman <ahyman@porpoise.oise.on.ca>
Subject: JEWISH STUDIES JUDAICA eJOURNAL
All welcome as subscribers.
JEWISH STUDIES JUDAICA eJOURNAL is the world's
largest on-line journal devoted to on-going research
and current events in Jewish Studies.
The JSJeJ is distributed free on a monthly basis and
contains short articles, book reviews, collaboration
requests, job postings, and conference calls. We give
special attention to the submissions of our 1000+
subscribers.
Available by automatic subscription via listserv, the
JSJeJ is also available by FTP and GOPHER. The JSJeJ
is published by the Israel Project of the New York
State Educational Research and the H-Net Project
of the University of Illinois Chicago.
For subscription information, contact one of our two
email addresses:
JEWSTUDIES@israel.nysernet.org
or H-JUDAIC@uicvm.uic.edu
Editor: A.J. Hyman, (ajhyman@oise.on.ca)
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 08:31:46 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: JF Rowland <j.f.rowland@lut.ac.uk>
Subject: Recent discussions
As a recent recruit to the VPIEJ-L list I have found the recent
debates involving Harnad, Quinn, Fisher, Guedon, Boudreau and
others fascinating. My perspective is that of someone who
trained as an information scientist, has worked for most of the
last 25 years for not-for-profit learned-society publishers, and
is now a research fellow in electronic publishing in a university
information & library studies department. My impression is that
much of this debate actually has little to do with the paper
versus electronic issue. It is in fact quite an old controversy
that predates the computer, and reflects the animosities that
often exist between academics, librarians and publishers -- with
the publishers being, on the whole, the people that everyone else
loves to hate.
Academics have long wanted to control their own publication
system, and initially did so. Scholarly journals were edited by
academics in their spare time and published by university presses
or learned societies. If any full-time staff worked on them,
they were relatively low-status people very much in an "editorial
assistant" position. Nor, indeed, did academics hold librarians
in very much higher esteem, and although today academic librarians
usually do formally have academic-related status, they and
their skills still are not always respected by academics. The
substantial departmental library at one of Britain's most
prestigious university departments -- the Cavendish Laboratory
in Cambridge -- for example employs no qualified library staff
at all, not even a paraprofessional; the physicists run it
themselves. I believe that there is a romantic idea that if only
academics did the whole job themselves, like they did in some
golden era in the past, then scholarly communication would be
quicker, cheaper and more effective than it is with these various
professional intermediaries -- publishers, subscription agents,
librarians -- involved.
Why, then, did the golden age pass away? Was it just because of
all this slow and messy business of putting ink on to paper? I
believe that the major reason why professionals came into the
picture was because of the sheer quantity of scholarly material
being published -- that is, because of the growth of the
scholarly community producing papers. A university library of
a million volumes has to have a staff of professional librarians.
And while a journal publishing 15 papers a year could be run on
an "amateur" basis, one publishing 1500 papers a year cannot,
regardless of the medium it is published in. The sheer
administrative load of organizing the input, refereeing,
coyediting, formatting, and distribution of that many documents
(including the ones that get rejected, which generate work too)
requires full-time staff. And since these people have to eat,
they need a salary. Contrary to what some participants in this
debate have alleged, it is this area of "first-copy cost" that
is responsible for most of the cover price of a journal, not the
paper, printing, binding and postage costs. Yes, a purely
electronic journal is inherently somewhat cheaper than a paper
one; but not a tiny fraction of the price.
There is also the question of subsidy -- an emotive word. I prefer
to put it that the costs of running a high-quality scholarly
communication system have to be covered from somewhere. Traditionally,
one major route by which universities subsidized scholarly publication
was by giving their libraries funds to buy journals. Controversy
arose because commercial publishers, from the 1940s onwards and led by
the unlamented Robert Maxwell, realized that there was scope for
making lots of profit here. However, not-for-profit publishers --
university presses and learned societies -- have a big presence in the
scholarly publishing field and cannot be criticized for excessive
profit-taking. The main cost is simply the pay of the people who do
the work. Of course, these people can be (and in the case of the
presently free electronic journals on the Internet, presumably are)
subsidized in a different way, by the university that originates the
journal paying for them. But, as Janet Fisher says, for how long? And
for how long will the network itself be entirely free of charge at the
point of use to the academic community, anyway?
Another question -- raised by Frank Quinn -- is how much of the
work done by journal staff needs doing at all. Is copyediting
necessary? The existing network journals are of necessity put
out in straight ASCII text for the most part, while paper
journals that are being experimentally offered in dual form
(paper and electronic) acquire their page-image bitmaps by
scanning the printed pages. The craft knowledge of typographers,
graphic designers and even the despised copyeditors is not
negligible. They all serve to turn a crude, possibly unreadable
manuscript into a publishable paper. What an advance it was when
GUIs like Windows replaced purely textual DOS screens -- a great
increase in user-friendliness. In the same way, a pleasingly
designed and laid out printed page, written in correct and
readable English, is more user-friendly than a typescript
(however scientifically correct) in poor English. So even if no
printed edition is published, I believe that the requirement for
quality will mean that some copyediting and design work will need
to be done by someone.
I case it is felt that I am a pure Luddite, let me finally say
that I do believe that the networks have transformed informal
academic communication beyond all recognition, and in particular
have democratized the invisible college. Whereas in the past
only those who actually received the personal letters or phone
calls, or who could afford to attend the international
conferences, were admitted to the invisible college, now anyone
anywhere can join discussion lists or computer conferences or
look at bulletin boards. This must be an improvement. And
formal communication should certainly be quicker -- the three-
year delays cited by Jean-Claude Guedon are of course
unacceptable -- and somewhat cheaper. The additional features
available online, most notably the abaility to append open peer
commentary to papers, as mentioned by Stevan Harnad, are very
valuable too, and when the supernetworks come along we will be
able to add multimedia features to papers. But we should not kid
ourselves that this will all happen at no cost and without
specialist staff.
Fytton Rowland, Research Fellow,
Department of Information & Library Studies,
Loughborough University of Technology,
Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK.
Phone +44 509 223057 Fax +44 509 223053
E-mail J.F.Rowland@lut.ac.uk
.
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 08:34:04 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: Guedon Jean-Claude <guedon@ere.umontreal.ca>
Subject: Re: Journals as commodities
In-Reply-To: <199401281405.AA16522@condor.CC.UMontreal.CA> from "Tom Bayston
Jr." at Jan 28, 94 08:58:24 am
>
> Disks are for data
> Paper is for bathrooms
>
> *%*%*%*%*
>
> Tom Bayston Jr.
> Editor, UCF.CUG E-News
> UCF Computer Users Group
> University of Central Florida
> bayston@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu
>
> *%*%*%*%*
>
Would you mind elaborating your argument a little... As it is,
it looks more like a slogan and I am sure you are well beyond
sloganeering.
Best,
Jean-Claude Guedon
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 08:34:59 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: Mark Crotteau <crotteau@wsuvm1.bitnet>
Subject: Update on Scholarly Communications at ALA Midwinter
UPDATE ON SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATIONS
The ALCTS Scholarly Communications Committee invites all ALA Midwinter
attendees to join the committee at their annual Midwinter Reporting Session
to hear presentations on some of the most active and exciting projects
currently affecting scholarly communications processes. The reporting session
will be held on Monday, February 7, 1994 from 2-4 PM in room 511C of the
LACC. This reporting session will immediately follow the ALCTS Scholarly
Communications Committee business meeting.
Reports will be given on:
1. The American Mathematical Society's Electronic Publications program. This
update on the AMS's groundbreaking work in electronic publishing will be given
by David Rodgers, Director of Electronic Publishing, AMS.
2. Project JANUS (Columbia University)...images, full text and natural
language retrieval. The report will be given by Willem Scholten, Chief
Scientist, Future InfoSystems, Inc.
3. Britannica Instant Research System...a new electronic product of
Encyclopaedia Britannica. This report will be given by Joseph Esposito,
President of Encyclopaedia Britannica, North America.
4. Project TULIP update. TULIP, Elsevier's image based journal distribution
project, is reaching the implementation stage. Karen Hunter, Vice President
and Assistant to the President of Elsevier Science will discuss current
implementation and plans for the future.
Each report will consist of a 15-20 minute presentation with 10-15 minutes
for questions from the audience.
Should you misplace this announcement, just remember ALCTS and Scholarly
Communications...We're in the Program.
Please feel free to forward this announcement.
Submitted for committee chair Paul Kobulnicky (e-mail address: KNICKY@vms.
cis.pitt.edu) by Mark Crotteau (intern), ALCTS Scholarly Communications
Committee.
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 08:38:02 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: PACS News & PACS Review Gopher Archive
The University of Houston Libraries have established a Gopher
archive for their electronic publications. Access directions
follow.
I. Public-Access Computer Systems News
A. Gopher Server Link
Name=Public-Access Computer Systems News
Type=1
Port=70
Path=1/articles/e-journals/uhlibrary/pacsnews
Host=info.lib.uh.edu
B. Gopher Client Access
Point your client at info.lib.uh.edu, port 70, and follow
this menu path:
3. Looking for Articles
3. Electronic Journals
6. University of Houston Libraries E-Journals
1. Public-Access Computer Systems News
II. The Public-Access Computer Systems Review
A. Gopher Server Link
Name=The Public-Access Computer Systems Review
Type=1
Port=70
Path=1/articles/e-journals/uhlibrary/pacsreview
Host=info.lib.uh.edu
B. Gopher Client Access
Point your client at info.lib.uh.edu, port 70, and follow
this menu path:
3. Looking for Articles
3. Electronic Journals
6. University of Houston Libraries E-Journals
2. The Public-Access Computer Systems
Review
Best Regards,
Charles
+------------------------------------------------------------+
| Charles W. Bailey, Jr. Voice: (713) 743-9804 |
| Assistant Director For Systems Fax: (713) 743-9811 |
| 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: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 08:38:31 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: "Julio G. Dix" <julio@thales.math.swt.edu>
Subject: Electronic J. Diff. Eqns.
ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS (EJDE)
Mathematicians at Southwest Texas State University and
at the University of North Texas have collaborated to
establish a new journal, the ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS (EJDE). The EJDE is a strictly
electronic journal dealing with all aspects of differential
equations. Articles will be submitted as TeX files, sent to
referees electronically, and then disseminated electronically,
free of charge.
Although the time between submission and dissemination
will be greatly reduced, only original research of high
quality will be accepted. Each article will be subject to as
rigid a peer review process as is applied by the finest of
today's printed journals. The EJDE is calling for papers
now. There are no page charges.
The EJDE can be accessed via ftp (login: ftp), gopher, and
telnet (login: ejde) to "ejde.math.swt.edu" or to
"ejde.math.unt.edu". Examples illustrating these options are:
1. "telnet ejde.math.swt.edu", login: "ejde" . (It may be
necessary to set your terminal to emulate a VT100.)
2. "telnet e-math.ams.com", login: "e-math", password: "e-math",
select "Mathematical Publications", then "Other Mathematical
Publications", and then "Electronic Journal of Differential
Equations".
3. "ftp ejde.math.swt.edu", login: "ftp", and "cd pub".
4. Provided that the gopher-client software is loaded on the
reader's computer."gopher ejde.math.swt.edu".
Readers can transfer the TeX and Postscript files to
their own computers and then read them or print hard copies.
Copyrights are transferred to and are property of the
publisher, who allows making multiple copies of articles as long as
they are not sold.
A free subscription to the abstracts of new articles in
the EJDE is available by sending an e-mail message to
"subs@ejde.math.swt.edu". Suggestions and comments should be sent
to "editor@ejde.math.unt.edu" or to "editor@ejde.math.swt.edu".
Identical copies of the EJDE will be originated and
maintained at Southwest Texas State University and at the
University of North Texas. For posterity and for interlibrary
loan, a hard copy exists in the libraries at both institutions,
and at the Library of Congress under ISSN 1072-6691.
The Managing Editors of EJDE are Alfonso Castro, Julio
Dix, Gregory Passty, and Ricardo Torrejon. The Editorial
Board consists of
P. Bates (Brigham Young University)
A. Bloch (Ohio State University)
J. Bona (Pennsylvania State University)
K. J. Brown (Heriot-Watt University)
L. Caffarelli (Institute for Advanced Study)
C. Castillo-Chavez (Cornell)
C. Chui (Texas A & M University)
M. Crandall (University of California at Santa Barbara)
E. Di Benedetto (Northwestern University)
G. B. Ermentrout (University of Pittsburgh)
J. Escobar (Indiana University)
L. C. Evans (University of California at Berkeley)
J. Goldstein (Louisiana State University)
C. Groetsch (University of Cincinnati)
I. Herbst (University of Virginia)
C. Kenig (University of Chicago)
R. Kohn (Courant Institute)
A. Lazer (University of Miami)
J. Neuberger (University of North Texas)
P. H. Rabinowitz (University of Wisconsin)
R. Shivaji (Mississippi State University)
R. Showalter (University of Texas)
H. Smith (Arizona State University)
P. Souganidis (University of Wisconsin)
N. Walkington (Carnegie-Mellon University)
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 13:10:42 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: Guedon Jean-Claude <guedon@ere.umontreal.ca>
Subject: Re: Recent discussions
In-Reply-To: <199401311343.AA04026@condor.CC.UMontreal.CA> from "JF Rowland"
at Jan 31, 94 08:31:46 am
> Academics have long wanted to control their own publication
> system, and initially did so. Scholarly journals were edited by
> academics in their spare time and published by university presses
> or learned societies.
I believe the situation is quite a bit more complex than that as the two
first journals to be named in any history of periodicals are the
Journal des scavans in Paris, followed three months later by the
Transactions of the Royal Society in London. On this whole historical
question, I would refer everyone to the book edited by A. J. Meadows,
Development of Science Publishing in Europe (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1980).
> I believe that there is a romantic idea that if only
> academics did the whole job themselves, like they did in some
> golden era in the past, then scholarly communication would be
> quicker, cheaper and more effective than it is with these various
> professional intermediaries -- publishers, subscription agents,
> librarians -- involved.
I believe the problem is somewhat obfuscated by assimilating professionalism
with commercialism. What I object to is commercialism applied to
research texts, and not professionalism which, on the contrary, I highly
value. One should not confuse snobbery with relocating the production,
storage and diffusion of research texts outside market forces. And
in the list of professionals above, only subscription agents may find
their role threatened by a shift to essentially free, electronically-
conveyed scientific information.
>
> Why, then, did the golden age pass away? Was it just because of
> all this slow and messy business of putting ink on to paper? I
> believe that the major reason why professionals came into the
> picture was because of the sheer quantity of scholarly material
> being published -- that is, because of the growth of the
> scholarly community producing papers. A university library of
> a million volumes has to have a staff of professional librarians.
> And while a journal publishing 15 papers a year could be run on
> an "amateur" basis, one publishing 1500 papers a year cannot,
> regardless of the medium it is published in. The sheer
> administrative load of organizing the input, refereeing,
> coyediting, formatting, and distribution of that many documents
> (including the ones that get rejected, which generate work too)
> requires full-time staff. And since these people have to eat,
> they need a salary. Contrary to what some participants in this
> debate have alleged, it is this area of "first-copy cost" that
> is responsible for most of the cover price of a journal, not the
> paper, printing, binding and postage costs. Yes, a purely
> electronic journal is inherently somewhat cheaper than a paper
> one; but not a tiny fraction of the price.
>
Again, professionals must not be confused with commercial types.
As for the cost of the first copy, it varies so widely from one press
to another that it is difficult to defend the thesis that these
costs are always established on an objective basis. W. H. Brock has
written a very interesting article on the rise of commercial science
in Victorian England and it can be found in the volume referenced
above. I would also suggest reading Dr. Lederberg's article that was
published in the Scientist, vol. 7 No 3 (Feb. 8, 1993), called simply
"Opinion". It is available electronically :-) by ftp 128.89.1.178
and wherever Scientist is mounted electronically (e.g. the University
of Texas at Houston gopher).
Incidentally, Dr. Lederberg underscores an important consequence of the
present system: due to spiralling costs of journals, the third world
is in a real drought (his words). I would add that due to the ways
distribution channels are monopolized by a few companies or cartels,
we have little chance of ever hering about the journals produced
in Latin America, Africa, etc.
> There is also the question of subsidy -- an emotive word. I prefer
> to put it that the costs of running a high-quality scholarly
> communication system have to be covered from somewhere. Traditionally,
> one major route by which universities subsidized scholarly publication
> was by giving their libraries funds to buy journals. Controversy
> arose because commercial publishers, from the 1940s onwards and led by
> the unlamented Robert Maxwell, realized that there was scope for
> making lots of profit here. However, not-for-profit publishers --
> university presses and learned societies -- have a big presence in the
> scholarly publishing field and cannot be criticized for excessive
> profit-taking. The main cost is simply the pay of the people who do
> the work. Of course, these people can be (and in the case of the
> presently free electronic journals on the Internet, presumably are)
> subsidized in a different way, by the university that originates the
> journal paying for them. But, as Janet Fisher says, for how long? And
> for how long will the network itself be entirely free of charge at the
> point of use to the academic community, anyway?
If we accept your thesis that universities traditionally subsidized
scholarly publications by giving funds to their libraries to buy
these publications, then why not shift that money on the production
side allied with free distribution. For one thing, we would be sure
that no money would be diverted for profit. For another, free distribution
would mean that the Third world would have access to research results,
as it should be if we believe that those results belong to the whole
of humanity, and not only to its richer elements. Here again, I only
underscore one of Dr. Lederberg's concern which I share. I have seen
enough of Latin America and Africa to know what I am talking about!
>
> Another question -- raised by Frank Quinn -- is how much of the
> work done by journal staff needs doing at all. Is copyediting
> necessary? The existing network journals are of necessity put
> out in straight ASCII text for the most part, while paper
> journals that are being experimentally offered in dual form
> (paper and electronic) acquire their page-image bitmaps by
> scanning the printed pages. The craft knowledge of typographers,
> graphic designers and even the despised copyeditors is not
> negligible. They all serve to turn a crude, possibly unreadable
> manuscript into a publishable paper. What an advance it was when
> GUIs like Windows replaced purely textual DOS screens -- a great
> increase in user-friendliness. In the same way, a pleasingly
> designed and laid out printed page, written in correct and
> readable English, is more user-friendly than a typescript
> (however scientifically correct) in poor English. So even if no
> printed edition is published, I believe that the requirement for
> quality will mean that some copyediting and design work will need
> to be done by someone.
>
Indeed and that is what we (modestly) attempt to do in my own journal,
Surfaces. (ftp.umontreal.ca) The point is that some copy-editing can be
done with relatively advanced literary students, thus providing useful
assistantships to doctoral candidates. The whole thing is supervised
by my good colleague, Bill Readings who boasts a D. Phil. from Cambridge
in English Lit. Is that credentials enough?
> I case it is felt that I am a pure Luddite, let me finally say
> that I do believe that the networks have transformed informal
> academic communication beyond all recognition, and in particular
> have democratized the invisible college. Whereas in the past
> only those who actually received the personal letters or phone
> calls, or who could afford to attend the international
> conferences, were admitted to the invisible college, now anyone
> anywhere can join discussion lists or computer conferences or
> look at bulletin boards. This must be an improvement. And
> formal communication should certainly be quicker -- the three-
> year delays cited by Jean-Claude Guedon are of course
> unacceptable -- and somewhat cheaper. The additional features
> available online, most notably the abaility to append open peer
> commentary to papers, as mentioned by Stevan Harnad, are very
> valuable too, and when the supernetworks come along we will be
> able to add multimedia features to papers. But we should not kid
> ourselves that this will all happen at no cost and without
> specialist staff.
Again, I concur: specialists, but specialists working out of the
commercial context.
Jean-Claude Guedon
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jean-Claude Guedon Tel. 514-343-6208
Professeur titulaire Fax: 514-343-2211
Departement de litterature comparee Surfaces
Universite de Montreal Tel. 514-343-5683
C.P. 6128, Succursale "A" Fax. 514-343-5684
Montreal, Qc H3C 3J7
Canada guedon@ere.umontreal.ca
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 13:11:09 EST
Reply-To: 20676cam@msu.edu
Sender: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving,
and Access" <vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>
From: Craig Mulder <20676cam@msu.edu>
Subject: ALA Discussion Group announcement: Electronic Libraries
(cross-posted to: pacs-l, asis-l, circplus, colldv-l, ill-l, vpiej-l)
*****************************************
*** Getting the Documents to the User ***
*****************************************
Libraries are exploring ways to implement document delivery
directly to the user's office, lab, home or anyplace the
user needs the information. There are several technical issues
involved from the perspectives of the user, the library and the
publisher. The ACRL discussion group on Electronic Library Development
in Academic Libraries will hold an open discussion on this topic:
Saturday, February 5, 1994
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC)
Room 501C
Two speakers will describe their experiences in achieving
the goal of getting the documents to the user and provide
a context for the discussion.
Beth Warner of the University of Michigan works with Elsevier's
TULIP project.
Tom Cannon of Bell Laboratories works with the RightPages image-based
electronic library which is the technological platform for the Red Sage
project developed by the University of California-San Francisco and
Springer-Verlag.
Come and ask questions of the speakers, share information about
your own projects, present your thoughts, and discuss the
many issues involved.
___________________________________________________________
Craig Mulder, Human Health Information Services Librarian
Michigan State University
517/336-3819 Fax: 517/336-3693
20676cam@msu.edu
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 16:32:03 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: Lee Jaffe <jaffe@scilibx.ucsc.edu>
Subject: Re: Recent discussions
I really appreciated and enjoyed Mr. Rowland's response to the
discussion. Certainly, the notion that electronics (read "technology")
is going to save the day is a common thread in our culture and requires
serious scrutiny. I think he is particularly on the money when he points
out that the underlying theme of the debate rests on the pre-computer
mess into which scholarly publishing has gotten itself.
However, I think that technology does have a role to play, but seeing it
depends upon recognizing the essentially multifaceted nature of scholarly
publishing. There are at least two major aspects to this institution:
first, quick reporting of research results in order to inform others
working in related areas of what has been learned and, second, the
creation of a reliable, accessible record of scientific work. For the
longest time, printed journals answered all these needs. While
conference, conference papers, and preprints has come to supplement
journals as better tools for quick dissemination of information, I remain
unconvinced that we have anything yet that substitutes for print's ability
to provide a reliable, accessible record.
One big problem with this debate is the monolithic approach to
publication. Some people reject electronic publishing because it cannot
do everything well, that archival and retrieval aspects of e-journals
still leave something to be desired. Proponents of the new medium have
tended to ignore or downplay its limitations, citing its strengths over
other technologies in other areas. This may have something to do with the
institutions that have traditionally been involved in scholarly
communications and their tendency to want to control the process from the
cradle to the grave. I believe that the technology may be the wedge that
exposes the stratification of scholarly communication that already
exists. At this point, we're being asked to take the bad with the good:
high prices, long delays are married to good quality, and poor quality
and low reliability are part of speed and informality. It seems that a
lot can be gained by splitting scholarly communications into different
processes and letting each do what it does best.
-- Lee Jaffe
Microcomputer and Network Services Librarian
243 McHenry Library
University of California
Santa Cruz, Calif. 95064
408/459-3297
408/459-8206 (fax)
jaffe@scilibx.ucsc.edu
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 16:32:31 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: Lee Jaffe <jaffe@scilibx.ucsc.edu>
Subject: Re: Journals as commodities
This seems to be a twist on the older, "The paperless office is as useful
as the paperless bathroom."
-- Lee Jaffe, UC Santa Cruz
On Mon, 31 Jan 1994, Guedon Jean-Claude wrote:
> >
> > Disks are for data
> > Paper is for bathrooms
> >
> > *%*%*%*%*
> >
> > Tom Bayston Jr.
> > Editor, UCF.CUG E-News
> > UCF Computer Users Group
> > University of Central Florida
> > bayston@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu
> >
> > *%*%*%*%*
> >
>
>
> Would you mind elaborating your argument a little... As it is,
> it looks more like a slogan and I am sure you are well beyond
> sloganeering.
>
> Best,
>
> Jean-Claude Guedon
>
</jaffe@scilibx.ucsc.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></jaffe@scilibx.ucsc.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></guedon@ere.umontreal.ca></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></julio@thales.math.swt.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></lib3@uhupvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></crotteau@wsuvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></guedon@ere.umontreal.ca></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></j.f.rowland@lut.ac.uk></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></ahyman@porpoise.oise.on.ca></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></ind00007@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></boudreau@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu></wiggins@msu.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></guedon@ere.umontreal.ca></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></harnad@princeton.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></harnad@princeton.edu></fisher@mitvma.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></boudreau@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></harnad@princeton.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></guedon@ere.umontreal.ca></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></fisher@mitvma.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></schull@softlock.com></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></mzltov@nwu.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></quinn@math.vt.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></mtucker@u.washington.edu></fisher@mitvma.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></jpowell@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></hoymand@joe.uwex.edu></mcr@spiff.carleton.ca></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></jennings@albnyvms.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></berge@guvax.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></harnad@princeton.edu></hoymand@joe.uwex.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></l.zeredo@sheffield.ac.uk></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></pauls@locust.cic.net></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></pauls@locust.cic.net></siemens@unixg.ubc.ca></bmirel@pmxpost.depaul.edu></pgalt@mit.edu></stan2@oscar.ims.bellcore.com></jbrockma@chopin.udel.edu></pdbeam@watarts.uwaterloo.ca></sbjones@mit.edu></sbjones@mit.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></atgvg@asuacad.bitnet></harnad@princeton.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></minton@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@f33.n125.z1.fidonet.org></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></blips15%brownvm.bitnet@vtbit.cc.vt.edu></jul@oclc.org></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></harnad@princeton.edu></atgvg@asuacad.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></mtucker@u.washington.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></harnad@princeton.edu></papakhi@iubvm.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></blips15@brownvm></lib3@uhupvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></harnad@princeton.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></harnad@princeton.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></blips15@brownvm.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></jod@ccat.sas.upenn.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></jpowell@vtvm1></chill@garnet.msen.com></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></chill@garnet.msen.com></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></dcochenour@vines.colostate.edu></lib3@uhupvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></guedon@ere.umontreal.ca></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></dcochenour@vines.colostate.edu></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></hawkins@mail.loc.gov></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></johnson@stetson.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet></vpiej-l@vtvm1.bitnet>