E-Books: Are We Going Paperless?

Will electronic books (e-books) change the experience of reading? Will students soon carry a mobile device in their backpacks instead of a ton of textbooks? Some major university projects at the University of Michigan and at Columbia have already created and distributed electronic versions of textbooks (Epstein, 1999). In addition, Microsoft joined publishing firms and electronic manufacturers to set open technical standards for the electronic book format (Wired News, 1999). So what advantages do e-books offer? Some advantages include convenience and reduced storage space. Anywhere from 10 to 250 textbooks or novels can be held on the device, depending on the e-book model, so you can have a portion of your library with you. In addition, users can annotate, highlight, bookmark, and publish their own content on the e-book. By removing the need for paper, the cost of books should decrease and also decrease environmental damage. Another advantage of the e-book is accessibility. Those with visual impairments can increase the font size to improve readability.

Selvidge, Paula and C. Phillips. Usability News (2000). Articles>Usability>Publishing>eBooks

E-Books: It's About Evolution, Not Revolution

This article is a general update about the state of the art and business of e-books. With the dampening of some of the dot.com hype the e-book picture is actually becoming more sensible. There is still a lot of change happening and no one knows where we might end up, but some solid work is being done both on the technology and on the business side. What isn't quite happening yet, and what I look forward to, is a re-definition of "book" to include things that didn't really fit into the hard copy world, such as the publication of individual essays (of any length), stories, poems, novellas, etc., and even possibly a return to serialized works. Put your thinking caps on, folks, there are great possibilities!

Coyle, Karen. Library Journal (2003). Articles>Publishing>Online>eBooks

E-Journal Subscription Consortia    

The advent of e-publishing has brought a revolution in journal publication, subscription, access, and delivery. Print journals' publishing costs include high article processing costs, and high production and marketing costs. E-journal production and access costs are increasing due to the rising cost of infrastructure, customer support, IT savvy human resources, etc. While these costs form the base, other pricing factors include the number of nodes, multiple campuses, an access mode, training, perpetual access, etc. Dwindling library budgets and the growing number of journals force libraries to form consortia for accessing e-journals. The old concept of 'consortium' is a strategic alliance of institutions having common interests.

B.A., Rajeev and Jayaprakash S. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Publishing>Collaboration

The eBook Advantage: Writing and Publishing Electronic Books  

Hall, the author of three eBooks, explains how technical writers can earn extra income by writing and publishing their own electronic books.

Hall, Ceil W. Intercom (2002). Articles>Publishing>Online>eBooks

eBook Italia Dossier: Il Libro Elettronico e L'editoria Digitale Umanistica in Italia

Il primo dossier italiano sul libro elettronico, annualmente aggiornato (versione 3, 1 settembre 2003). In parallelo, eBook Italia Forum, convegno virtuale sull'editoria elettronica, in collaborazione con 365 Giorni in Fiera (Fiera Internazionale del Libro di Torino).

Reale, Luigi M. Italianistica Online (2001). (Italian) Articles>Publishing>eBooks>Italy

The ebXML Messaging Service

The ebXML Messaging Service specification (ebMS) extends the SOAP specification to provide the security and reliability features required by many production enterprise and e-business applications.

van der Eijk, Pim. XML.com (2003). Articles>Publishing>XML>SOAP

Economics of Scientific and Biomedical Journals: Where Do Scholars Stand in the Debate of Online Journal Pricing and Site License Ownership Between Libraries and Publishers?  

The emergence of e–journals brought a great change in scholarly communication and in the behavior of scholars. However, the importance of scholars’ behavior in the pricing of scientific journal has been largely ignored in the recent debate between libraries and publishers over site license practices and pricing schemes. Stanford’s survey results indicate that sharply increasing costs are the main reason for individual subscription cancellation, driving users to rely on library or other institutional subscriptions. Libraries continue to be a vital information provider in the electronic era and their bargaining power in the market and the importance of roles in scholarly communication will be increased by branding and a strong relationship with users. Publishers’ strategy for thriving in the electronic era is not to lose personal subscribers. Cooperation among the three sectors — scholars, libraries, and publishers — promises optimal results for each sector more than ever.

Jeon-Slaughter, Haekyung, Andrew C. Herkovic and Michael A. Keller. First Monday (2005). Articles>Publishing>Intellectual Property

The Effect of Changes in Publishing Technologies on Labor and Documentation

Online publishing technologies is an ever-changing, morphing animal that cannot necessarily be predicted, but perhaps we can work to harness it. As publishing technologies change, so too will the style in which the readability of those documents change as they are shaped and designed to meet new formulas and needs. Likewise, as the readability and accessibility of documents change, so too must the interaction and intervention of the technical communicator change to ensure readable, articulate, navigable documentation, as well as preserve an author-reader relationship and also to preserve the role of the technical communicator.

Comstock, Jeanie. Orange Journal, The (2004). Articles>TC>Publishing>History

Effect of E-Printing on Citation Rates in Astronomy and Physics

In this report we examine the change in citation behavior since the introduction of the arXiv e-print repository. It has been observed that papers that initially appear as arXiv e-prints get cited more than papers that do not. Using the citation statistics from the NASA-Smithsonian Astrophysics Data System, we confirm the findings from other studies, we examine the average citation rate to e-printed papers in the Astrophysical Journal, and we show that for a number of major astronomy and physics journals the most important papers are submitted to the arXiv e-print repository first.

Henneken, Edwin A., Michael J. Kurtz, Guenther Eichhorn, Alberto Accomazzi, Carolyn Grant, Donna Thompson and Stephen S. Murray. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2006). Articles>Publishing>Research>Online

The Effects of Print and Other Text Media Developments Upon the Law in America    

The law has long been shaped by the technical aspects of compiling, writing, storing, and accessing textual verbiage. Text media technology affects all areas of the law, from its intellectual basis to its promulgation, dissemination and enforcement. From America's Colonial period, the operative state of the art of printing has accordingly shaped the development of the law in America, and has caused it to grow in a different direction from the law of England. Since the Colonial period, the state of the art of text media technology has made quantum evolutionary leaps forward, impacting American law in the process. Artifacts of these text media technologies are to be found in the statutes, legislative histories, judicial decisions, and other legal materials. Modern technology has accelerated the pace of text media technology development, and has impacted the law accordingly. Current developments continue to impact the law on an ongoing basis, and future developments in text media technology can be expected to leave their impact upon the law.

Ryesky, Kenneth H. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1999). Articles>Publishing>Legal>History

EJI(sm): A Registry of Innovative E-Journal Features, Functionalities, and Content

A categorized registry of electronic journals, journal services, or 'knowledge environments' that offer or provide innovative or novel access, organization, or navigational features, functionalities, or content. E-Journals that include multimedia components are listed inM-Bed(sm), while those that offer pay-per-view access are listed in Just-in-Time(sm). Some e-journals in EJI(sm) require free registration or a paid subscription to access select registry entries.

McKiernan, Gerry. Iowa State University. Resources>Web Design>Publishing>Online

Electronic Journals: What Do Users Think of Them?

The present paper describes a variety of user attitudes and behaviour towards electronic journals. It draws on projects conducted between the early 1980s and the present day. In general, electronic journals still do not support the tasks which users perform and tend to be negatively perceived. Because journal publishers tend to be author-oriented, they have ignored the human factors literature and produced electronic journals for which there is little demand.

McKnight, Cliff. ISRDP in Digital Libraries (1997). Articles>Publishing>Online

Electronic Publishing  

A directory of online electronic publishing resources from the perspective of e-business.

Business 2.0 (2000). Resources>Publishing>Online

Electronic Scientific, Technical, and Medical Journal Publishing and Its Implications: Report of a Symposium

A report on the STC (Scientific, Technical and Medical) publishing enterprise as it exists today.

National Academies Press (2004). Books>Publishing>Scientific Communication>Technical Writing

eNewsletter Journal

Covers email newsletters, online marketing, and writing.

Evans, Meryl K. InternetVIZ (2005). Journals>Publishing>Marketing>Blogs

The Ethics of Technical Publishing: Trust Yourself

A researcher needs grit and self-trust to do this kind of work in the first place. Letting someone other than a ghostwriter or a reviewer do it for you will be self-defeating. An unethical deal here will corrupt you, the project, and your employer. You must finish the job in a straightforward accountable manner.

Delm, Jay. WritersWrite.com (2007). Articles>Publishing>Technical Writing>Ethics

Evaluating E-Contents Beyond Impact Factor - A Pilot Study Selected Open Access Journals In Library And Information Science  

Scholarly communication through Open Access (OA) journals has become a global phenomenon. This article reports on a study that measures the value of OA journals based on citation counts (ISI's Journal Impact Factor). It compares three highly ranked commercial electronic journals to five OA electronic journals. The non-OA journals are MIS Quarterly, Journal of American Medication Informatics Association, and Annual Review of Information Science and Technology; the five OA journals are Ariadne, D-Lib Magazine, First Monday, Information Research, and Information Technology and Disabilities. The criteria are established by ten major databases: Thompson's ISI, American Psychological Association's PsycInfo, Latin American and Canadian Health Science's LILCS, National Medical Library's MEDLINE, Scientific Electronic Library's SciELO, The IOWA Guide, CSA's LISA, EBSCO's LISTA, H.W. Wilson's Library Literature and Information Science, and R.R. Bowker's Ulrich International Periodical Directory. These basic criteria are categorized under 11 broad issues: availability, authority and review policy, scope and coverage, exhaustiveness of articles, page format, availability of hyperlinks, currency, updating policy, search facility, and other miscellaneous issues. Ten years' growth of Library and Information Science (LIS) OA journals has been measured by counting articles manually. During the last ten years the highest number of articles was published by First Monday, followed by D-Lib Magazine and Ariadne; the average number of articles per issue reported in Ariadne ranks first.

Mukherjee, Bhaskar. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2007). Articles>Publishing>Research>Assessment

Evaluating Faculty Research in the Electronic Age: Business School Deans' Perceptions of Publication Formats  

Perhaps the most obvious example of innovation in faculty performance is the adoption of new technologies for research. Both administrators and faculty have expressed concern about the role that electronic publications play in their research evaluation systems, particularly in Business Schools, where scholarly publication is often emphasized over other activities. Yet, there appears to be no empirical evidence for the way that electronic journals, conference proceedings, and abstracts are evaluated compared to printed paper versions. Therefore, this study sought to determine how Business School Deans regard the physical form in which their faculty are publishing.

Hynes, Geraldine E. and Robert Stretcher. Association for Business Communication (2005). Articles>Publishing>Online>Assessment

Evaluating Our New Look and Moving Online: Seeing Is Believing    

The editorial advisory board and I have been asking our readers' opinions about the journal's redesign and the directions this publication should take in the future. We've also commissioned usability studies and carefully examined the technologies available for online publication. In this editorial, I'd like to share what we've learned and the directions in which we hope to move during the coming year.

Hayhoe, George F. Technical Communication Online (1998). Articles>Publishing>Online>Usability

Expanding the Words

Technical writers enhance their career development and move faster through career transitions when they expand beyond the writing of didactic text to publish in journals and magazines. Additional attempts to write and publish creative and nonfiction pieces further develop their careers in any genre of communications.

Ball, Valerie M. STC Region 7 Proceedings (2002). Articles>Publishing>Research

Facilitating Conversations: Orange, Interface Design, and Electronic Discourse

The philosophy behind the Orange Journal requires that the editors take several practical, theoretical, and technical elements into careful consideration in order to provide the best knowledge-building community possible.

Glazebrook, Rob L. Orange Journal, The (2005). Articles>Publishing>Web Design

Facing the Future of Electronic Publishing

Since its inception, Kairos has been criticized both for being too non-traditional and for being too traditional. The journal has always been engaged in a delicate balancing act: we want our authors to have their submissions recognized as valid peer-reviewed scholarship for purposes of tenure and promotion, and we want to make sure that we aren't simply replicating the kind of scholarship that could just as easily exist in a print journal.

Blakesley, David, Doug Eyman, Byron Hawk, Mike Palmquist and Todd Taylor. Enculturation (2002). Articles>Publishing>Online