I agree with you that each format is better some purposes, worse for others. But rising postal rates may make the ultimate decision. And an online journal can simulate the print experience better than a print journal can simulate the online experience (if you just ignore the hyperlinks).
I love paper just as much as anyone, as you would know if you could see my abode...maybe even more, as I used to do a lot of drawing and calligraphy. But I saw the Sony eBook for the first time a few months ago, and if the price weren't so high, I might have bought. I'll wait for 2.0. Someday there will be a generation of college students--maybe even high school students--who will be issued a future version of the eBook at the beginning of their school career, and each semester they'll get all their fully searchable textbooks loaded on it wirelessly. Professionals will receive their journals the same way. Meanwhile, all of my recommended Digital Libraries textbooks are hardcopy, every single one of them. On 7/16/07, Joe Hourcle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I don't think that a website is a fair substitute for a printed journal. Yes, there are journals that online-only, but I view the two publishing styles completely differently. I admit, I don't deal with bibliographic records, so I can only view the issues from a user's point of view. I view print publications as being more 'push' than 'pull'. They show up, and I read them. (well, lately, I've been so busy, that I haven't been reading them, but I have a stack that I go through when things calm down, and I need a chance to clear my head, and stop worrying about current projects). I use online database when I'm trying to research a specific topic, rather than trying to keep up on the general trends in a community. In that case, I find it harder to use the print publication -- but if I have the print copy, I'd rather read from that, once I've identified the articles of interest. The only online 'journal' that I read is on web design (A List Apart) ... as I think it makes sense that a serial on web design doesn't make sense as a print publication. There might be other fields where this is the case, as well. Joe Hourcle
-- Sharon M. Foster [affiliations omitted] Any opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
