published book, The Kids' How to Do (Almost) Everything Guide, would probably
not have been done prior to the invention of e-mail because it would have cost
too much in money/time to locate the experts. So the Internet is a powerful
research tool for writers of books, articles, etc.
Also, in a time of great change, many 'facts' don't stay factual for long. In
other words, many books go quickly out of date. But if a book can be web
extended (living partly in cyberspace), then an author can easily update and
correct it, whereas otherwise the author would have to wait a long time for the
next edition, if indeed a next edition ever came out.
Also, in terms of marketing, the Web seems crucial, especially for small
publishers that can't afford to place ads in major magazines and on the radio.
Although large companies continue to have an advantage, in Cyberspace small
publishers can put up very competitive marketing efforts.
We think that paper books will be around for a while, because using them is
habitual. Many readers like the feel of paper, and the 'heft' of a book held in
the hands or carried in a purse or backpack. I haven't yet used a digital book,
and I think I might prefer one - because of ease of search, because of color,
because of sound, etc. Obviously, multimedia 'books' can be easily downloaded
from the Web, and such books probably will dominate publishing in the future.
Not yet though."
ML: "What did the Internet bring to your professional and personal life?"
MS: "Professionally, the Internet has become my major research tool, largely -
but not entirely - replacing the traditional library and even replacing
person-to-person research. Now, instead of phoning people or interviewing them
face to face, I do it via e-mail.
Because of speed, it has also enabled me to collaborate with people at a
distance, particularly on screenplays. (I've worked with two producers in
Germany.)
Also, digital correspondence is so easy to store and organize, I find that I
have easy access to information exchanged this way. Thus, e-mailing facilitates
keeping track of ideas and materials.
As for personal uses, the Internet has increased my correspondence dramatically.
Like most people, I find that e-mail works better than snail mail. My geographic
range of correspondents has also increased - extending mainly to Europe. In the
old days, I hardly ever did transatlantic pen-palling.
I also find that e-mailing is so easy, I am able to find more time to assist
other writers with their work - a kind of a virtual writing group. This isn't
merely altruistic. I gain a lot when I give feedback. But before the Internet,
doing so was more of an effort."
ML: "How do you see see your future life - professional and personal - in
connection with the Internet?"
MS: "I'm not very state-of-the-art so I'm not sure. I would like to have direct
access to text - digitally read books in the Library of Congress, for example,
just as now I can read back issues of many newspapers. Currently, while I can
find out about books on-line, I need to get the books into my hands to use them.
I would rather access them on-line and copy sections that I need for my work,
whereas today I either have to photocopy relevant pages, or scan them in, etc.
I expect that soon I will use the Internet for video telephoning, and that will
be a happy development.
I do not know if I will publish 'books' on the Web - as opposed to publishing
paper books. Probably that will happen when books become multimedia. (I
currently am helping develop multimedia learning materials, and it's a form of
teaching that I like a lot - blending text, movies, audio, graphics, and - when
possible - interactivity)."
Esther Dyson is the president and owner of EDventure Holdings, a company focused
on emerging information technology worldwide, and on the emerging markets of
Central and Eastern Europe. The company produces the annual PC Forum and
High-Tech Forum conferences. Since 1982 she has been the editor of Release 1.0,
a monthly information newsletter which is considered the computer industry's
most intellectual letter.
In 1997, her first book Release 2.0: A Design for Living in the Digital Age was
published at the same time by several publishers in the world (Broadway in the
United States, Viking/Penguin in the United Kingdom, Droemer Knaur in Germany,
Shueisha in Japan, etc.). In this book, she explores the impact and implications
of cyberspace: its effect on our daily lives, the responsibilities that come
with our new powers, and the global issues the Internet creates. She also
addresses the fundamental conflicts in the spread of digital communication:
conflicts between personal privacy and society's interest in openness; between
security and freedom; between commerce and community. At the same time, Esther
Dyson opened a website to converse with her eaders. She will take her readers'
comments into consideration in a paperback version, Release 2.1.
Jean-Paul, a musician and writer living in Paris, sent his comments in his
e-mail of June 21, 1998:
"My future on the Web is more personal than professional. The Internet will
allow me to do without any intermediaries: record companies, publishers,
distributors... Above all it will allow me to formalize what I have in my head
(and elsewhere), for which the print medium (micro-publishing, in fact) only
allowed me to give something approximate. Then the intermediaries will take
over, and I'll have to look somewhere else, a place where the grass is
greener..."
4.3. Electronic Publishing
Since the seventies, the traditional publishing chain has been drastically
disrupted.
The printing work traditionally done by pre-press shops was first weakened by
the introduction of photocomposition machines. The text and image processing
work began to be executed by advertising agencies and graphic art studies. The
impression costs went on decreasing with the spread of desktop publishing,
copiers, color copiers and digital printing equipment.The text and image
processing work is now provided at low price by desktop publishing shops and
graphic art studios.
Furthermore, digitization accelerated the preparation process of a publication,
because the sub-editor, the artistic designer and the staff responsible for the
make-up can now work at the same time on the same book.
During the ILO Symposium on Multimedia Convergence held in January 1997, Peter
Leisink, Associate Professor of Labour Studies at the Utrecht University,
Netherlands, explained:
"A survey of the United Kingdom book publishing industry showed that
proofreaders and editors have been externalized and now work as home-based
teleworkers. The vast majority of them had entered self-employment, not as a
first-choice option, but as a result of industry mergers, relocations and
redundancies. These people should actually be regarded as casualized workers,
rather than as self-employed, since they have little autonomy and tend to depend
on only one publishing house for their work."
Digitization makes possible the on-line publishing of educational and scientific
publications, for which the latest information is essential. Some U.S.
universities distribute specific textbooks gathering a selection of chapters
selected in an extensive database and some professors' articles and
commentaries. For a seminar, a very small print run can be prepared upon request
with electronic scientific texts sent to a printer. Electronic publishing could
also keep alive some academic publishers, and publishers issuing documents
relating to very specific and specialized research, for which the printing of a
document in a small number of copies has become more and more difficult for
budgetary reasons.
At present, electronic publishing and "traditional" publishing - such as on-line
bookstores and "traditional" bookstores, or cyberlibraries and "traditional"
libraries - are complementary.
Even if electronic publishing considerably expands over the next few years,
people will still find it convenient to have the paper version of a book or a
magazine, perhaps until the digital books become really cheap. Nevertheless, the
functions of traditional publishing will certainly have to be thoroughly
redefined in relation to the development of electronic publishing and its
considerable prospects, beginning with the low costs and the quick access to
documents.
The Web has developed more and more interaction between the printed document and
the electronic document, to such an extent that it becomes difficult to
establish a frontier between the two supports, and it will probably no longer be
necessary to make a distinction between them in the future. Most of the recent
print media already stem from an electronic version on a word processor, a
spreadsheet or a database. More and more documents are "only" electronic.
Because of the development of digital libraries, there are fewer documents
available in print. Those documents existing only in a print version can easily
be scanned if necessary.
In his article The Future of Publishing, Kushal Dave, an avid computer and modem
user and a high school freshman, stated:
"[...] the fully electronic document is coming into its own, thanks to the many
benefits it provides. The cost is a magnitude lower than paper, while the speed
is much higher. Michael Hart is the executive director of Project Gutenberg
[...]. In an electronic mail dialogue, he cited the example of Lewis Caroll's
Alice in Wonderland. Not taking into account the cost of a computer (as little
as $1000) since most people have them anyway, a copy of the book on floppy might
cost a dollar. There is also no time spent publishing the document, once it's in
e-text (electronic text) form it can be gotten almost instantly. On the other
hand the cheapest possible paper copy of the book would be $5 because of the
cost of printing, and printing would also delay its availability to the public.
Electronic documents also have a better availability, since they can be
reproduced infinitely and do not require leaving your house, thanks to low-cost
modems. Furthermore, it is now possible to read Associated Press Reports as they
are released, not in the next morning's paper, and you don't even have to pay
the 25 cents. Cost, speed, and availability are just some of the compelling
arguments for electronic publishing instead of paper.
Another advantage of electronic publishing is all the new possibilities it
provides. Just about anybody can electronically publish anything. [...] Karin L.
Trgovac, director of communications for Project Gutenberg, sums it up by saying,
'I think electronic publishing helps to level the field in terms of who can
publish. Look at the range of people who have access.'
Fortunately, the increased variety of the documents does nothing to impede
searches for particular documents. Services like Gopher on the Internet can lead
you in the right direction, and within a document, searching is a snap. Just
type in what you want and before you could find the index in a paper document,
you'll have found what you want.
Thanks to feedback and other features, electronic documents are an example of
the encroachment of interactivity upon the passive activities we hold dear.
[...] 'Physical media just can't compete . . . [electronic text] just offers
more 'bang for the buck', explains Hart.[...]
There are also many companies attempting to capitalize on the multimedia
possibilities of electronic publishing. Sound and pictures are being
incorporated in low-cost Internet World Wide Web 'publications', and companies
like Medio and Nautilus are producing CD-ROMs that represent the new generation
of periodicals - now music reviews include sound clips, movie reviews include
trailers, book reviews include excerpts, and how-to articles include
demonstrative videos. All this is put together with low costs, high speed, and
many advantages."
Kushal answered my questions in his e-mail of September 1, 1998:
ML: "How do you see the relationship between the print media and the Internet?"
KD: "This is still being worked out, of course. So far, all I've been able to
see is that electronic media undermines the print form in two ways: a) providing
completely alternative presses that draw attention away from the previous
strongholds and b) forcing the print publications to spend resources trying to
counteract this trend. Both forms of media critique one another and proclaim
their superiority. Print media operates under a self-important sense of
credibility. And the electronic media operates under a belief that they are the
only purveyors of unbiased truth. Thus, there are issues of niche and finance
that need to be resolved. The Internet is certainly a more accessible and
convenient medium, and thus it would be better in the long run if the strengths
of the print media could be brought on-line without the extensive costs and
copyright concerns that are concomitant. As the transition is made, the neat
thing is a growing accountability for previously relatively unreproachable
edifices. For example, we already see e-mail addresses after articles in
publications, allowing readers to pester authors directly. Discussion forums on
virtually all major electronic publications show that future is providing not
just one person's opinion but interaction with those of others as well. Their
primary job is the provision of background information. Also, the detailed
statistics can be gleaned about interest in an advertisement or in content
itself will force greater adaptability and a questioning of previous beliefs
gained from focus groups. This means more finely honed content for the
individual, as quantity and customizability grows."
ML: "What did the use of the Internet bring in your professional/personal life?"
KD: "The Internet has certainly been a distraction. ;) But beyond that, an
immeasurable amount of both trivial and pertinent information has been gleaned
in casual browsing sessions. [...]"
ML: "How do you see your professional/personal future or the future in general
with the Internet?"
KD: "In my personal future, I'd like to get a B.S., M.S., and M.Eng, working in
the industry for a while before moving on to write about the medium for some
reputable publication. The future of the Internet in general I see as becoming
more popular and yet more fraught with conflict over the growth of commercialism
and the perception that the Net's devolutionary spirit has been undermined.
There will also be a need to deal with a glut of information - already we see
Internet search engines reinventing themselves to try to provide a more optimal
and efficient portal."
Concerning taxation, an outline agreement was concluded between the United
States and the European Union in December 1997, and this agreement should be
followed by an international convention. Internet is considered as a free trade
area, that is to say without any custom duties for software, films and
electronic books bought on the Internet. The material goods and other services
are subject to the existing regulations, with collection of the VAT for example,
without any additional custom duties.
It has not yet been statistically proved that the large-scale use of computers
and electronic documents will save paper, and therefore avoid or at least reduce
the cutting of trees, as hoped by all those concerned by environmental problems.
We are still in a transition period in which many people still need to print to
read "better", or to keep track of a document in case the electronic file is
accidentally deleted, or to have a paper support for their documentation or
their archives.
Apart from its easy access and its low cost, the main quality of the electronic
document is that, when it is regularly updated, the Internet user can benefit
from the latest version. It is not necessary to wait for a new printed edition
linked to commercial constraints and requirements from the publisher.
5. ON-LINE PRESS
[In this chapter:]
[5.1. On-line Press: Examples and Directories / 5.2. Future Trends for the
On-line Press]
5.1. On-Line Press: Examples and Directories
Before the Web became widespread, the first electronic versions of newspapers
were available through commercial services like America Online or CompuServe.
Then the publishers of these newspapers created web servers. Numerous newspapers
and magazines now have their sites on which they offer the full version of their
latest issue - available freely or through subscription (free or paid) - and
some dossiers and archives. Other on-line newspapers and magazines did not
originally exist in paper version. They are "only" electronic. Everywhere in the
world, the future of the on-line press is provoking an in-depth debate on the
job of journalist and on copyright problems.
The New York Times' website can be accessed free of charge around the world. It
includes the daily contents of The New York Times newspaper, breaking news
updates every ten minutes and original reporting found only on the Web. The site
of the Los Angeles Times will soon be equipped with a machine translation
software provided by Alis Technologies which will translate the web pages into
Spanish and French, and later into Japanese. The Washington Post gives the daily
news on-line, and has a full database of articles, with images, sound and video.
In the United Kingdom, the Times and the Sunday Times have a common website,
with the possibility to create a personalized edition. The Economist, a
respected English economic magazine, is also available on-line, as are the
French daily newspapers Le Monde and Libération, the Spanish daily newspaper El
Pais or the German weekly magazines Focus or Der Spiegel, among many others.
The computer press on-line includes the monthly Wired, created in 1992 in
California, a cult magazine which was the first to be dedicated to cyberculture
and now wants to be the magazine of the future at the avant-garde of the 21st
century. ZDNet is the site of the main publisher of computer magazines in the
world.
Some magazines are "only" electronic, like the Chroniques de Cybérie. In The New
York Times of November 25, 1997, Bruno Giussani explained:
"Almost no one in the United States has ever heard of Jean-Pierre Cloutier, yet
he is one of the leading figures of the French-speaking Internet community. For
the last 30 months Cloutier has written one of the most intelligent, passionate
and insightful electronic newsletters available on the Internet [...] an
original mix of relevant Internet news, clear political analysis and no-nonsense
personal opinions. It was a publication that gave readers the feeling that they
were living 'week after week in the intimacy of a planetary revolution'."
Several sites maintain directories of the international press.
AJR/NewsLink is a joint venture between American Journalism Review magazine and
NewsLink Associates, an academic and professional research and consulting firm
studying electronic publishing and visual journalism worldwide. The site
includes features from AJR magazine, the worldwide on-line publication lists of
NewsLink - 8,000 links to newspapers, magazines, broadcasters and news services
- and original content created especially for on-line readers.
Run by Oxbridge Communications Inc., MediaFinder is a major database of print
media and catalogs. It is also a transactional service center, offering the
ability to request subscriptions, advertising and list rental rates-for over
95,000 magazines, catalogs, newsletters, newspapers, and more.
Pathfinder is the website of TIME-Warner Group, publisher of TIME Magazine,
Sports illustrated, Fortune, People, Southern Living, Money, Sunset, etc., with
a free search function of articles by time period (last week, last month, or
all).
Several digital libraries have extensive directories of the press on the Web,
for example News, Media and Periodicals, maintained by the Michigan Electronic
Library (MEL).
"More than 3,600 newspapers now publish on the Internet, but there are signs
that the tide of growth may ebb", Eric K. Meyer stated when analyzing the
presence of the newspapers on the Web in an article of AJR/NewsLink:
"A full 43% of all on-line newspapers now [end of 1997] are based outside the
United States. A year ago, only 29% of on-line newspapers were located abroad.
Rapid growth, primarily in Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway, Brazil and
Germany, has pushed the total number of non-U.S. on-line newspapers to 1,563.
The number of U.S. newspapers on-line also has grown markedly, from 745 a year
ago to 1,290 six months ago to 2,059 today.
Outside the United States, the United Kingdom, with 294 on-line newspapers, and
Canada, with 230, lead the way. In Canada, every province or territory now has
at least one on-line newspaper. Ontario leads the way with 91, Alberta has 44,
and British Columbia has 43.
Elsewhere in North America, Mexico has 51 on-line newspapers, 23 newspapers are
on-line in Central America and 36 are on-line in the Caribbean. Europe is the
next most wired continent for newspapers, with 728 on-line newspaper sites.
After the United Kingdom, Norway has the next most - 53 - and Germany has 43.
Asia (led by India) has 223 on-line newspapers, South America (led by Bolivia)
has 161 and Africa (led by South Africa) has 53. Australia and other islands
have 64 on-line newspapers."
The Web is the site of a collaborative effort between several companies in
newspaper publishing. Opened between February 1997 and March 1998, NewsWorks was
the common site of America's newspapers on-line maintained by New Century
Network, a grouping of nine of the largest companies in newspaper publishing
(Advance Publications; Cox Newspapers; The Gannett Company; The Hearst
Corporation; Knight-Ridder Inc.; The New York Times Company; Times Mirror; The
Tribune Company; The Washington Post Company), representing 140 titles. It was
closed on March 10, 1998, because of dissension and a lack of cohesion between
the partners. Even if this first partnership failed, the Web will probably
foster some multinational and multilingual information services, and this will
deeply change the habits brought by long-term traditional competition.
The electronic press is listed for example in E.Journal and the E-Zine-List.
E.Journal is the WWW Virtual Library electronic journals list. Provided by E-DOC
(Electronic Publishing Solutions), it is the database of electronic journals,
with the following categories: academic and reviewed journals; college or
university; e-mail newsletters; magazines, newspapers; political; print
magazines; publishing topics; business/finance; and other resources.
Updated monthly, the E-Zine-List is John Labovitz's list of electronic 'zines
around the world, accessible via the Web, FTP, gopher, e-mail, and other
services. 3,045 zines were listed on November 29, 1998. On the website, John
Labovitz explains:
"What's an 'e-zine', anyway? For those of you not acquainted with the zine
world, 'zine' is short for either 'fanzine' or 'magazine', depending on your
point of view. Zines are generally produced by one person or a small group of
people, done often for fun or personal reasons, and tend to be irreverent,
bizarre, and/or esoteric. Zines are not 'mainstream' publications - they
generally do not contain advertisements (except, sometimes, advertisements for
other zines), are not targeted towards a mass audience, and are generally not
produced to make a profit. An 'e-zine' is a zine that is distributed partially
or solely on electronic networks like the Internet. [...]