Electronic publishing: electric book or battery brochure?
| Pages | 269-271 |
| Published date | 01 April 1993 |
| Date | 01 April 1993 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045244 |
| Author | Johan van Wyk |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Article
Electronic publishing:
electric book or battery
brochure?
Johan van Wyk
CSIR Information Services, Pretoria, South Africa
1.
Introduction
Electronic publishing as a phrase is as meaningless as 'auto-
matic'
or
'user-friendly', only it
is
still serving an apprentice-
ship compared to the latter two. Yet, it is true that the
electronic medium has arrived and we need a clear under-
standing of what it
is.
Looking
at the
products you find that it
is
not merely 'another
medium',
as
papyrus replaced
the
clay
tablet, but that the medium has introduced a vast array of
functionality, forcing
us to
re-think
and
re-categorise.
Categorising electronic publishing products is a fascinat-
ing
journey.
It is an exercise in lateral thinking rather than a
sorting operation.
A
selection of
actual
electronic publishing
products is investigated and their functionality, applications
and possibilities examined. From both the user's perspective
and the publisher's viewpoint we systematise the products
into
meaningful
categories,
illustrated
by
typical examples.
Vannevar Bush's 1945 vision of the electronic desk has
been realised — only it is individualised, and in full colour
and
motion.
2.
The terminology
I first want to deal with the term 'publishing'. The Oxford
English Dictionary says it means 'to issue copies' (amongst
other less relevant descriptions). So when we use the term it
has
inherent
in
it the meaning or intention to produce
copies or
replicas for
distribution.
This would then exclude 'one-offs',
even one-to-one communication, because these
do
not mean
distribution.
To
illustrate
the
point:
have you seen
the effect of
a love letter being distributed? The first part of the word is
taken from the stem 'public', which indicates the intention to
'make
public' or
that it is
'for
public
consumption', and this is
exactly
why the likes
of
the love
letter
do
not
fit
the
category.
Somehow the 'making public' of what was not intended for
'public consumption' is distinguished by the suffix '-gate'!
With 'publishing' the aim is to communicate information/
ideas / feelings / discussion by capturing text, graphics and
signs onto a medium
or
carrier.
It
is
within this context of the
word 'publishing' that
I
would like to discuss electronic pub-
lishing.
The word
'electronic'
in the phrase
'electronic publishing'
refers to the medium that is used as a carrier of
the
content.
'Electronic' in this sense usually refers to computer-enabled
technologies such as CDROM or presentation systems. It is
interesting that
the
accepted
scope
of
the
term excludes prod-
ucts that are not 'read /
used
/ experienced' by means of the
computer. You would not say a fax is electronic publishing,
although you have produced it by means of, for example, a
wordprocessing package and transmitted it by a fax card on
the computer via a
modem.
So you
find
that the term is only
used for publications that are enabled on the user's side by
computer.
You might think this is new technology. It is in fact not:
electronic publishing, that is electronic distribution of some
information content, was already a well-known technique in
the early
fifties
in the Southern African platteland. Very few
media had the actuality, immediacy and speed of distribution
of
the
platteland party telephone
system!
Technology devel-
opment killed
this.
3.
The
product
The
technical
aspects are well
covered
in the
literature,
which
would include media such as CDROM and magneto-optical
WORM
(Write
once,
Read
many).
This would also cover
the
data formats
(ISO
9660,
CD-XA etc.)
and even the software,
and I would
prefer
my
better qualified technical
colleagues
to
expand
on this
topic.
I have specifically steered away from the temptation of
giving you a technical lecture on the hardware and software
variants.
What is much more
interesting
is the
content of
elec-
tronic
publications.
Have you
seen
the
fascination of
the
com-
puter
games?
It is a far cry from the Battle of Britain comics
we
used
to
bury ourselves
in.
Why?
The answer
lies
not even
in the content itself but in the way in which it
is
presented to
the consumer. More precisely, in the way in which the user
deals with the
content.
Therefore
I
suggest
that
we
take
a jour-
ney
through
the available electronic
publications
with the aim
of looking at
the
different
ways
in which content
is
presented
and consumed
by the
user.
4.
The
linear route
—
the route
march
To
us,
me
post-papyrus scroll
consumers,
this
is the
only way
to deal with content. You start at the point the author
or
pub-
lisher wants you to and you deal with the complete content
from one end to the
other.
'I just can't put down this book' is
the aim of all authors. The presentation and usage is very
much
determined
by
the physical format.
And we
tend
to
han-
The Electronic Library,
Vol.
11,
No.
4/5,
August/October 1993 269
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