(Abstract)
In Denmark the Government in 1994 produced a "Green Paper" - The Info-society Year". As a result of this a Government Program was established in 1995 to further the use of new Information Technology (IT) in all areas of the Danish society, including of course Research and Higher Education.
In the wake of the Green Paper and the Government program several initiatives were taken, focusing among other things upon digital publishing of research and other forms of literature. The author of this paper has been involved in the following initiatives: Experiments in Digital Publishing of Research ("digital publicering af forskning") (DIFO), under the Ministry of Research and Technology. A report on the foreseeable course of development of the media, with special regard to the relationship between the printed media and the digital media, produced for the Committee on the Role of Libraries in the Information Society (Udvalget om Bibliotekerne i Informationssamfundet) (UBIS), under the Ministry of Culture. Preparatory work on a proposal for a new Law on Legal Deposit, to include digital media, also for "UBIS" and the Ministry of Culture. Preliminary work on establishing the Danish Electronic Research Library (Danmarks Elektroniske Forskningsbibliotek) (DEF), for the Ministry of Research and Technology. A report on the possible use of IT to support the publishing of "narrow" fiction and poetry (literature published in small, economically unfeasible numbers), for the Ministry of Culture. And counselling work on establishing a digital archive for publications often used by researchers and students in a specified subject area and educational programme (Communication Studies at Roskilde University), carried out by Roskilde University Library as part of the Danish Electronic Research Library.
The paper outlines the most important perspectives of and barriers to the use of digital publishing in research, focusing mainly on Humanities, on the background of the above mentioned practical experiences and research into formal, technical and copyright-related aspects of digital publications.
The main point of view is that the use of digital publishing promises great advantages for research and higher education in the long run. But contrary to the impression given by most of the literature on the subject, this is not a development that will come about whether we want it or not. A special effort will be needed in order to further this development and harvest the benefits. Two areas are going to be especially important: 1) Development of new technical eqipment for sustained reading of digital text. 2) A change of attitude in users and producers (authors) of academic and literary texts. And the two are directly related.
The most important technical barrier today to widespread migration of printed text to digital text is the equipment used for reading the digital text. Sustained reading of a large amount of text, like a thesis, a textbook or a novel, from a screen (terminal, PC or Macintosh) does not seem acceptable to anybody, even if they in principle support the idea of digital publishing. If they have a choice between reading a text from a book or from a screen, they will choose the book any time. (If they don't have a choice, they will probably search for something else to read.)
On the side of attitudes both readers and authors generally seem to think of digital publishing as a solution you choose when print publishing is not possible. Something the author has to accept when nobody wants to publish the work in printed form for reasons of quality or economics. And if the academic world sees the printed publication as an expression of higher academic value, there is not incitement to publish digitally expect when print is not a realistic option. The very real problem, that the digital publication is unacceptable for ergonomic and legibility reasons, gives very strong support for this attitude.
The problem then is that nobody in the world of computers or publishers seem to put any significant effort into developing new equipment to compete with the printed book. Neither the Multimedia PC aimed at the consumer market nor the Portable Office for business people, managers and academics is going to solve this problem.
Niels Erik Wille
Senior Lecturer
Dept. of Communication Studies,
Computer Science and Educational Studies
Roskilde University
E-mail: new@ruc.dk
"Home Page": http//www.komm.ruc.dk/Personale/NEW/
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