Electronic publishing

[Doug Yanega]

Rodham E. Tulloss wrote:
>
>The physical object is not the only issue.  The accessibility of "readers"
>is also important.  Somewhere around DOS6, it became impossible to use
>archived files created by global "saves" under earlier DOS versions.  The
>computer industry has a financial interest in planned obsolescence.  Who is
>going to manage the problem of keeping everything readable?  I.e., keeping
>all readers or recopying EVERYTHING into temporarily safe new formats?
>
>R. E. Tulloss
>
>How about the ICZN/ICBN setting up working groups on this problem.
>Permanent working groups with staff to carry out the transfer of
>necessary of data.

Consider the message just posted by the Bioline electronic publishing
folks: they have a financial incentive to attract subscribers and authors,
right? Now, given that, suppose we tell them or any other would-be
electronic publisher "We will not subscribe to or publish via your journal
UNLESS you maintain and update complete archives, kept at mirror sites,
etc.". That's all it takes when money is involved. No "electronic
publisher" who is not explicitly ready and willing to maintain proper
archives will get systematists' patronage. We are not passive victims here,
waiting for our publications to get swallowed up and lost somewhere. WE can
set the rules, and that's simply the first and most obvious one we should
set; archives are the PUBLISHER'S responsibility. If they can't handle it,
then they aren't fit to be electronic publishers. This is NOT a problem
that requires *us* to set up committees or working groups.
Sincerely,

Doug Yanega       Illinois Natural History Survey, 607 E. Peabody Dr.
Champaign, IL 61820 USA      phone (217) 244-6817, fax (217) 333-4949
 affiliate, Univ. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Dept. of Entomology
          http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu:80/~dyanega/my_home.html
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82