electronic publication

[Jurg Sonderegger]

Beneath the problems with the ICZN Code I have got some technical doubts=20
about electronic publications.

Publications on the WEB have the big advantage of the availability (cheap,=
=20
from everywhere and all around the clock). But there are also some technical
disadvantages against publications on paper as books and journals.
For example:
- Servers and adresses in the Internet and also data formats, programs and=
=20
  computer systems change very rapidly, so that something that's ok and=20
  valid today may be lost or useless tomorrow.
- A document (file) may be changed or corrected, what means that there=20
  would be different versions or the document isn't anymore available.

Are there mechanisms or rules (for example for the The World Wide Web
Journal of Biology) that warrant that a publication will also be=20
available, unchanged and readable in 100 years?

I know that similar or the same problems can be named for paper=
 publications.
(Rotten books from the middle-age, changes in the writing, different=
 editions
of books), but a paper document gives at least a certain safety for the
next one or two hundred years (or more).
As there are libraries there should also be electronic libraries that
warrant the safety and stability of publications and make updates if=20
necessary.=20
One possiblity to warrant the stability would be a rule, that an electronic=
=20
publication just gets valid when print-outs of the original version are
officially deposited in 'X' libraries.

Jurg Sonderegger

Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amaz=F4nia - INPA
Grupo T=E9cnico de Inform=E1tica - GTI
Email: jurgson at inpa.gov.br
Home Page INPA: http://www.inpa.gov.br