by Ari Davis

TRANSITION FROM PRINT TO ELECTRONIC MEDIA

The electronic encyclopedia is a product that was not specifically developed and designed for the Internet; it is a product that is re-worked printed material that is delivered electronically.

Electronic publishing is the way of future, but not the only way. Printed materials will not disappear in the future, just as speech did not disappear when books were first published. Print will have its place in the future. While this future world may be years away, electronic encyclopedias can make a difference and an improvement in the very near future. Among the unique benefits and value to electronic publishing is to make research information available more quickly, at a lower cost, and to more people.

In the past few years there has been much written about electronic publishing and the creation of digital libraries of all books and journals by both scholars and authors. Most publishers of encyclopedias have or are currently making virtually all of their print publications available in electronic form. This is all very nice and useful, but only to a very limited point. What the publishers are providing are not electronic publications, but rather electronic versions or electronic clones of their print products. None of the products they are providing are products developed specifically for electronic dissemination. The products are, for the most part, just a reworking of their existing print products, with the added costs of electronic conversion and manipulation being added to price charged to the reader. There currently are some minor enhancements, such as Internet "hot links" to abstracts (References).