>Following on from discussions between some of the eLib
>electronic journals at yesterdays evaluation workshop I would like to raise
>on lis-elib and lis-link the problem of interactiveness within electronic
>journals and possibly gain
>some insight into the problem of gaining readers user comments on journal
>articles
>and contributions (as opposed to user feedback on the interface itself).
Nicola is right, it is all about 'interactiveness'. People participate when
they have something to say, and will participate to a greater degree if the
means of communicating is simple, direct and immediate. Here lies the beauty
of email, and why individual reader correspondence with paper journals is
almost nil. The Web, and "rooms of discussion" as I understand it, is
somewhere in between, requiring the information provider to pull readers to
its site, rather than pushing information at readers as with email. The Web
is seen as interactive, but the response levels that are being sought will
demand that it needs to be more closely allied with the email model (most
Web browsers are heading in this direction), linking formally published
documents with raw email-like correspondence.
It is for the information provider, or publisher, to decide on the the
degree of linking, the formats that are used (eg. ascii or html, to
differentiate formal and informal), and the balance of push/pull (do you
push contributed messages at people through email, simply thread them into
the web site and wait for readers to come to them, or do both). The minimum
requirement is to set up an email discussion list to complement your Web
journal, or interactivity with your journal will be compromised.
Steve Hitchcock [log in to unmask]
Open Journal project Tel: +44 (01)703 594479
Department of Electronics and Computer Science Fax: +44 (01)703 592865
University of Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
http://journals.ecs.soton.ac.uk/
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