I think the proliferation and acceptance of digital publication is the defining issue of higher education right now. We all know that libraries are cutting down on paper journals and paper books, and we also know that electronic books and journals are gaining acceptance. And yet, there is surprisingly little dialogue amongst most members of the academy about what this will mean. I would like to promote that dialogue, with an open discussion about the future of digital publications in the humanities. Some possible questions to get us started:
How can academic journals succeed using digital content? What are the financial implications of digital journals for institutions and libraries? How can we as producers and consumers of these journals guide the transition in ways that work best for our discipline?
What standards should be established for interactive books and journals to assure that reading does not turn into casual browsing/watching?
Are digital textbooks a better value for students? Or, is this format being pushed as an attempt to eliminate the used book market?
What are the challenges to maintaining high academic standards in a digital world?
My idea is for an open discussion, with each participant proposing a question that we discuss for a few minutes before moving on to the next question.
Best,
David Trowbridge
Interesting session idea. Another question that comes to my mind is: What lessons can we learn from existing open access history journals (www.doaj.org/doaj?func=subject&cpid=13) and book publishers (www.doabooks.org/), and what should we watch for in newer initiatives, such as CHNM’s PressForward (pressforward.org/) and the CLIR/NITLE Anvil initiative (www.clir.org/initiatives-partnerships/anvil-academic-publishing)?
The future of digital publications is the issue that most interests me, too. I think the discussion questions both David and Jack posed are vital, and I’d also like to discuss the possibilities of concrete action we can take at this point to actively engage with digital publications. More than anything, I hate the feeling of having to wait around passively until digital publications “arrive” in any particular field (German-Jewish studies, in my case). But I also know one scholar alone can’t singlehandedly change things. I think a discussion would help.
This overlaps with what I was thinking about proposing. I have two questions about digital publications: what seems to be the most effective technical means of creating them, in terms of both what most scholar-authors will be able to handle? There are going to need to be some semi-standard tools and formats that many many historians are able to use if digital publications are ever to going achieve some sort of parity in the academic prestige market. Libraries and university administrations tend to prize electronic anything because students like electronic stuff better than books and because many of the adminstrators, especially, think digital is going to save them money. But it is quite otherwise among the historians, especially within most history departments, where only physical books will get you anywhere 95-99% of the time.(There are some more progressive institutions actually hiring digital specialists, but I am guessing that in many cases that person will be the only one in their department in a position to get tenure/promotion on the basis of digital work, if.) That raises my second question, which is what strategies can be adopted to break down some of the resistance to digital publications as legitimate scholarly works on par with the physical, footnoted kind?
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I also posted this on the proposal about blogging, but it seems that both of these sessions possibly intersect/inform the current discussion (which will be quite hot at the NCPH meeting) about the future directions of any “journal” published by NCPH now that ties with The Public Historian have been dissolved. I would be very interested in seeing that thread incorporated within (and informed by) these larger discussions of blogging and digital scholarly publishing.
Thank you Jack, Lisa, Jeffrey and Anne. Hopefully we can have some fruitful discussion on this topic, either as a formal session or informally as the day progresses.
My flight leaves at 6AM and arrives in MKE at 930, so I will be a little bit late in arriving. I look forward to meeting you all tomorrow morning.
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