|
Electronic Publishing: A Modern Society Need
 |
Most units at Hozeh Honari (the Art Center) were not equipped with computers when I was first employed by the Center about twenty years ago. The first periodical published almost daily at the Center was Baztab or Press Clippings. This publication in fact copied the articles published by other domestic periodicals about the Art Center. The said publication is still in circulation without any special hint of innovation, and what is more interesting is that some other subdivisions at the Center are independently (!) publishing similar pamphlets. However, it so seems that we live in a modern era which requires the omission of these traditional, expensive methods and applying new technologies. For this purpose, information technology and communications were fields which transformed the contemporary publication industry and introduced new concepts which may generally be defined under the term electronic publishing.
Electronic publishing is the process of production and dissemination of information via electronic means such as electronic posts or websites. The published content may have been published in the printed format as well or exclusively produced to be uploaded to an electronic environment. Electronic publishing include everything published on websites as well as unprinted formats such as electronic newsletters, optical disks, and electronic books. In general, electronic publishing includes all the processes followed in traditional publishing except that it generates digital means in the processes of production, communication, and transmission. These factors render tasks more interesting, cheaper, and more effective in terms of learning.
Electronic publishing has pros and cons which should be taken into consideration. Many advantages introduced for electronic publishing may better be understood when it is compared with paper printing publishing. Some benefits of electronic publishing are as follows: lowering production and publication costs; rendering unnecessary the vast physical space needed for storing publications, magazines, and books; removing the need for distribution via post; introducing hyperlinks and using supplementary sources of information; introducing an easier and speedier means of publication and distribution and a possible means of receiving criticism and feedbacks.
Some disadvantages of electronic publishing are intrinsic, whereas some others such as consumer access issues are extrinsic. Therefore, it is evident that by taking appropriate measures these shortcomings may be removed or their effect may be mitigated. Some of the most significant shortcomings of electronic publishing are the public`s lack of adequate access to the Net, authors` rights, problems of reading in web environments, problems of referring to e-books, copyright violations, and users` inexperience in re-accessing the information on and their doubting that the material published would remain to exist on the website.
Some of these shortcomings may certainly be removed; for instance a volume of periodicals (on a yearly basis) may be rendered available for public access in the format of a multimedia DVD.
In recent years, The Resistance Culture and Literature Researches and Studies Center has put top on its agenda the idea of launching various websites on the Net. Launching the website of the Iranian Oral history and particularly the electronic periodical of Oral History Weekly represented the first steps taken by the Center. In the light of the fact that the modern audience requires quick and easy access to solid information, these measures should further be supported.
Mirza Baqer Aliyan Nezhad
Translated by: KatayounDavallou
|
