Comments on: We’re Just Not Sure About This “Digital” “Publishing” Thing the Kids Are So Keen On

By: Ironic Commentator

Ironic Commentator — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 19:18:18 +0000

Wait a second. You’re telling me that my paper money is worthless?

Well, I don’t know if I can trust you “online people.” I’m going to go and see whether there’s a print version of this blog somewhere.

By: BillCross

BillCross — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 22:52:25 +0000

also many scientific journal are only free to you if your library also subscribes to the journal (or you subscribe personally). For someone at a “podunk” school in the midwest, this means it is way cheaper to ILL them ($0.10 per page) versus typically $30 for the copyright charge and the ingenta (or whatever service you use) charge

By: John Emerson

John Emerson — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 16:21:19 +0000

Just to note that JSTOR and Project Muse are both behind a paywall, keeping riffraff such as me from reading their stuff at home. If you want to be safe from my scurrilous attacks, publish everything in JSTOR or Muse and you will be safe!

By: Hippo Dignity » This “Internets” thing the kids are so crazy about

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 21:12:10 +0000

[...] Nice to know not that much has changed in academia higher education in the humanities. Via Crooked Timber, I found this choice quote from a Michael Bérubé essay in Inside Higher Education. Bérubé was on the MLA committee that just recommended major changes in the tenure process, and his essay addresses some of the forces that led them to suggest large changes. About the digital age, most doctoral departments are largely clueless: 40.8 percent report no experience evaluating journal articles in electronic format, and almost two-thirds (65.7 percent) report no experience evaluating monographs in electronic format. This despite the fact that the journal Postmodern Culture, which exists only in electronic form, has just celebrated its 15th birthday. Online journals have been around for some time now, and online scholarship is of the same quality as print media, but referees’ and tenure committees’ expectations for the medium have lagged far behind the developments in the digital scholarly world. As Sean Latham, one of the members of the Task Force, said at the 2005 MLA convention in Washington, “If we read something through Project Muse, are we supposed to feel better because somewhere there is a print copy?” For too many scholars, the answer is yes… [...]

By: Crooked Timber » » Pure Gold, Like in Fort Knox

Crooked Timber » » Pure Gold, Like in Fort Knox — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 21:06:54 +0000

[...] What synchronicity: In an entry posted yesterday at Steamboats Are Ruining Everything, Caleb Crain writes about getting some offprints of his article appearing in the latest issue of American Literary History: [...]

By: Colin Danby

Colin Danby — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 21:02:22 +0000

Yer preaching to the choir here, Scott. Folks who cruise the blogs for a little chat are already downloading and uploading and searching and finding new conversations.

#5, 9, 11 are right on the Fort Knox point, which #3 makes nicely even while missing the joke. There’s no need to be warehousing moldy paper when you have JStor, which rocks. Searchable text makes scholarship, including older work that might never get read again, far more accessible and visible. Give us another 20 years and we should be over the paper fetish.

By: Scott McLemee

Scott McLemee — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 20:10:33 +0000

I assumed the Fort Knox reference was a joke. It reminded me of listening to talk radio in Texas during the late 1970s, with people fretting endlessly about how going off the gold standard had ruined the country.

By: Nathaniel

Nathaniel — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 20:06:22 +0000

Rich:

I don’t know if you’re being sarcastic or not, but in general I don’t think that applies to downloading PDF copies of journal articles. First, since the journals (mostly comforting dead objects) have probably already been sent out to libraries and, second, because you can download that version you just read onto your computer. If the journal is some mendacious editing outfit hiding behind a legitimate peer-reviewed outlet, and you notice this, you can then clarify in your notes that a copy in PDF of the article as you read it resides somewhere you’ve uploaded it and then provide a URL.
Actually, answering Rich has got me kind of worried. Has anyone had a case where a PDF of a journal article provided through the usual university subscription has turned out not to conform with the print journal?

By: Matt Kuzma

Matt Kuzma — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 19:47:41 +0000

Donald A. Coffin,

You correctly identified the genius of Berube’s analogy. These professors believe in some kind of backing that doesn’t exist. Fiat money isn’t backed by anything just as the fact that something is in print in no way ensures its quality or justifies its scholarship.

By: Steve LaBonne

Steve LaBonne — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 18:47:05 +0000

But wouldn’t closing the UCLA library cost jobs at the company that manufactures Tasers?

By: Grand Moff Texan

Grand Moff Texan — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 18:21:37 +0000

I would call the statement “ironic,” Adam, but unfortunately that word has been drained of all meaning.
.

By: gzombie

gzombie — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 17:56:07 +0000

Adam, your interpretation is not persuasive because YOU ARE NOT USING ALL CAPS.

By: Adam Kotsko

Adam Kotsko — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 17:50:51 +0000

I choose to believe that the reference to the gold standard was artful and clever.

By: Grand Moff Texan

Grand Moff Texan — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 17:39:48 +0000

I say let’s close the university libraries so that people can get their jobs back.

Well, that might slow down the spread of STD’s on campus…
.

By: Donald A. Coffin

Donald A. Coffin — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 17:20:22 +0000

“For too many scholars, the answer is yes: The scholarly quality of the PDF on your screen is guaranteed by the existence of the print version, just as your paper money is secured by the gold of Fort Knox.”

Well, too bad for them, because the value of your paper money has NOTHING TO DO WITH GOLD IN FORT KNOX, The value of your paper money rests entirely in your belief, and in the belief of others who accept it in payment for goods and services, that the paper money has value—that others will accept it in payment for goods and services. In the same way, the value of a scholarly publication depends on the willingness of readers (and non-readers, who may be asked to evaluate it) to believe in the value of the publication (including belief in the “value” of the publisher).