Subject: Re: Ramifications of Embedded Multimedia in E-Journals
anthony.watkinson (anthony.watkinson@BTinternet.com)
Date: Mon, 17 May 1999 16:23:00 +0100
Message-Id: <001301bea079$47213c40$64f0abc3@default> From: "anthony.watkinson" <anthony.watkinson@BTinternet.com> To: <arl-ejournal@arl.org> Subject: Re: Ramifications of Embedded Multimedia in E-Journals Date: Mon, 17 May 1999 16:23:00 +0100
On 17 May 1999, Gerry McKiernan <gerrymck@iastate.edu> wrote:
>
> _Ramifications of Embedded Multimedia in E-Journals_
>
> From a brief literature review and as a result of responses
> received from an earlier post, I have concluded that Embedded Multimedia
> in E-Journals will become quite common within the next 2-3 years. As
> more and more libraries are providing access to E-journals either as
> alternatives or substitutes for paper subscriptions and as E-journals
> embrace embedded multimedia, it appears that there will be significant
> ramifications for next generation WebPACs as well as personal
> workstations.
>
> While not all multimedia requires special plug-ins, the range of
> multi-media is expanding rapidly and thus one can expect that library
> workstations will need to have the full-range of appropriate plug-ins
> to accommodate such embedded media.
>
> I am greatly interested in current efforts by WebPac vendors to
> provide built-in default plug-ins for such media as well as information
> about current library efforts to anticipate these near term
> developments.
>
> BTW: I will be preparing a contribution for a professional newsletter
> next month and will attempt to provide a sketch of some noteworthy
> developments relating to Embedded Multimedia in E-Journals. Among the
> key sites and cites I will be incorporating are:
>
> **********************************
>
> Institute of Physics (IOP)
>
> > Here at Institute of Physics Publishing we positively encourage
> > authors to submit multimedia material with a view to enhancing
> > the readers' understanding of a paper (see our 'Notes for Authors'
> > at http://www.iop.org/Journals/nfa/node22.html)
> >
> > Submissions of this kind are increasing steadily - good examples
> > can be found in the following titles (demonstrations are available
> > at the URLs given).
> >
> > Nanotechnology -- http://www.iop.org/Journals/na/
> >
> > Combustion Theory and Modelling -- http://www.iop.org/Journals/ct/
> >
> > New Journal of Physics -- http://njp.org/
>
> **********************************
>
> Terry A Brooks / University of Washington / Graduate School of Library
> and Information Science
>
> > I recently wrote a grant to OCLC proposing to investigate
> > the enhanced writing functionalities provided by embedded multimedia,
> > etc. The grant application is at
> >
> > http://weber.u.washington.edu/~tabrooks/Documents/OCLCGrant.htm
>
> **********************************
>
> _Internet Journal of Chemistry_
>
> An e-journal with great embedded multimedia is the _Internet Journal of
> Chemistry_ at:
>
> http://www.ijc.com/multimedia.html
> http://www.ijc.com/
>
> [It has a separate left-hand frame index with a "Multimedia"
> index! [Impressive!]]
>
> **********************************
>
> _Internet Archeology_
>
> Here is a sitation to an excellent review article I learned
> about from my earlier posting
>
> http://intarch.ac.uk/news/eva97.html
>
> It details the early experience with embedded multimedia in an
> Internet journal of archaeology.
>
> **********************************
>
> Multimedia Information Retrieval
>
> Of special note in a broader context in a research proposal awarded
> to Mark Rorvig, Associate Professor with the School of Library and
> Information Sciences at the University of North Texas that will seek to
> develop and refine a retrieval system for 'composite' formats of text,
> image, and sound. A description of the proposal is available at:
>
> http://archive.lis.unt.edu:2000/fall801/intel.htm
>
> **********************************
>
> In addition, I now searched the INSPEC database and identified
> a good dozen or so articles, papers related to Embedded Multimedia
> in E-Journals which I will read and weave into my newsletter review
> [I wish to personally thank Adam Philippidis from IEEE for recommending
> a key work published last year by the IEEE: Socioeconomic Dimensions of
> Electronic Publishing Workshop (1998 : Santa Barbara, California).
> IEEE, 1998. [OCLC: 40391589]
>
> Thanks again to all who responded!
>
> As Always, Any and All contributions, queries, critiques,
> comments, questions, concerns, etc., etc. regarding this
> post are Most Welcome.
It is very encouraging to learn that the opportunities represented by
the extra functionalities available on the Internet are being taken up
by some communities but there are still significant barriers to the
use by authors of multimedia. In particular the SuperJournal project
could not extract multimedia components from authors of articles in
the journals it was putting up in its clusters in spite of some serious
attempts to advertise the facility and encourage potential authors. It
seems to me that until authors write articles with the presumption that
there will be a choice of journals available to them as potential
publishers of articles including multimedia and also that there is some
standardisation of what the publishers of these journals will accept,
enthusiasts only will offer these components of their overall message
to their readers. There is also the unresolved problems of archiving:
doubts about archiving as a reason for not writing articles for
electronic journals is cited frequently by author organisations and
in casual discussions. This all sounds Luddite but I would counsel
that the take-up of multimedia may be slower than anticipated or
indeed hoped for.
Anthony Watkinson
<anthony.watkinson@BTinternet.com>
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