Article 799 of alt.etext: Newsgroups: alt.etext Path: wiretap.spies.com!sgiblab!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!boulder!csn!csus.edu!netcom.com!lmcurtis From: lmcurtis@netcom.com (LONA CURTIS) Subject: Re: Internet-on-a-Disk, Issue #5, September 1994 Message-ID: Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL1] References: Date: Sun, 4 Sep 1994 01:48:09 GMT Lines: 765 B+R Samizdat Express (samizdat@world.std.com) wrote: : INTERNET-ON-A-DISK #5, September 1994 : Newsletter of public domain and freely available electronic texts : Circulation: direct = 3000, indirect (estimated) 100,000+ : : This newsletter is free for the asking. To be added to the distribution : list, please send requests to The B&R Samizdat Express : (samizdat@world.std.com). Permission is granted to freely distribute : this newsletter in electronic form. : : We plan to produce new issues about once a month (with time off for : summer vacation). We welcome submissions of articles and information : relating to availability of electronic texts on the Internet and their use in : education. : : ************************************************* : : WHAT'S NEW : (texts recently made available by ftp, gopher, www, and LISTSERV) : : from the Gutenberg Project -- : ftp mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu /pub/etext/etext94 : http://med-amsa.bu.edu/Gutenberg/welcome.html : Wild Justice by Ruth Sprague (wildj10.txt) : Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Coleridge (rime10.txt) : The Awakening and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin : (awakn10.txt) : The Island of Dr. Moro by H. G. Wells (dmoro10.txt) : Emma by Jane Austen (emma10.txt) : Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (jude11.txt) : The Republic by Plato (repub10.txt) : Common Sense by Thomas Paine (comsn10.txt) : Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (bfaut10.txt) : The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs (lcont10.txt) : The Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs (jungl10.txt) : Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic (dware10.txt) : A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (lprss11.txt) : The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells (silap10.txt) : The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (mston10.txt) : MUSIC -- Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, in stereo (a midi file) -- : lvb5s10a.zip : ART -- Tenniel Illustrations for Alice in Wonderland (gif files) -- : algif10.zip : : from wiretap : ftp 130.43.43.43 /Library/Classics : Inaugural Addresses of U.S. Presidents (inaug.txt) : Dramatic Lyrics by Robert Browning (dramatic.rb) : Howard Chase, Red Hill, Kansas by Charles Sheldon (redhill.txt) : Rupert of Hentzau by Anthony Hope (rupert.ah) : The Shepheardes Calender by Edmund Spenser (shepherd.txt) : She by H. Ryder Haggard (she.hrh) : A Serious Call to a Devout & Holy Life by William Law (sercall.txt) : Till He Come by C.H. Spurgeon (tillcome.txt) : At the Foot of the Rainbow by Gene Stratton Porter (rainbow.gsp) : The Song of the Cardinal by Gene Stratton Porter (cardinal.gsp) : : from the Libellus Project (texts in Latin) : ftp ftp.u.washington.edu /pub/user-supported/libellus/texts : (NB -- these files are in TeX format) : /Cicero : Pro Archia (archia.tex) : Pro Libario (ligario.tex) : Pro Marcello (marcello.tex) : In Verrem I. (verrem.tex) : /Nepos : Life of Agesilaus (agesilaus.tex) : Life of Aristides (aristides.tex) : Life of Cimon (cimon.tex) : Life of Dion (dion.tex) : Life of Epaminondas (epaminondas.tex) : Life of Hamilcar (hamilcar.tex) : Life of Lysander (lysander.tex) : Life of Miltiades (miltiades.tex) : Life of Pausanias (pausanias.tex) : Life of Themistocles (themistocles.tex) : /Sallust : Cataline (salcatil.tex) : Iugurtha (iugurtha.tex) : : from the Oxford Archive : ftp ota.ox.ac.uk /ota/english/Jonson : (NB -- these files are in SGML format) : Cataline, Epicoene, Everyman, and Sejanus by Ben Jonson : : Diana collection of human rights sources : http://www.law.uc.edu/Diana : A new archive, housed at the Center for Electronic Text in the Law at : the : University of Cincinnati College of Law, will include a wide range of : documents related to human rights. Primary sources will come from the : United Nations and the Organization of American States. Secondary : sources will include U.S. State Department Country Reports. This : promising : site is just in the beginning stages. Very few documents are available : yet. : But keep checking -- it's likely to grow fast. : : Congressional Quarterly : gopher.cqalert.com : Free excerpts from the Congressional Quarterly, a publisher of : newsletters, : magazines, and books focusing on the US government and Congress, in : particular. : : Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School : http://www.law.cornell.edu/lii.table.html : This legal archive keeps growing in size and value, and also in ease of : use. If you : are interested in history and law, check here regularly. : : Marvel Comics : ftp alpha.vyne.com /pub/marvel : "The premier issue of Marvel Comics Generation X, the newest : addition to the X-Men family" is now available, complete and for : free as a series of .gif graphics files -- several weeks prior to paper : publication. This is an interest-catching novelty for schools that have : PCs or Macs with good graphics capabilities and a reasonably fast : Internet connection. The full collection consists of 39 files (all full color : pages as they will appear in the comic book when printed), ranging in : size from about 150 to 300 Kbytes -- a total of about 7 Mbytes. You : might want to download a page or two as a flashy example of what can : be done on the Internet. : : Spunk Press : ftp etext.archive.umich.edu (141.211.164.18) : /pub/Politics/Spunk/texts/ : This archive of anarchist etexts has grown considerably in the last few : months. Check it out, or send email to ian@spider.co.uk for their latest : list of files. : : Alex: A Catalogue of Texts on the Internet : gopher://gopher,rsl.ox.ac.uk:70/11/lib-corn/hunter, : or point at gopher.ox.ac.uk, choosing "The World", then : "Gopherspace", and then "Alex". : Alex is a gopher menu that allows users to retrieve the : full-text of documents from a variety of sites on the Internet. It : currently indexes over 700 books and shorter texts by author and title, : incorporating texts from Project Gutenberg, Wiretap, the On-line Book : Initiative, the Eris system at Virginia Tech, the English Server at : Carnegie Mellon University, and the on-line portion of the Oxford Text : Archive. This project has great potential. A World Wide Web interface : and WAIS indexes are planned. But they need to clarify the copyright : status of the miscellaneous texts that they include. (See our issue : number 4 on "Avoiding Gopher Holes and Other Internet Hazards," : which makes specific note of the etexts on the Eris system at Virginia : Tech). For personal use, Alex looks very good. But if you intend to : redistribute the etexts you retrieve, for now it is probably best to go : directly to the source site and make sure you are aware of the origin and : any documents relating to permissions and restrictions. The email : address for Alex is alex@rsl.ox.ac.uk. : : Directory of E-Text Centers : request by email from mallery@eden.rutgers.edu : This lengthy document (33 pages, single-spaced in 10 pt. type) lists : numerous sources of etexts on the Internet, with details on how to : connect and descriptions of the kinds of material they provide. The list : includes the handful of free and open sites which we regularly list in this : newsletter, and also a large number of other sites charge for their : material, and/or place tight restrictions on its reuse. (Thanks to Richard : Bear at the U. of Oregon for alerting us to this resource and to the Alex : catalog project as well.) : : Novel in Progress : telnet freenet.unbc.edu log in as guest, then type GO NOVEL : Available on the Prince George Free-Net, this project features one : incomplete novel at a time. Readers are urged to send private e-mail to : the author, indicating that they would read more should it become : available, or to the moderator if their comments are primarily negative : or relate to the operation of the project. Public responses to the work in : progress are solicited in the forum, with a view to developing both the : strengths of the featured author and the critical abilities of other : participants. Previously featured novels will be maintained on the site, : at the discretion of the moderator. Novel In Progress is moderated by : Lynda Williams, lynda@freenet.unbc.edu. To participate in the forum, : guests must register. There is no charge for registration. P.G. Free-Net : is open in beta test mode until Sept. 18, after which the site is officially : open. Acceptance of a novel in progress is at the discretion of the : moderator. : : *********************************************** : SUGGESTION -- PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD : While very few K-12 schools have good Internet connections, nearly all : have PCs or Macintoshes. And one of the best ways to introduce them : to the treasures of the Internet is by providing them with electronic texts : on disks. (That's a lot easier and cheaper than giving them printouts.) : : For those who do not have the capability or the time to retrieve : electronic texts from the Internet, many are available at a nominal price : from PLEASE COPY THIS DISK, a project of The B&R Samizdat : Express. For further information, send email to : samizdat@world.std.com : : ********************************************************* : : DISKETTE POWER : by Richard Seltzer, B&R Samizdat Express : : Without any fancy tricks of compression, one 3-1/2" diskette, which : costs less than 40 cents in quantity, can hold: : o three books the size of Tom Sawyer or : o stereo sound of two symphonies the size of Beethoven's Fifth : Symphony or : o sixteen Renoir paintings in full color plus the free software to view : and manipulate those images on a PC. : : Anyone with a standard PC can make copies of such a diskette with the : greatest of ease, and in only a minute. : : And anyone with a good connection to the Internet can send or receive : the full contents of such a diskette to or from the other side of the world : in just a few minutes, at little or no cost. : : And all of these materials -- and many more like them -- are available for : free over the Internet today. (The Gutenberg Project, in particular, has : been making great strides in this direction. See the above list for : pointers to Beethoven music and illustrations for Alice in Wonderland. : For Renoir and other artwork check the Louvre in Paris on the World : Wide Web -- http://mistral.enst.fr/~pioch/louvre) : : With duplication easy, and distribution virtually free, it's only a mater of : time before competitive pressure from solutions based on this : technology will completely transform the publishing industry. : : All that stands in the way is the inertia of habit. That inertia is strong -- : the comfort of doing things the way you always have and pleasure of : holding a well-manufactured book in your hand. But I wouldn't want to : bet my business on it. : : I don't think printed books as we know them today will disappear, but : their role will change. They could well become a high-price niche : market. Broadcast media did not do away with the market for lectures : and concerts, rather they changed the role and the business models for : such events. Today, people pay a premium price to see a celebrity in : person. Emerson could make a fortune on the lecture circuit today. : And some book publishers will probably do very with high-priced, well- : crafted books in the days when the masses get their information very : cheaply in electronic form. : : So the capabilities of this little disk and of the Internet do not mean that : publishing as we know it will soon be dead. : : Actually, they signal tremendous growth for the industry in its broadest : sense. : : The advent of the automobile meant less business for railroads, but led : to realignment and vast expansion of the transportation industry. : : The advent of radio and television meant less business for newspapers, : but led to realignment and vast expansion of the information and : entertainment industry. : : The advent of multi-media networking -- such as we see today on the : Internet -- will lead to another expansion of the information and : entertainment industry. : : The relative importance, and business models, and market niches of : present formats and delivery mechanisms will change radically under : competitive pressure from electronic means of duplicating and : distributing information and entertainment products. In fact, in this : realm the concept of a discrete and clearly defined product that one : duplicates in volume for sale may become obsolete. Much of the : business in the publishing industry may become service-oriented -- : allowing users to tailor for themselves the precise and unique flow and : mix of information and entertainment they want and when they want to : and how they want it. : : ******************************** : ALTERNATIVES TO TRADITIONAL ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS : by Richard Seltzer, B&R Samizdat Express : : My recent encounter with an academic publisher (MSU Press) : is probably characteristic of the experience of many others. And : perhaps the alternative that I am pursuing could prove useful to others : as well. : : Back in 1970, I chanced upon an article in the London Times of 1913, : while digging through microfilms looking for something else. Ever : since, I've been fascinated by the life of Alexander Bulatovich (1870- : 1919). Bulatovich was a soldier, explorer, and religious leader whose : field of action ranged from Tsarist Russia to Ethiopia to Manchuria to : Mount Athos. He explored Ethiopia, led cavalry in Russia's conquest : of Manchuria, then became a monk and went to Mount Athos, where he : led a group of "heretics," who believed that the Name of God was part : of God and therefore in itself divine. For practicing the Jesus Prayer (a : la Franny and Zoey), 880 monks were forcibly exiled to remote parts of : the Russian Empire -- that was the subject of the London Times article. : : The odd shifts in his career drew me to him. I was interested in the man : himself -- his energy and enthusiasm, and the puzzle of what motivated : him. I suspected that he was on some sort of quest, driven by an inner : need to push himself to the limits of his capabilities. I was also drawn : by the strangeness of the events -- explorers in Ethiopia, the Russian : conquest of Manchuria, a heresy battle in the twentieth century. I : wanted to understand the man and his time, to get some insight into : how people and circumstances could have interacted to produce such : events. : : I wrote an historical novel, The Name of Hero, which dealt with : Bulatovich's Manchurian experience in 1900 and, in flashbacks, covered : Ethiopia as well. That book was published by Tarcher/Houghton : Mifflin in 1981. I'm now at work on a sequel and a movie script. : : My best source is Bulatovich himself. He wrote a number of books, : including two about his experiences in Ethiopia -- From Entotto to the : River Baro and With the Armies of Menelik II. They are probably the : best and most accurate first-hand sources on Ethiopia at the turn of the : century. They are an original source of historical and ethnographic : information about a little-known but critical and exciting period, when : Ethiopia vied with Italy, France, and England for control of previously : unexplored territory in east-central Africa. These are documents that : any library should want to include in its black or African history : collection. But, amazingly, they were only available in Russian -- in the : original edition and also a recent reprint edited by Professor I.S. : Katsnelson of the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow. : : As Katsnelson pointed out in the introduction to his reprint: "Almost all : documents of the period of Menelik's reign were destroyed at the time : of the war with Italy in 1936. As for the papers of the Russian : Embassy, in 1919 tsarist diplomats gave them to the French Embassy 'for : safekeeping'; and in 1936, they were taken to Paris, where they were : burned along with other archives in June 1940." : : The main English source of information about Russian activities in : Ethiopia is "Russians in Ethiopia: An Essay in Futility" by Czeslaw : Jesman. This is an amusing collection of rumors and anecdotes, based : primarily on Italian sources. It is often wrong. Unfortunately, : historians without access to original sources often repeat and give added : authority to the errors of their predecessors. : : I contacted about a dozen publishers with a proposal to translate these : works. Commercial publishers, even ones with a backlist of works : related to Africa, indicated that regardless of the scientific and scholarly : value of the project, they didn't think they could sell enough copies to : justify publication. Even academic publishers showed no interest. (An : editor at Rutgers University Press indicated that regardless of merit, : there simply is no market for any book about Ethiopia). : : Finally, in the summer of 1990, I contacted Michigan State University, : which has a program in Ethiopian Studies. MSU Press expressed strong : interest and encouraged me to go ahead and complete the translation. : The understanding was that I would serve as editor as well as translator : of the work and would receive a small advance if and when the work : was accepted. : : I completed the work in Jan. 1993. My investment of time (nights and : weekends) amounted to over 1000 hours. : : I proposed publishing Bulatovich's two Ethiopian books as a single : volume entitled Ethiopia Through Russian Eyes. The manuscript came : to 681 pages, including my introduction and footnotes. : : MSU Press sent the work to several reviewers, including a professor in : Moscow. This process took another year and a half. The reviewers : finally concluded that this is indeed a valuable work and should be : published. : : The director of MSU Press then sent me a "standard" contract. When I read it, : I simply couldn't believe the terms: no advance, royalty = 10% of profits : (normal = 10% of gross; an academic publisher normally does not : expect to make a profit and hence 10% of profit = 0), only payment = : 10 copies of the published book. They expected me to quickly compile : a detailed index at no charge (even though an index does not seem : necessary for this particular book). In return for those 10 printed : copies, they wanted all rights (including electronic and movie and : serial) even though they do not intend to exercise them, and even : though I had made it clear that I had already published one novel and : was at work on others that were related to this material. I had also : informed them a year ago that Safari Magazine will soon be publishing : an excerpt, dealing with an enormous elephant hunt. : : I pointed out the problems and reminded them of our four-year-old : understanding. I am not a professor. I am not doing this because I'm in : a publish-or-perish situation. This was a labor of love. It's work I feel : needed to be done. But if I were to give the rights to it to a traditional : publisher, I would expect some token cash payment as an advance. (In : our original verbal agreement, the "standard" advance for an : arrangement such as this was $2000.) : : I didn't expect to get rich from this work. But I also saw no reason to : give up all control of and all rights to this work for payment of just 10 : copies. : : And I also was greatly frustrated by the fact that it had already taken : them a year and a half just to review the work; and, apparently, it would : take another couple years before it would ever appear in print. And : then they would only issue it in hard cover for a high price, and market : only to a handful of academic libraries. : : I wanted this work to be read. I wanted to make it available to : interested scholars as soon as possible and as inexpensively as possible. : : I proposed giving the Press traditional print publication rights and my : retaining the electronic rights, so I could make the work available over : the Internet. The editor-in-chief professed that he didn't know the : meaning of the term "electronic rights" and was not at all interested in : negotiating , though he affirmed that "the material contained in this : work deserves to be published." : : In the past there would have been no alternative -- the only way to get : your work to an extended audience was by way of a traditional book : publisher. After investing four years in getting your work accepted by : such a publisher, few people would back away from such a deal -- : money or no money. The only real alternative would have been to : invest in sending around photocopies to a few individuals, and otherwise : let the work gather dust in a drawer. : : But that is no longer the case. : : I am making this book -- Ethiopia Through Russian Eyes -- available : through the PLEASE COPY THIS DISK project. : : This means that immediately -- not two years from now -- scholars and : libraries can purchase this work for a nominal price from B&R Samizdat : Express, and then can freely make copies for colleagues and students. It : also means that I would welcome having the text made available for free : in electronic form from archives on the Internet (ftp, gopher, www). : : At the same time, I'm also making my novel The Name of Hero : available in this same format. (The hardcover publisher let the book : drop out of print and the rights to that work have reverted to me -- the : only printed copies available are the ones left in my attic). : : In a previous issue of this newsletter I noted: "Academic publishers : should reassess their standard procedures and terms in the light of : current technology which can enable them to accomplish their main : mission far less expensively and more quickly. And authors of academic : works should think twice before submitting their work to publishers : who still use antiquated methods." : : So I'm practicing what I preach. : : Let's hope that others do likewise, and that collectively we help to wake : up the academic publishing community. : : ***************************************** : LETTERS TO THE EDITOR : : From: sysop@grist.com : Message-Id: <9407240150.02L1N00@grist.com> : Organization: GRIST On-Line : X-Mailer: TBBS/PIMP v3.05 : Date: Sun, 24 Jul 94 01:50:23 : Subject: LISTS : To: samizdat@world.std.com : : Thanks for the newsletters and the list of diskettes. : : I have made them available at: : : GRIST On-Line BBS (212)787-6562 : : The BBS specializes in poetry and we also are the publishers of : 5 issues (thus far) of GRIST On-Line Magazine, a free : Internet publication available ftp at extext.archive.umich : \pub\Poetry\Grist -- a total of over 400 pages of contemporary : writing by such widely published and recognized writers as : Jerome Rothenberg, David Ignatow, Clayton Eshleman and many : other mature and exiting new authors. Teachers of creative : writing in high school or college will find it of interest. : : I wholly support your position and relate especially to your : comments about small press publishing in the early days since : GRIST On-Line is a revival of a mimeo/offset magazine that we : first published 1964-1968! I saw the Net as analogous to the : small press revolution of the 60s and jumped in almost a year ago : with the magazine. Since then we have started the BBS, a few : weeks ago, and have published one title on diskette: GLEANINGS: : The Uncollected Poetry of the Fifties by David Ignatow, the : honored American poet who recently celebrated his 80th birthday. : We have three other "books" in the works which will most likely : see the first light of day on the Internet. : : Thanks for your efforts and best regrads, : : fowler : : Date: Mon, 25 Jul 94 01:38:01 : From: sysop@grist.com : To: samizdat@world.std.com : Subject: GOL : : No problem in mentioning GRIST On-Line as a source for your lists. : : I haven't decided how many files we'll actually be carrying on our site. : Probably only those that are, or relate to, poetry which is our specialty, : but we'll certainly want to continue to receive the complete lists and : newsletters and make them available to our readers. : : Seems to be a growing discussion in other areas/lists as well about using : the Net as a source/resource for "text book" materials. Not only for : public domain but contemporary materials as well when authors are : willing to forego the "rewards" of traditional publishing. : : Another reason to "publish" on the Net--possible class adoption! : : The other night I posted the following to one of the discussions: : : "Released from the tyranny of the "bound book" a reader is truly : empowered. The book looses its "market value" and texts retain only : use (commodity) value and virtually no exchange value." : : I was thinking of "commodities" in the classical Marxian sense of : everyday things which we daily consume in the course of reproducing : ourselves. Freely accessible texts become a matter of choice for the : reader who is no longer dependent on place, time or money for : procuring something s/he might want to use. : : regards, : fowler : : Date: Mon, 9 May 94 12:36:43 CDT : From: Wesley Elsberry : To: samizdat@world.std.com : Newsgroups: alt.etext : Subject: Re: Internet-on-a-Disk, Issue #3, May 1994 : : You might include in future newsletters the telephone numbers of BBS's : carrying significant numbers of etext files, to go along with the : give-away-etexts-on-disks section. : : Central Neural System BBS has many of the Wiretap Classic and : Project Gutenberg files, plus a few of the PD texts from the : Oxford Text Archive. CNS is a free access system, and can be : reached by dialing 409-589-3338. Connect rates up to 16.8Kbps : through the USR Courier Dual Standard modem. Users should : go to the ETEXT file section. : : Wesley : -- : Wesley R. Elsberry welsberr@orca.tamu.edu P.O. Box 4201, College : Station, TX : Sysop, Central Neural System BBS, FidoNet 1:117/385 409-589-3338 : : From barney@leith.demon.co.uk Sat Aug 20 13:20:22 1994 : Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 04:42:46 -0400 : From: Barney Leith : To: B+R Samizdat Express : Subject: Re: Subscribe : : ... : I have a small editorial services business: writing, editing, desktop : layout, publishing. I'm very excited about the Internet as a publishing : medium for my own writing and for other authors I'm about to publish : or : help get published. I'm interested in developing new relationships : between publisher and author. What you said about the exploitation and : undervaluing of authors is well made. Recently I was commissioned by : the BBC World Service to write and present four four-minute talks. I : was paid the grand sum of 10 pounds per broadcast minute. Sounds : great -- £40 for ten minutes work. Of course, to write a cogent four- : minute talk (about 500 words) takes a considerable amount of work. : And then there's the time spent in the studio recording... : : It seems to me that computer-based technology makes it possible for : anyone to publish themselves. Of course, this doesn't mean that what is : published is worth publishing (how is one to judge that?). But it does : allow authors to place their work in front of some kind of public. : : I think there are a number of challenges for authors and publishers: : : 1. Finding a relevant market (given that most bookstores operate EPOS : systems and will not give scarce shelf-space to anything that isn't going : to make its breakeven in six weeks). : : 2. Maintaining/developing editorial standards: ownership of a computer : and dtp software doesn't guarantee either literate writing or good : design. : : 3. Developing a relationship between author and whoever provides : editorial/publishing services that is based on justice and equity for all : concerned. I suspect that the traditional 10 percent royalty relationship : between publisher and author will become less important. An author has : more choices than that: : : a) full self-publishing (i.e. author does all the work him/herself, and : uses own financial resources) : : b) self-publishing with help from editorial houses such as mine (paying : the editorial house a fee, and using author's own financial resources for : production, marketing and distribution) : : c) co-operative publishing: author and editorial/production house share : costs and revenues and co-operate on editing, design, marketing and : distribution. : : 4. Asserting and maintaining copyright. Big, big issue, this one. : : 5. Answering the question: who gets paid and how (especially for : material published over the Internet)? (related to #4 above) : : 6. Finding the best media for publishing any given material: print, online, : CD-ROM. : : 7. Developing the concept of distributed (as opposed to closed) : documents and publishing. At the London Book Fair in March I : witnessed distributed publishing for the first time. The company had : published an anthology of prayers to say before eating. In its printed : form it was just a book. In its electronic form (I think they were using : MOSAIC) it included online hypertext links to various sites (such as : MIT's Shakespeare library). They must have had an ISDN line because : the link was made so quickly -- and of course it was transparent to the : user, who merely clicked on the word in which the link was embedded. : : You are probably familiar with this. But it made me realize that a : distributed document needn't actually exist in any one place. The : publisher then becomes someone who sells a package of hyertext links. : The author contributes his or her piece (either directly to the pubisher or : via the online site that is being linked to). An important skill then : becomes that of the link editor, who knows where to find the relevant : onlline sites and embeds the links and cross references. : : The user can then construct, to some degree, his/her own document : from the links provided. : : This seems radically to change the nature of publishing, and a : completely different model from the traditional book publisher comes : into play. But (and it is a big 'but') how can the integrity of any one : author's work be protected? : : Sorry to have launched into this diatribe. Just wanted to share some : thoughts about writing and publishing that are buzzing around in my : head at the moment. : : With best wishes : : Barney : : Barney Leith : Internet: barney@leith.demon.co.uk : 24 Gardiner Close, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 3YA, UK : Tel: +44 (0)235 535224 Fax: +44 (0)235 529137 : : Date: Tue, 14 Jun 1994 10:08:16 -0300 : From: Copthorne Macdonald : To: samizdat@world.std.com : Subject: INTERNET-ON-A-DISK : : A friend recently passed along a copy of Internet-on-a-Disk, : Issue #4. I am very interested in the subject of electronic : publication for many reasons, including the possible : distribution of my own work. I have been writing for print : publications for many years. From 1973-1983 I wrote the New : Directions Radio column in the MOTHER EARTH NEWS, and started : New Directions Radio, a loose network of radio amateurs : interested in using that medium to foster personal growth and : social change. Over the years I have had over 125 articles and : column installments published, and since 1985 have been making : my living writing, with almost all the $$$ coming from : write-for-hire projects: textbooks, software instruction : manuals, etc. : : Last year my close-to-the-heart book TOWARD WISDOM : was published by Hounslow Press of Toronto, and I'm : currently trying to find a U.S. Publisher for the book. : (Hounslow has only Canadian rights.) I, of course, have an : electronic version of it (even a hypertext version), : but because I don't want to muddy the waters with : potential print publishers, I have not yet distributed it : electronically. : : I liked your CLARIFICATION -- AUTHORS AND THE INTERNET : piece very much. You are so right. There are many, : many authors writing books today, and lots of them will : not be winners in the publication lottery. Publishers : are in business to make money, and many quite worthwhile : potential books just wouldn't sell enough copies. Other : books might make money for a publisher, but are competing : with manuscripts that promise even greater sales. : : If an author concludes that print publication is just not : going to happen, then unrestricted electronic distribution : of the work probably makes sense. It would to me. : : I face a slightly different situation. Perhaps you would : care to address it. I currently have the electronic rights : to my book, but if I put it on Internet with no copyright : protection, wouldn't someone be able to take that text and : put out another PRINT edition of the book? I'm sure that the : book publisher(s) I have contracted with would not be pleased : about that. On the other hand, a strictly on-line, electronic : edition of the book--licensed for electronic viewing only--would : presumably increase interest in, and sales of, the print : edition. As a consequence, I assume that publishers having : book-rights-only would be pleased with that kind of arrangement. : The Shareware concept of software distribution seems to be : successfully exploiting this middle ground between totally : unhampered availability and total restriction. Is this the : appropriate model for the present transitional period where we : authors want print publication if we can get it, but also want : the widest possible dissemination of our material? I really : don't have the answer, but would be interested in your : thoughts, and the thoughts of others on the subject. : : Please put me on the "mailing list," and I would very much like : to receive copies of issues 1 through 3 if that could be : arranged. (My Internet connection has no restrictions on file : size.) Many thanks, and good luck on your venture. Your : newsletter strikes me as an excellent project, and its timing : is right on the mark for me. : : All good things, Cop Macdonald : : -------------------------------------------------------- : The wise are they that speak not unless they obtain a hearing... : : Baha'u'llah : --------------------------------------------------------- : : From bennett@pipeline.com Sat Aug 20 13:12:53 1994 : Date: Sun, 31 Jul 1994 15:40:32 -0400 : From: Bennett Blumenberg : To: samizdat@world.std.com : Subject: Order ... : : Hello Richard, : : Your latest newsletter of books-on-disk is impressive. Here is : a small first order. I would also appreciate whatever back issues of the : newsletter can be easily forwarded. : : BTW My tiny company - Reality Software - publishes : books-on-disk and an historical timeline for the ancient and : medieval period. Our books are not scanned material but : original studies in the history of religion and mythology. They : are scholarly and much of the text is at journal level. Our : products are not pure ASCII, altho such files are available on : request for the books. They are produced for the PC with : packaged readers for either DOS or Windows. At the moment, : distribution is via shareware and the BBS world. : ... : Regards, : : Ben : : [For the Reality Software Catalog, send email to bennett@pineline.com] : : *********************************** : Back issues are available from us on request, and are also found at the : archives of Computer underground Digest (CuD), housed at the : Electronic Frontier Foundation: : ftp ftp.eff.org /pub/Publications/CuD/Internet_on_a_Disk : gopher gopher.eff.org /Publications/CuD/Internet_on_a_Disk : http://www.eff.org/pub/Publications/CuD/Internet_on_a_Disk : They are also available from a web server in London : http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/~gjoly/samizdat.html = B&R Samizdat : catalog : " " /internet_disk1.html = issue #1 : " " /internet_disk2.html = issue #2 etc. : : They are also found at such sites as: : gopher sjuvm.stjohns.edu /Disabilities & Rehabilitation Resources/ : /EASI/EASI's list of available Internet etexts : : And also at the GRIST On-Line BBS at (212)787-6562. : : You are welcome to include this publication on your bbs or ftp or : gopher or webserver. Please let us know the address, and we'll add it to : this list. : : Published by PLEASE COPY THIS DISK, The B&R Samizdat : Express, : PO Box 161, West Roxbury, MA 02132. samizdat@world.std.com