Electronic Publishing Steps Up the Pace

The future of electronic publishing is indeed bright, but two changes in current approach will be important.

First, the paper in our “paperless” offices multiplies every time we touch the computer. Reading a paper on the computer screen is uncomfortable, hard on the eyes, and does not allow marginal notes. And an article pulled from the Web is usually printed single sided instead of double sided. Because information on the Web sprawls over several pages when one page would do, wasting paper is too easy. Serious digital publication will require compact formatting and the near-universal use of two-sided printers.

Second, as anyone who uses e-mail can attest, electronic communication is too easy. Surely users can be strongly tempted to throw some half-digested results up on the Web with a few keystrokes. Perhaps this problem has solved itself among string theorists, but can we trust ourselves to objectively review our own work?