A synthesis of state-of-the-art Information Technology and the emerging trends in scientific research is mandatory today, to narrow the distance between people doing research and those who need to know about it. There is a clear need to match the technology of journal presentations and archives with present-day scientific procedures and findings. The use of the World Wide Web (WWW) for scientific reporting, news and magazines has already picked up, with over two thousand of them having mushroomed in the last 5 years. It is now time to add new dimensions to these electronic publications. Interactive journals can offer a two-way communication between the reader and the manuscript, in an attempt to satisfy readers' curiosity and their desire to acquire maximum information. Multi-Media technology offers authors a tool that can use 3D and audio-video forms of presentation to fully communicate their viewpoints. This article discusses the need, merits and issues in considering an Interactive Multi-Media Journal for the next millenium.
Interactive, Multi-Media, Journal, Electronic publishing
The last two decades have seen a revolution in the area of high performance computing, visualization and communication - the Information Technology Revolution. These have together made an impact on society which is probably comparable to that of fire and the wheel. A few decades ago, it could have never been imagined that from a modest beginning for faster arithmetic calculations, computers would one day wed calculating with communicating and invade virtually all sectors of human life - banking, reservations, conferencing, shopping, entertainment, photography, weather, newsroom, sports, even robbery and warfare. This technology is growing at rates faster than a single individual's imagination, and ahead of society's ability to fully adjust to new devices. Computing and communication have brought the world closer and have increased the pace and efficiency of virtually all activities in daily life. Being without computers today is like living with only tribal technology. This decade's contributions have been the WorldWide Web, Multi-Media and Virtual Reality. These together are making the fiction movies of the1960s a reality.
In the scientific world, ever-increasing computing power is enabling workers to model problems with greater detail and complexity, and helps them arrive at meaningful conclusions faster than ever before. In addition, visualization tools, spreading from simple color contour plots to full 3D animations and simulations, have changed the outlook of scientists. These tools have also considerably enhanced their confidence in their research findings. Also there are areas where science waits for better computers to come and open the locks of curiosity.
On one side, computers are helping do better research, on the other side, they also assist in superior presentations. It is becoming increasingly common for scientists to use multi-media systems for lectures and seminar/ conference presentations, as the work may not be easily amenable to conventional optical projection devices. But somehow, the `Journal' form of communicating and archiving has not kept pace with the changing research technology. The conventional hard-copy paper-form of periodicals today does not have the ability to fully present many authors' viewpoints and findings. For a scientist looking up published research, these are just dumb volumes of information which can only be read. But research that involves 3D visualization, simulations, video recordings etc. needs multi-media presentation. Such work, when submitted for publication in a paper periodical, obviously appears truncated. It gives a few snapshots and a page of write up with a hope that the reader gets the full picture with reasonable effort. These are of course the limitations of `printed matter.' But today, with the WWW, journals need not restrict themselves to paper printing and distribution. They can be on a web-site, with a single master copy providing fast and economical delivery of `more meaningful substance' to interested readers. Simulation procedures and software can be embedded into the manuscript so that the research-follower can even "play" with it, using parameters of her choice and interest. 3D models can be viewed from eye positions of curiosity. Audio-Video recordings can be played back for total reproduction of authors' information.
Scientific electronic publications on the WWW should now start exploiting the full power of the computer and the network in the background by handling audio-visual manuscripts with moving pictures. The era of `Interactive Multi-Media Journals in Science and Technology' should begin. We think this is where the WWW has much to offer in scientific publication, communication and archival processes.
Scientific workers have taken a lead in this direction since the professional publishers have a commercial interest in maintaining paper-form periodicals. The move toward online journals began in the 1990s with a desire (and need) to have searchable, retrievable electronic archives, and soon changed the face of the pre-publication phase of scientific enquiry.
hep-th@xxx.lanl.gov1 (now a mailbox) was the first of the series of automated archives. It went online in August 1991, and soon became a formal means of communicating ongoing research in high-energy particle theory. Harnad 2 at Southampton is among the first few who tried to push the scientific community towards the use of electronic media for serious scientific communication and archiving. Bo-Christan 3 beautifully describes the drawbacks of the conventional publication process and a need for an electronic journal on the WWW. His stress has been on the pace of communication from author to reviewer and then to the reader. He appears to have missed out on more powerful abilities of the net.
The Association of Research Libraries4 has been providing "The Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists"5 every year since 1991. It is an electronic as well as a hard copy reference work for serials available via the Internet. The Directory is a tool for assisting individuals in locating Internet resources as well as for assisting librarians in building electronic collections. The 1996 edition of the Directory is a compilation of entries for over 3,000 academic and professional discussion lists and 1,688 electronic journals, newsletters, and newsletter-digests. This represents a 257% increase in journals and a 26% increase in lists since the 1995 edition. Summary analysis of the 6th edition indicates that the number of peer-reviewed titles is increasing and the majority of journals and newsletters continue to be available for free. Although this edition indicates a slight increase in fee-based titles over last year, the number of such titles is only 10% of the total. ARL also offers a searchable Directory of Scholarly and Professional E-Conferences. 6
An
e.journal7 web site also provides directions to a large set of electronic publications covering topics from science, arts, culture, travel, magazines and newspapers, etc. It lists over 500 electronic journals in the field of science, technical, medical and humanities - some reviewed and some not, and an equally large number of newspapers and magazines. There is yet another large database8 of Scientific, Technical and Medical peer-reviewed online journals with hyperlinks.We could not trace any Interactive Multi-Media Journals. Surprisingly, general sciences - physics, chemistry and life - have been a step ahead of engineering in using and promoting electronic media. There are very few electronic-only or even electronic versions of print-based engineering journals. It appears that most of the electronic journals got a boost primarily out of a desire to reduce the time between submission and publication. It is very difficult to visit all the web sites listed in e.journal or the directory of electronic journals to fully understand their operational mechanism and relative merits, but most of them are essentially a static visual form of their counterpart hard-copy journal. There are `electronic only journals' too, but with hardly any mentionable superiority in terms of appearance and substance. They certainly achieve the desired objective of fast publication, and also offer some of the merits of being on Internet such as economy, speed, search, tabletop convenience, hyperlinking etc. But they can actually do much more, particularly when there are applications which demand more than just a static display, and there are software tools which can advance this regime of communication
."A survey of STM online journals 1990-95: the calm before the storm"9 is a comprehensive review of online, full-text, peer reviewed, English language journals in the areas of science, technology, and medicine. An evaluative description is available for each journal cited, including features such as delivery mechanisms, presentation formats, and charging practices. Unfortunately it is too old for this subject, where the number of examples more than doubles with every passing year.
The subject of electronic publishing, though very recent, has grown to a stage where today we have journals dedicated to this subject. EJournal10 is an all-electronic, e-mail delivered, peer-reviewed, academic periodical, with a scope covering theory and practice surrounding the creation, transmission, storage, interpretation, alteration and replication of electronic "text" and "display" (broadly defined). It extends to cover the broader social, psychological, literary, economic and pedagogical implications of computer-mediated networks. The journal's essays are delivered free to Internet addressees. The other free electronic archive of articles is Journal of Electronic Publishing11, presenting a collection of thoughtful, provocative, and reflective articles on current issues and trends in electronic publishing. The archive is not distributed in paper form, but in reality is a visual form of a paperform journal. This journal, however, uses the concept of flexible volumes.
The efficiency and ease of online publication can be seen from InterJournal12. It is a refereed journal on the WWW. The articles are stored by the authors. The central journal database consists of abstracts, comments, relevant manuscript information and hyperlinks to the original articles. Manuscripts are found by using either the Browse Form or Search Form. The interesting character of this journal is in its automation. The journal is like a `self-maintained' electronic publishing house.
More recently, however, a start has been made towards creation of a multi-media journal in science, engineering and technology. The International Journal of Fluid Dynamics13 is an example of one such effort. Papers for this journal are submitted electronically and are peer reviewed. The layout of the paper is different from those of print journals and takes advantage of the HTM Language for the World Wide Web. Multimedia, even mpeg animations, are included. Access for the first journal is free, and anyone with access to the World Wide Web can go through the journal papers using a Web browsing package. There are many mirror sites for the journal, permitting easier access over the net.
The next generation of electronic journals will be the IMMJs. These should take advantage of the rapid development in Web based technologies such as the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) and Java, which will take the research closer to the intended audience in ``Smart'' form. Some examples of the power of VRML in presenting the user with an interactive interface can be experienced by visiting dynamic molecular models, interactive models and crystal structures at Chemical Examples of VRML14. These technologies can allow the user to actually perform online simulations and can let them test programs with their chosen parameters.
There are two ways to present our thoughts: State Transition Diagram and the Data Flow Diagram. The diagrams below exhibit two aspects of an IMMJ management system:
An Interactive Multi-Media Journal can offer a host of merits over the traditional paper-based journals and certainly a significant superiority even over current electronic forms of paper-based journals. The superiority of this journal is implicit in its name. Actually it is not possible to think of all of the superiorities at this instant, but those which form the motivation for this article are listed herein.
The Multi-Media aspect of the Journal can help scientists approach their viewers with manuscripts containing 3D models, animations, simulations, experimental recordings, and even with audio support wherever necessary. Typical examples are solid models, bio-organisms, anatomy process simulations, 3D grids in FEM and CFD, simulations of mixing flows, structural explosions, bullet penetrations, accidents and crashworthy studies, impact/contact mechanics, dynamic failures, acoustic experiments, vibration mode shapes, containment in engineering structures, turbulent flows, volcano eruptions, geological modeling, ecological observations, Video/audio recordings of experiments, virtual reality applications, and so on. These are obviously impossible with paper based journals. Color graphics enhance the clarity of the output for the viewer. Audio playback along with visual animations can recreate the authors' observations for the viewer/ reader.
Interactive visualizations, as in zooming, panning, and rotating in 3D space, can make it possible for a viewer to visualize information that authors overlooked or missed while interpreting research findings. It is possible to integrate actual simulation procedures with the manuscript such that the viewer/ readers can perform their own simulations. They need not content themselves with the presentation and conclusions provided by the author.
Interactive Multi-Media Journals can open up a whole new dimension to research communication and archiving.
In addition to the key merits listed above, which in themselves are a good enough reason to have Interactive Multi-Media Journals, there are a few secondary benefits which emerge out of on-line electronic nature of these journals. Some of these are already in place with current electronic publications. A few more are listed here.
Speed
The submitted manuscript can be made instantly available on the net with a tag ``DRAFT - under review and open for comments''. During the manuscript review period, it is possible to receive comments from viewers as well, leading to a better assessment of the work. After the review and correction process, this tag can be changed accordingly. Viewers can register themselves with the journal indicating the keywords of their interest. They can get an automatic e-mail intimation if one or more of the keywords matches with those of the manuscript. This implies that the time between authors'' submission and readers' access is brought down to the minimum possible (a virtual zero). Hard-copy journals today take anywhere between 6 months to 3 years to appear. Conferences and conference proceedings offer somewhat faster communication, but circulation is relatively limited and reviews are often less stringent.
Cost
Electronic media cut down the cost associated with hard-copy production, mailing, storage, purchase and preservation. Future libraries can be compact and may be fully accessible from home computers. This is particularly significant for libraries, given shrinking or essentially level budgets and publishers' ever-increasing subscription prices. Electronic publications can be made freely available to viewers around the world, attracting better participation, in particular from developing nations where organizations are not able to afford the subscription price.
Hyperlinking
The hyperlink ability can serve a host of purposes not possible with paper periodicals. Subsequent findings by the same or different authors can be hyperlinked. This means that electronic journals can have a two-way link in time, unlike traditional journals which can only refer backwards in time. The manuscripts may be networked. The cross-references can become `click accessible'. The links to authors can generate fast and convenient channels amongst researchers. Significant discussions can be appended to the manuscript. Direct access to specific manuscripts or their particular sections is also easily facilitated.
Archiving
The concept of periodic Volumes and a fixed number of articles for each volume can be discarded. Each manuscript would only need a unique ID number. One could think of `Flexible Virtual Volumes' wherein readers could `customize' volumes for use on their personal machines. These could be arranged by date, author, keywords, and subject. In fact, such customized volumes could include various Multi-Media journals on different subjects, making life simpler for researchers in interdisciplinary areas. Special issues could be generated by editors/ viewers, covering the full range of available manuscripts. Discussion on the net, connected with the manuscript, could be automatically archived in a separate file on the same web site with a hyperlink from the master manuscript.
And Much More
A counter keeping track of the number of visitors to the manuscript and total time viewed could help evaluate the relative significance of manuscripts and in some sense access the quality of work, a concept more revealing than simple citation count. If at a later date a major deficiency/ error were discovered in a published MM-manuscript, it could be appropriately tagged and hyperlinked to the corrected version published at the appropriate chronological location. Such a thing is not possible with hard copy journals whose copies sit in thousands of libraries. A lot more merits would emerge by themselves when such journals actually come into existence and start functioning.
If an Interactive Multi-Media Journal has a potential to offer so many merits over the traditional journals, then what has been holding it back?
The primary issue is the reluctance of the senior scientific community in recognizing the value of electronic publishing and accepting it as a professional medium for research communication. Some of the apprehensions about on-line publishing have been discussed by
Ginsparg15. Christan3 stresses that the process of peer review must be retained in order to maintain the reputation of the journal and to attract good quality work. A lot of concerns are related to supposed weaknesses of the electronic form of publishing. Scientists fear that electronic manuscripts may not be properly reviewed or screened for quality, which might encourage dissemination of incorrect material and quicken the pace of mediocre publication. This concern, however, confuses the method of production with the method of distribution. If electronic journals are reviewed with same rigor as paper journals, there should be no reason for their being rated inferior. This does require commitment and integrity on the part of the publisher and the reviewer to maintain the journal standards at par with the reputable paper journals of today.An Interactive Multi-Media Journal would provide a communication medium that would avoid many limitations of conventional journals. It would not be a mere replacement of a `book' or just a 'quick' information-distribution method, but a mechanism for generating a closer interactive relationship between a reader and the manuscript. Furthermore, a manuscript in itself can be far more comprehensive than is currently possible with paper alone.
The scientific community must be strongly urged to embrace this new medium.
The secondary issues connected with an interactive multi-media journal are related to its operation and maintenance, such as infrastructure, finance and software.
The question of effort involved in developing and viewing an Interactive Multi-Media manuscript already has an answer. Highly sophisticated post-processing tools are now being used by the scientific community, and in fact authors end up working hard on trying to convey their message using paper printing as a medium. To us, it looks as if document composing would be simpler for multi-media electronic publication. The availability of various editing tools and packages for creating Web based programs in HTML, VRML and Java makes this task feasible. Recent developments in Web presentations, such as frames-based web pages and the ability to display various fonts as well as mathematical equations, are now ready to be exploited. On the hardware side, the requirement is essentially one of the bandwidth availability between the client and the journal server.
The prime requirement at the publishers front is a stable, fast and reliable server and a few mirror sites on the internet with -
(i) the software for automated manuscript handling from submission through the review process and up to final available form. For example, something like
The authors, reviewers and readers need -
(i) software for interactive development and viewing of the multi-media manuscript. For example, mpeg movies of simulations, VRML programs, Java, etc.,
(ii) adequate bandwidth for accessing the full-length documents in acceptable time limits, or running interactive sessions.
(iii) secure web access, and
(iv) an email address.
There is a commercial angle to journal publishing, and it is this issue which is probably inhibiting the growth of online electronic journals to professional standards. Maintaining a professional standard would normally require a fulltime dedicated business setup. Financial resources would be necessary to begin the journal and later on to update the ever-changing hardware, improvements in the software, and expansion of the storage medium. All this put together would still be orders of magnitude less expensive than that required to roll out a paper-form journal. But if such a powerful journal can reach researchers' desks at extremely low cost, there is likely to be virtually no resistance to paying nominal subscription charges. Authors could be charged for those longer manuscripts demanding ultra-large storage. Multi-media advertising limited to a few seconds on a small frame could be attached to the manuscripts to generate income. A secure channel for financial transactions could be integrated with automated office administration.
Scientists might be worried about the plagiarism, copyright and security aspects of information handling on the Internet. Copyright laws might have to be reinterpreted to fully protect the original research reporter. Encrypted information and password access can help resolve issue of security.
If you have any comments or advice on this manuscript please send them to any of the following authors
ripi@aero.iisc.ernet.in
rch@mail.sd.bi.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
gopal@aero.iisc.ernet.in
koenke@venus.sd.bi.ruhr-uni-bochum.de