Disadvantages of Web Publications - Essay Example

The electronic documents typically are delivered with a powerful mechanism to quickly search through them.

However, there are a few disadvantages of web publications. For instance, traditional print sources go through an extensive publication process that includes editing and article review. The process has fact-checkers, multiple reviewers, and editors to ensure the quality of the publication. Whereas anyone with a computer and access to the Internet can publish a website or electronic document. Most web documents do not have editors, fact-checkers, or other types of reviewers. Qualifications of an author are almost always necessary for print sources. Only qualified authors are likely to have their manuscripts accepted for publication. In web publication even if the author and purpose of a website can be determined, the qualifications of the author are not always given (Driscoll, 2006). There are still individuals who lack computer knowledge and access, print media would be of great use to such individuals.

The appearance of the internet gave the written word renewed importance. Electronic publishing might be the next best thing since the printing press, but it might not be very good business to throw out the paper publishing equipment yet. The success of electronic publishing depends on consumers being able to access, browse and purchase, and as of October 2003 only 61.8% of United States households had computers, and only 54.6% of U.S. households had an internet connection (Gallagher, M. & Cooper, K., 2004).

Electronic publishing would not be available to over 45% of the households in the U.S., people within those households would have to electronically publish newspapers and books at school, work, library, or within businesses that provide internet service to the public for a fee. While the delivery technique for scientific publications has changed rapidly, the economic ramifications have hardly changed at all. The extremely low marginal costs of selling information over the Internet favor the use of sales and marketing strategies such as bundling and differential pricing (Björk, 2004). Electronic publishing requires consumers to have a computer, internet access (dial-up, broadband, satellite, etc.), and all required operating systems and programs to download, view and print. With paper publishing, a company needs to transport the newspapers, books, or magazines to market for the consumer to purchase, the consumer just needs to locate and purchase, and no other equipment is needed. Locating documents has proven to be very easy on the internet, information is only a few clicks away, and with most inquiries, too much information.

The reader gets specific information in less time. Tools aid the readers to jump to particular sections, for instance, to references or graphics, and from there to the relevant section in the body of the text. Corrections can be included without difficulty. The information in journals and books can be updated at regular intervals. References can be linked to abstracting services, from where abstracts or full texts of cited papers can be obtained, and similar publications can be retrieved based on the original article.

Electronic documents can be accessed from anywhere at any time and by as many simultaneous users as needed (ESO.org, 1998). Customers who subscribe to newspapers or online journals can get access anywhere in the world, thus avoiding carrying it while traveling. It is also a good mode to save paper and is eco-friendly. These innovations have proven to be good for the advancement of the scientific community in a more ecological way. While most people recognize the need to save energy and recycle waste it takes much more than just awareness to get them to change their habits on a large scale. It takes a combination of measures of many different kinds, such as technical waste disposal infrastructure, legislation, and taxation to get massive behavioral changes underway (Björk, 2004).

Finally, it can be concluded that once technology increases, and consumers' desire to access electronically published articles versus paper increases, maybe then paper publishing can take the second seat to electronic. However, presently print media continues to be a dominant and important part of the publishing industry. A revolution in the publishing industry is catching up as a result of technological innovations particularly information technology and the Internet. It is essential to formulate strategies to provide the reader with a good source of information. Read More