Newsgroups: bit.listserv.pacs-l
Date:         Thu, 7 Jan 1993 08:16:10 CDT
From:         Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.BITNET>
Subject:      Electronic Publication and the Knowledge Glut, Pt. 1 of 2

From: "Stevan Harnad" <harnad@Princeton.EDU>
Subject: ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION AND THE KNOWLEDGE GLUT, Pt. 1 of 2

            ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION AND THE KNOWLEDGE GLUT
    Part I: New Electronic Search/Retrieval Tools Such As VERONICA
          Part II: Is There a Substitute for Peer Review?

                        [Posted with permission]

Despite the eulogy at the beginning, this letter actually raises some
points of criticism, which is why it is being posted, with replies, to
invite further discussion. -- Stevan Harnad, PSYCOLOQUY

aa> From: ashley@cs.unsw.oz.au (Ashley Aitken)
aa> Date: Fri, 1 Jan 93 23:44:29 +1100
aa> To:   psyc@pucc.bitnet (PSYCOLOQUY)
aa>
aa> I write to highly commend the APA, particularly those involved with its
aa> initiation, and Stevan Harnad, for the most interesting, appropriate,
aa> and modern form of scholarly discussion you have produced through the
aa> PSYCOLOQUY electronic refereed journal.
aa>
aa> I find PSYCOLOQUY very useful, it gives me the ability to easily (from
aa> the comfort of my office or living room chair) become a part of a large
aa> and international academic community.  There are, however, a number of
aa> points which I would like to make - most of which relate also to the
aa> traditional form of published journals.

Thanks for the kind words. I have some replies to your points below:

aa> 1. Thought needs to be given to ways to reduce the amount of material
aa>    published (in number and size).

Odd suggestion! I would have thought just the opposite. PSYCOLOQUY
published about 30 nonarchival Newsletter issues and 70 archival
journal items (refereed target articles, commentaries and responses) in
1992, and my explicit goal is to double or even triple the archival
portion in 1993!

If the submission volume gets high enough, PSYCOLOQUY may split into
separate sections that can be subscribed to independently, but it is
too early for that. For now, all it takes to discard an article in
which you are not interested is a keystroke. That means PSYCOLOQUY
could have cost you a MAXIMUM of 100 keystrokes all last year! And
surely reducing the publication volume for everyone is not the right
remedy for saving oneself (or anyone else) those keystrokes! PSYCOLOQUY
should of course continue to grow.

Currently, PSYCOLOQUY postings are set up to contain the most salient
portion at the top, so it is not necessary to scroll further if you find
that an item does not interest you. If we ever switch to posting only
abstracts, and archiving full texts so that only those who are
interested in retrieving them need do so, this still won't save that
many keystrokes, as an abstract takes the same space as the first
half-screenful of the full text. I don't think publishing only periodic
lists of titles will be enough for those who take a more active interest
in the contents, but if this is voted in by the PSYCOLOQUY readership,
I am of course ready to comply.

An even more extreme solution would be to have no subscribership at all
(hence no unnecessary keystrokes). This is not as odd it may sound. At
the end of this message I will demonstrate how anything in the
PSYCOLOQUY archive can be scanned (browsing contents, titles),
full-text searched, and instantly retrieved any time, anywhere, with a
very small, simple number of menu-driven keystrokes using a remarkable
new public-domain search tool called Veronica (which will no doubt soon
be superseded by even more powerful tools). A demonstration of Veronica
follows this message.

So, in principle, the days of direct subscription, even electronic
subscription are already over! You always have the option of just doing
occasional searches on your own initiative, like browsing a journal's
contents in the library (except that that you no longer need to go to
the library -- or scan Current Contents).

Some people will no doubt continue to prefer to subscribe, however,
despite the few extra keystrokes it entails to discard the items that
don't interest them.

aa> 2. Thought needs to be given to more powerful indexing and referencing
aa>    techniques.

Look at the sample of Veronica below and you will see that not only has
thought been given, but some unprecedentedly powerful tools are already
available! Boolean search is next, on SGML fields or full text, and even
smarter tools (such as Bellcore's Latent Semantic Indexing, a way of
searching conversationally in ordinary English, now being adapted to
PSYCOLOQUY by Assistant Editor Malcolm Bauer) are not far behind.

aa> 3. The refereeing procedure needs to be made more explicit and open to
aa>    discussion.

I don't know how familiar you are with peer review for scholarly and
scientific publication. An Editor normally consults 1 - 3 experts, who
have the option of being anonymous. That system is medium independent.
As it happens, because of the additional goal of eliciting Peer
Commentary, PSYCOLOQUY often consults even more referees than that (the
recent target articles by Garnham and by Glenberg & Mathews were
reviewed by over TEN referees each, and underwent a major round of
revision before acceptance). Commentaries and authors' responses are
also refereed (although often only by the Editor); and of course the
peer commentary is itself a form of open "refereeing." So I would say
PSYCOLOQUY's refereeing system is not only at least as rigorous as
standard peer review, but it is more broad-based and answerable to the
peer community.

aa> For all of these, although I have ideas, I naturally don't have complete
aa> solutions.  My one comment would be that with these times of change one
aa> should not hold back - be bold, incorporate new ideas and technologies. I
aa> personally feel we should make a major break from the traditional pub-
aa> lication process.
aa>
aa> Lastly, as with Stevan, I am strongly opposed to charging for individual
aa> issues.  I think in the electronic form the distribution (and media) cost
aa> should (eventually) be so minimal not as to warrant an individual charge.
aa> Unfortunately, in other publishing arenas even though the cost of dist-
aa> ribution has been (or could be) dramatically reduced the cost to the in-
aa> dividual has not come down.
aa>
aa> Once again I thank you all for PSYCOLOQUY and trust you take my suggestions
aa> in the good spirit that they are given.
aa>
aa> Ashley Aitken
aa> E-MAIL      :               ashley@cs.unsw.oz.au                     AARNet
aa> Academic Address:                   Residential Address:
aa> Schools of EE and CS&E, (AI Lab)    c/o Basser College, (Flat 7A)
aa> University of New South Wales,              The Kensington Colleges,
aa> Box 1,PO KENSINGTON,N.S.W.,2033.    Box 24,PO KENSINGTON,N.S.W,2033.
aa> AUSTRALIA.                          AUSTRALIA.
aa> Ph. (02) 697-3940 Fx. (02) 663-4576 Ph. (02) 663-8117 (Preferred!)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

             HOW TO USE VERONICA TO DO FULL TEXT SEARCHING
             AND RETRIEVAL OF ALL BACK ISSUES OF PSYCOLOQUY

(1) Call up gopher, by typing "gopher". You will get a screen like this:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                    Internet Gopher Information Client v1.1

                               Internet Resources

      1.  Apple Computer Higher Education gopher server/
      2.  FTP Searches/
      3.  Federal Information Exchange <TEL>
      4.  Geographical Name Service <TEL>
      5.  Internet Mail Guide <TEL>
      6.  Internet Resource Guide <?>
      7.  Knowbot Network Email Directory <TEL>
      8.  Sun Managers Archive/
      9.  The Cleveland Freenet <TEL>
      10. The Whole Internet: User's Guide & Catalog/
 -->  11. Veronica (search menu items in most of GopherSpace)/
      12. WAIS Based Information/
      13. Weather/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------


(2) Select Veronica (11.). You will get a screen like this:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
              Veronica (search menu items in most of GopherSpace)

      1.  About veronica.
 -->  2.  Search many (300) Internet gopher menus by _SINGLE_ keyword  <?>
      3.  Experimental :)   ( specify desired item types ) <?>
      4.  Help on how to use Experimental veronica.
      5.  Proposals for veronica Development.
      6.  gopher.protocol.
------------------------------------------------------------------------


(3) Select Search 2. You will get a screen like this:

 +--------Search many (300) Internet gopher menus by _SINGLE_ keyword --------+
 |                                                                            |
 | Words to search for  psycoloquy                                            |
 |                                                                            |
 |                                       [Cancel ^G] [Accept - Enter]         |
 |                                                                            |
 +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


(4) Enter psycoloquy  in the blank space (as above). Next screen:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Search many (300) Internet gopher menus by _SINGLE_ keyword : psycoloquy

      1.   About the PSYCOLOQUY Archive.
 -->  2.   Psycoloquy Searchable Archive <?>
      3.  Volume 1 (1990)/
      4.  Volume 2 (1991)/
      5.  Volume 3 (1992)     [last change Dec.22 1992]/
------------------------------------------------------------------------


(5) Select Psycoloquy Searchable Archive (2.). Next screen:
 +----------------------- Psycoloquy Searchable Archive-----------------------+
 |                                                                            |
 | Words to search for  reading                                               |
 |                                                                            |
 |                                       [Cancel ^G] [Accept - Enter]         |
 |                                                                            |
 +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


(6) Select any topic or author (e.g. "reading," as above). Next screen
    yields every issue of PSYCOLOQUY that has "reading" in its text:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     Psycoloquy Searchable Archive: reading

      1.  psyc.arch.2.9.91   /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
      2.  psyc.91.reading.1.skoyles   /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
      3.  psyc.arch.2.8.91   /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
      4.  psyc.92.3.06.reading.7.skoyles   /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
      5.  psyc.91.reading.2.coltheart   /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
      6.  psyc.91.reading.5.skoyles   /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
      7.  psyc.91.reading.3.skoyles   /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
      8.  psyc.92.3.13.reading.8.cassidy   /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
      9.  psyc.92.3.61.reading.10.small   /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
      10. psyc.92.3.63.reading-inference-1.1.garnham   ..ves/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
      11. psyc.92.3.05.reading.6.cassidy   /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
      12. psyc.92.3.64.reading-inference-2.1.glenberg-mathew   ..oloquy/92.V3/.
      13. psyc.91.reading.4.reilly   /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
 -->  14. psyc.92.3.14.reading.9.skoyles   /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
      15. psyc.92.index   /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
      16. psyc.91.index   /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
      17. psyc.arch.1.11.90   /archives/Psycoloquy/90.V1/.
      18. psyc.arch.1.16.90   /archives/Psycoloquy/90.V1/.
      19. psyc.arch.1.13.90   /archives/Psycoloquy/90.V1/.
      20. psyc.arch.1.8.90   /archives/Psycoloquy/90.V1/.
      21. psyc.arch.1.15.90   /archives/Psycoloquy/90.V1/.
      22. psyc.arch.2.3.91   /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
      23. psyc.arch.2.7.91   /archives/Psycoloquy/91.V2/.
      24. psyc.arch.1.14.90   /archives/Psycoloquy/90.V1/.
      25. psyc.92.3.11.mood.10.plutchik   /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
      26. psyc.92.3.16.space.1.bryant   /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
      27. psyc.92.3.23.consciousness.8.laming   /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
      28. psyc.92.3.27.consciousness.12.noble   /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
      29. psyc.92.3.07.mood.6.morris   /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
      30. psyc.92.3.08.mood.7.nesse   /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.
      31. psyc.newsletter.Dec.16.1   /archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

(7) Finally, select (say) item 14 above, which actually retrieves the
    article itself from the archive (only the beginning is displayed
    here for illustration):
     This section is from the document
     '//archives/Psycoloquy/92.V3/psyc.92.3.14.read ing.9.skoyles'.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 02 Mar 92 00:29:36 EST
PSYCOLOQUY   ISSN 1055-0143     Mon, 02 Mar 92

From: John R Skoyles <ucjtprs@ucl.ac.uk>
Subject: psyc.92.3.14.reading.9.skoyles: Logographic Reading: Are We So Differen
t?

        Logographic Reading: Are We So Different?
                Reply to Cassidy

                John R. Skoyles,
                ucjtprs@ucl.ac.uk
                Department of Psychology
                ucjtprs@ucl.ac.uk
                Department of Psychology
                University College London
                London WC1E 6BT

I do not see where Cassidy and I disagree on children's logographic
reading. I agree that phonological reading follows logographic reading.
I mentioned in my prior reply (PSYC 3.1.2.2 1992) that I had previously
proposed this in (Skoyles 1988): "Children pass through several stages
in learning to read English. Initially -- often before entering school
-- children recognise some frequently occurring words using visual
`logographic' characteristics. Most children then quickly learn to use
the phonological information present in written words. The limited
vocabulary of logographically recognisable word could provide the
examples needed to train the phonological network." I think Cassidy and
I are in agreement.

Cassidy claims that I deny children use an abstract letter-to-sound

--More--(32%)[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]

Press <RETURN> to continue, <m> to mail, 
 to save, or <p> to print:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

(8) The file can then be printed out directly, or you can save it in
a local file, or have it emailed to you.

So if you have Gopher/Veronica at your site and you don't want to
receive articles you are not interested in, cancel your PSYCOLOQUY
subscription and simply use Veronica as often as you like to browse
the contents. Veronica will also call up the constantly updated
cumulative Table of Contents for each volume/year of PSYCOLOQUY.

End of Part 1 of 2
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU