Not everyone has access to the Web now, and in the future the situation is somewhat uncertain in that parts of it may be privatized. In the U.S. we can expect that most colleges and universities will provide some kind of access to students and faculty. Some public libraries already provide Web access and many provide Internet access. If we distributed simply by e-mail, it would be sent to someone's electronic mailbox where they could download it and print out their own copy. Abroad the situation is uneven.
Access is much less likely in developing nations and areas.
Posting Jump Cut on the Web would give access to people who could never expect to buy a subscription in U.S. dollars. Given that the prospective readers of Jump Cut around the world work in media areas, they are among the most likely to gain access to the net. B. Few people want to read a long article on a screen-thus people would likely have to download it. All this promises to change drastically in the next few years. And time on line costs money, especially for users of commecial online services.