But, the evolution of electronic media was merely just beginning. The second was the emergence of a dependable, global public transport system for information - the Internet. Today, we are presented with an opportunity to provide access into an unlimited amount of orthopedic resources - provided the economics can be worked out. But many of the implications of electronic access are for more profound. Let's review a few of the more obvious benefits.
Electronic distribution has the ability to nearly eliminate distribution costs for information.
Nothing physical needs to be duplicated nor transported. Since nothing is physically reproduced until the time it is needed, maintaining electronic information resources in the networked paradigm means that every resource can be constantly updated and the content revised. There is no point where the intellectual content is necessarily committed to physical media. The concept that somehow published, printed material is either more accurate or more permanent is simply an illusion - nothing more. The lack of physical media results in the ability to eliminate excess inventory.