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Early studies of electronic journals (e-journals) viewed the web as a technological discontinuity that would deem traditional academic publishing null This article uses the industry life cycle framework as a lens to examine the formation of academic e-journals. The article proposes five factors affecting the academic publishing dominant design selection process, and examines these factors against six longitudinal case studies. The study concludes that from technical/functional, economic and market perspectives, e-journals are superior to paper journals (p journals) However academic social norms and the managerial processes needed to establish and maintain e-journals are more influential on their formation than the capabilities provided by the new technology. In addition, the long-term sustainability and survivability of e-journals depend on the administrative and managerial processes established by its management team. This study demonstrates that although the web enables a large number of new entrants and a variety of business and technical models, e-journals are a competency-enhancing innovation that relies on the existing expertise of professional publishers and the journal's ability to support the social and cultural needs of academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This case study examines how users of varied experience levels interact with an open-access content-management system (CMS) that lacks managed leadership. In particular, this case study compared how experienced and new users performed at a variety of tasks in a nonprofit community wiki to evaluate skill acquisition and possible skill loss. Research questions: (1) Do experienced users make more use of CMS features (templates, tags, hyperlinks) than new users, even without instruction? (2) Where do experienced and new users differ in successful task completion in the wiki? Situating the case: A number of content-management evaluations have utilized usability as a key method for evaluating user experience. In addition, Wikipedia has been a frequent target of investigation. This study looks to expand the crowdsourced wikis evaluated in this manner. Methodology: This case study started with a series of interviews to determine how users expected to use the community wiki. After the interviews, 10 users (5 new and 5 experienced) were evaluated for this study, each performing 6 tasks. About the case: This study looked at the initial installation of a local community wiki system. The system is a CMS designed for use by municipal territories to create crowdsourced wikis capable of preserving knowledge that would not traditionally fit in Wikipedia entries. Conclusions: Users who maintained sufficient interest in the wiki to become experienced wiki users developed a number of core skills even without organizational support, though new users demonstrated a steep skill deficit. However, new users actually demonstrated a greater capacity to highlight incompleteness of information within the wiki than experienced users in one key task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the use of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) by technical communicators to develop complex interactive documents for electronic publishing. Problems associated with page description approaches to exhibit electronic pages; Benefits of SGML.

Focuses on the structuring of complex information for electronic publication. Problems technical communicators face; How technical communicators try to improve the structure of complex information when it is to be presented electronically; Approach to assembling information for electronic publishing; Objects and the economy of repackaging information.