This is a paper that I wrote right before I discovered the World-Wide Web. Upon discovery of the World-Wide Web, I sort of lost interest in finishing the paper and submitting it to any journal. Some things I got right (like the need for caching) and some things I completely missed (like using the Internet -- sheesh.) Anyhow, if you have some time to kill, you might enjoy reading some early pre-WWW musings on electronic publishing.

Electronic Publishing

Abstract

Table of Contents

Introduction

The overall electronic publishing architecture is presented. In addition the economics of paper publishing are compared to electronic publishing economics.

Viewers

It is proposed that electronic publishing be presented to users as a gigantic world-wide library using the library as a metaphor. A rough cut is made at a user interface to convince people that an easy-to-use interface is feasible.

Repositories

Repositories store information in a variety of data formats. They also collect royalty payments as information is accessed.

Caches

Caches keep local copies of recently accessed information in order to reduce communication costs and information access latency.

Electronic Banking

Electronic banking is the technology that allows royalty payments to be transferred from information users to information providers.

Summary

A brief summary of the paper is provided.