Government use of e-
books (e.g., by the military) may have the same beneficial
effect.
As standards converge (Adobe's Portable Document Format and
Microsoft's MS Reader LIT format are likely to be the
winners), as hardware improves and becomes ubiquitous (within
multi-purpose devices or as standalone higher quality units),
as content becomes more attractive (already many new titles
are published in both print and electronic formats), as more
versatile information taxonomies (like the Digital Object
Identifier) are introduced, as the Internet becomes more
gender-neutral, polyglot, and cosmopolitan - e-publishing is
likely to recover and flourish.
This renaissance will probably be aided by the gradual decline
of print magazines and by a strengthening movement for free
open source scholarly publishing. The publishing of periodical
content and academic research (including, gradually, peer
reviewed research) may be already shifting to the Web. Non-
fiction and textbooks will follow. Alternative models of
pricing are already in evidence (author pays to publish,
author pays to obtain peer review, publisher pays to publish,
buy a physical product and gain access to enhanced online
content, and so on).
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