Re: scientific publishing process (was Re: Cost and access)

the PDF has its value. yes, it ends up being printed and perhaps that is
its main limitation. it is not a document for the web. it is a document
engineered to preserve the layout. the format is closed, proprietary and
with little real methods that support interoperability or data reusability
-I am including in interoperability facilities for NLP and direct
processing of the content.

I keep wondering about alternatives. I am not against the PDF, it is just
one more format with a very limited and precise use, that of providing a
uniform layout. it is oversold and there are no viable alternatives. by
viable I mean embedded within a publishing workflow -that provided by word
processors as well as that in use by publishers. I dont see myself as an
editor receiving HTML and having to deal with the complexity in HTML. as an
author, I dont want more work than that implicit in putting together my
paper and submitting it, so every little burden on the author is just a no
go IMHO. However, as a scientist who is aware of the limitations of closed
formats, I would really like to have an alternative, one we can all live
with.



On Fri, Oct 3, 2014 at 9:11 AM, Phillip Lord <phillip.lord@newcastle.ac.uk>
wrote:

>
>
> In my opinion, the opposite is true. PDF I almost always end up printing
> out. This isn't the point though.
>
> Necessity is the mother of invention. In the ideal world, a web
> conference would allow only HTML submission. Failing that, at least HTML
> submission. But, currently, we cannot submit HTML at all. What is the
> point of creating a better method, if we can't use it?
>
> The only argument that seems at all plausible to me is, well, we've
> always done it like this, and it's too much effort to change. I could
> appreciate that.
>
> Anyway, the argument is going round in circles.
>
> "Peter F. Patel-Schneider" <pfpschneider@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > In my opinion PDF is currently the clear winner over HTML in both the
> ability
> > to produce readable documents and the ability to display readable
> documents in
> > the way that the author wants them to display.  In the past I have tried
> > various means to produce good-looking HTML and I've always gone back to a
> > setup that produces PDF.  If a document is available in both HTML and
> PDF I
> > almost always choose to view it in PDF.  This is the case even though I
> have
> > particular preferences in how I view documents.
> >
> > If someone wants to change the format of conference submissions, then
> they are
> > going to have to cater to the preferences of authors, like me, and
> reviewers,
> > like me.  If someone wants to change the format of conference papers,
> then
> > they are going to have to cater to the preferences of authors, like me,
> > attendees, like me, and readers, like me.
> >
> > I'm all for *better* methods for preparing, submitting, reviewing, and
> > publishing conference (and journal) papers.  So go ahead, create one.
> But
> > just saying that HTML is better than PDF in some dimension, even if it
> were
> > true, doesn't mean that HTML is better than PDF for this purpose.
> >
> > So I would say that the semantic web community is saying that there are
> better
> > formats and tools for creating, reviewing, and publishing scientific
> papers
> > than HTML and tools that create and view HTML.  If there weren't these
> better
> > ways then an HTML-based solution might be tenable, but why use a worse
> > solution when a better one is available?
> >
> > peter
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 10/03/2014 08:02 AM, Phillip Lord wrote:
> > [...]
> >>
> >> As it stands, the only statement that the semantic web community are
> >> making is that web formats are too poor for scientific usage.
> > [...]
> >>
> >> Phil
> >>
> >
> >
>
> --
> Phillip Lord,                           Phone: +44 (0) 191 222 7827
> Lecturer in Bioinformatics,             Email:
> phillip.lord@newcastle.ac.uk
> School of Computing Science,
> http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/phillip.lord
> Room 914 Claremont Tower,               skype: russet_apples
> Newcastle University,                   twitter: phillord
> NE1 7RU
>
>


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