EBOOK-List Mailing List; Your Web Page

Jon Noring (noring@netcom.com)
Mon, 8 Jan 1996 17:18:13 -0800

Hello,

OmniMedia Electronic Books has compiled a fairly complete listing of Web
sites (including ftp and gopher sites) which provide/archive electronic texts
and electronic books. Your site is included on the list.

To view the complete list, go to our Web page at:

http://www.awa.com/library/omnimedia/

and find the link to "Links to other etext/ebook sites" at the bottom of
the main page.

Please let me know if your link is satisfactory. I'd also like suggestions
for other sites to add or if some of the ftp/gopher sites have upgraded to
Web sites (Wiretap has just moved to the Web, which I haven't yet updated
at my Web page, but will very soon.)

In addition, and in case you have not heard, a new mailing list, EBOOK-List
has been created. It is devoted to discussion of all aspects of electronic
books. We currently have over 150 subscribers, and it is growing fast. I
certainly hope you decide to subscribe to it as well as contribute to it.
I've appended the announcement below which will tell you more about EBOOK-List
and how to subscribe to it.

If you are not the person to contact on these matters, please let me know who
is so I can get in touch with them.

Thanks!

Jon Noring
OmniMedia
EBOOK-List Administrator

--
OmniMedia Electronic Books | URL:  http://www.awa.com/library/omnimedia
9671 S. 1600 West St.      | Anonymous FTP:
South Jordan, UT 84095     | ftp.awa.com  /pub/softlock/pc/products/OmniMedia
801-253-4037               | E-mail:  omnimedia@netcom.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     

From: noring@netcom.com (Jon Noring) Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT: Electronic Books Mailing List, EBOOK-List Date: Thu, 4 Jan 1996 22:52:22 GMT

[Please forward this announcement to relevant newsgroups and mailing lists, and to those individuals who might be interested. Instructions for how to subscribe to EBOOK-List are given near the end of this post.]

Hello,

I am announcing the launch of a new Internet mailing list, EBOOK-List. This mailing list is open to all individuals and organizations interested in developing, researching, producing, authoring, publishing, distributing, reading, and even dreaming about electronic books. That should include just about everybody!

It's important to first of all attempt the "impossible" and define an electronic book. An electronic book is a text document (of the size and subject matter which if printed on paper would be regarded in our culture a "book") that is stored as an electronic data file and viewed electronically using a dedicated program on a computer or a specialized reader (which is yet to be developed and marketed.) Although text is emphasized, it is obvious that electronic books can also contain image, sound and video files, just as paper books today can and often do contain printed images. One can properly regard electronic books as being a subset, albeit a fuzzy one, of the more general and equally hard-to-define technology called "electronic publishing."

The primary long-term goal of EBOOK-List is to create a unified community of individuals and organizations (both commercial and non-profit) which will promote the continued research, development and improvement of electronic books, viewing software for computers, and portable electronic book readers.

A second, and obviously more immediate goal, is to provide a convenient and centralized forum by which information and ideas about electronic books are exchanged.

Everybody is welcome to contribute to EBOOK-List, even those who do not support the primary goal. All viewpoints are welcome, as long as they are electronic-book related in some way.

A sample list of topics to discuss on EBOOK-List include, among *many* others:

1) The electronic publishing formats currently available that could be used for producing electronic book titles. What are their comparative advantages and disadvantages? Does there now exist the "ideal" format?

2) Should a "standardized" electronic book format be developed for the long-term future? Is it even possible?

3) The advantages and disadvantages of electronic books over their paper cousins -- present and future. What are the social ramifications when (or "if", for the skeptics out there) electronic books become dominant in our society?

4) What will the electronic book reader of the future look like? What technology development is required to make such readers attractive to the point that electronic books will become dominant over paper books? How many years from now will this happen? Do we have the technology today to make a marketable portable electronic book reader, or do we have to wait for substantially cheaper and much higher resolution flat screens to be developed?

5) Network vs. local access of electronic books. Do consumers prefer to actually possess their own copy to store on their own computer/reader rather than pay to access it elsewhere over a network?

6) Publishing issues: Will electronic book publishing allow authors to gain more control over their works? Will it allow authors to bypass publishers and self-publish? How will electronic book titles of the future be marketed -- over the Internet or via portable media like CD-ROM and its successors? How will the electronic book consumer be able to sort through the expected huge number of electronic book titles produced outside of the "big" publishers?

7) Copyright/security/encryption issues: Is it possible to develop electronic books and readers that provide copyright security to authors and publishers, such as the use of machine-specific passwords (e.g., SoftLock), data encryption, etc.?

Hopefully the above *partial* list of topics to discuss should give you a better idea of the purpose of EBOOK-List.

Now, for the important administrative details. Although this list is open to all viewpoints, and it is unmoderated (meaning I don't pre-screen posts), I will not tolerate obviously off-topic posts, personal attacks, blatant, hyped-up promotional advertisements, and anything else that disrupts the goals of this mailing list outlined above. As the creator and current administrator of this list, I reserve the right to remove any subscriber for whatever reason I choose, and even for no reason at all (obviously, in these litigious times I have to state this policy to cover my kazisky.)

However, those who know me from administering other mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups know that I am fair, that I tolerate and even promote differing viewpoints, and I give people the benefit of the doubt (I *usually* play by the three strikes and you're out policy, but for unusually egregious violations I might waive this policy.) Call me a benevolent dictator if you will.

Once the mailing list begins to mature and hit its stride, I will entertain the idea of transfering administration of it to a committee using written objective criteria to decide on what is a "proper" post. But for now it will be a benevolent dictatorship. You just have to trust my judgement -- I will do my best to keep a "hands off" policy. We'll see how this works and if it doesn't, I'll make changes under advice from the majority of the subscribers.

I also hope that many of you will become active participants and do more than just occasionally post. Since my free time is limited, and will be devoted to administering this mailing list, I'd like to see someone else put together, periodically update and post a FAQ (Frequently-Asked Questions). I'd also like to see somebody put together a list of electronic book resources (e.g., publishers, authoring tools, research projects, companies, etc.). And possibly somebody could take on the huge task of cataloging all the existing electronic books out there. Of course, I'm sure there are other similar things that could be done which I have not thought of -- feel free to take the initiative and make something happen. Who knows, this mailing list could eventually lead to the establishment of an electronic book advocacy organization (if one doesn't exist now -- I am not aware of any.) I also see new companies being created because of collaboration and partnerships developed on this list. Entrepreneurship will definitely be encouraged.

[One important note about advertising. I have no difficulty with commercial advertising on EBOOK-List *as long* as it follows the goals of EBOOK-List given above, AND that the advert is *informational* and NOT *promotional* in nature -- there is a BIG and easily discernable difference. Most of us know a *promotional* advert when we see it -- it is usually full of sales/marketing hype and jargon, while an *informational* advert is written in a much more objective, and even boring, "here's the information" manner. Information exchange is one of the goals of this mailing list, not demonstrating how good you are at manipulating others by obfuscating information using hype and emotionally-laden words. I *highly* encourage those who wish to post an advert to first run it by me (noring@netcom.com) for evaluation and criticism. Of course, you can post it without me evaluating it (since this is an unmoderated mailing list), but then you run the risk of having your subscription revoked if the post is outside the guidelines I mentioned above.]

------------------------------ How to Subscribe to EBOOK-List ------------------------------

It's very simple. Send an e-mail message to:

majordomo@aros.net

In the body of the e-mail message (and not the Subject: line as it will be ignored) place the following line (note the case!):

subscribe ebook-list

An informational file will then be sent back to you telling you how to post to the EBOOK-List mailing list and other administrative matters.

Hope to see you on EBOOK-List !

Jon Noring

-- 
OmniMedia Electronic Books | URL:  http://www.awa.com/library/omnimedia
9671 S. 1600 West St.      | Anonymous FTP:
South Jordan, UT 84095     | ftp.awa.com  /pub/softlock/pc/products/OmniMedia
801-253-4037               | E-mail:  omnimedia@netcom.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     OmniMedia Electronic Books -- http://www.awa.com/library/omnimedia/