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DOI: 10.1145/1897816.1897821
David Roman

end of Days for

Communications in Print?

Calls to update the peer-review publishing model to accommodate the rise in on-
line publishing ( http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2011/1/103232) raise a question
about the durability of print publications and of the printed magazine version of
Communications of the ACM. How long will it last? ACM asked this very question
in 2006 before starting the Communications revitalization project. “We talked to
numerous ACM members about their expectations for the flagship publication.
We explicitly asked whether they would like to continue to see Communications
as a print publication,” says Communications Editor-in-Chief Moshe Y. Vardi.
“The vast majority expressed a strong desire to continue to see Communications
in print.”
Members want multiple formats, including print. Institutional libraries and
individual members like print for archival reasons and for “ease of use,” says
Scott Delman, ACM’s Director of Group Publishing. “Until this demand com-
pletely or significantly disappears, publishers will likely still continue to print
paper issues.”
While commercial publishers struggle to update their business models, ACM
and other scholarly publishers have already made a capable transition from
print to digital media.

Half of commercial publishers generated less than 10% of their 2009 revenue through e-media, according to Folio magazine ( http://www.foliomag.com/2009/ e-media-reality-check). In contrast, “most mid-sized to large [scholarly] publishers currently experience something like 85% to 90% of their revenues from online business,” Delman says. ACM has been a predominantly digital publisher for a number of years, he says.

Even so, the forecast for print is fuzzy. “I am convinced that we will not have a
print issue of Communications in 25 years, but it is hard to predict when it will go
away,” says EiC Vardi. Change will start, says BLOG@CACM blogger Ed Chi of the
Palo Alto Research Center, with scholarly journals going paperless and digitally
publishing online first. “This will happen gradually, and only if there are ways to
manage the publication process, and the archival aspect of publications.”
Newer, dynamic digital formats will also marginalize print media. “More and
more, there is experimentation with delivery in mobile-friendly formats, but it is
fair to say that these formats will not likely supplant print or Web-based formats
for some time,” Delman says. With its development of a mobile Web site and
mobile apps, Communications will continue to follow the technology curve of
e-readers and tablet computers, Vardi says. “At some point in the future, the user
experience of reading on mobile devices will be so good that print will start fad-
ing away as an anachronism.”
Digital media will free Communications from the constraints of print, Vardi
says. “As we gradually shift the focus from print to digital publishing, the articles
we publish will become less textual and less linear, and will take advantage of
the flexibility and richness of the digital medium. I can imagine in the not-too-
distant future an article on computational whiskey making, where the reader
can actually smell the whiskey!”
Salut!

An ADVocAte foR Women in inDiA

gayatri Buragohain, india’s aCM- W ambassador and a member of the aCM india Council, is an outspoken advocate for women in india who face an opportunity deficit due to a legacy of gender bias. Buragohain founded the nonprofit Feminist approach to Technology (Fa T) in 2007, and was the recipient of the anita Borg institute’s Change agent award for 2010 for her advocacy and mentoring efforts.

“sadly, there is not much
awareness about women’s
role in technology in india,”
Buragohain says. “My
motivation for starting Fa T
was to create awareness and
encourage discussions and
actions to bridge the gap.”
Based in new delhi,
Buragohain not only focuses
on providing local women
with technical training and
vocational guidance through
Fa T, but also leads a company
called Joint Leap Technologies,
a technology consulting and
development firm that works
closely with the Fa T training
center and serves as its primary
financial donor.

Buragohain says her
advocacy efforts could be
significantly aided by more
studies that are specific to
india and address the concerns
she is raising. “The concept
of women’s rights is not very
popular in india,” Buragohain
says. “While there are a lot of
efforts to eradicate violence and
discrimination against women,
most women are unaware of
these efforts.”
Looking ahead, Buragohain
says she is optimistic
that education and work
opportunities will improve
through policy changes
designed to counteract long-
standing stereotypes about
women not being adept at
scientific or analytical work.
“When we talk of a world of
equality and gender justice,
equal participation of women
in decision-making is a must,”
she says.

—Kirk L. Kroeker