BMJ 1995;311:879 (30 September)

Letters

Biomedical journals not dead yet

Electronic publications are hard to access

EDITOR,--We are sure that the paper free electronic dissemination of scientific journals is further away than Tony Delamothe and Ronald E Laporte and colleagues envisage.1 2 Computer literacy is not widespread, even in the United States, and is not helped by the computer industry, which often seems to conspire to make the use of personal computers an ordeal. Manuals are often written without simple sequential instructions to help the uninitiated, and this combined with repetitive, and often unnecessary, upgrading has not facilitated wider understanding.

For individual users the mystique and "technobabble" are never more apparent than when they use a modem to access remote services: the initiation strings and download protocols that are vital for successful connection are often impenetrable. Moreover, on line running costs are often high, and even those who connect to a network are often disappointed with the interface that they receive. . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

BMJ on the internet
Tony Delamothe
BMJ 1995 310: 1343-1344. [Extract] [Full Text]

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