Online Versus Print

Choosing a Medium

The August 2003 issue of docume.nt magazine offers this piece of advice. "In the end, it is not the task of document professionals to favor one medium over another—paper vs. digital—but to match document media to specific corporate and customer requirements. A truly innovative document strategy effectively leverages both paper and digital documents to address specific corporate and customer requirements along the way."

Academics shouldn't be put off by the talk of corporate and business needs. The application to the university setting is clear enough. Whether your "customer" is a professor, a student, a department head, or a textbook publisher, in the document world the user needs to know how to "leverage" the technology to match the requirements of the job. You might get the requirements from a syllabus or a grant proposal spec sheet. You might be shooting for an "A" or $25,000 to underwrite research. Whatever your goal, it's worth the effort to decide on a publishing strategy that will accomplish the task.

It is no longer a question of whether or not people who are publishing will use computer technology; it is only a question of extent. How well will you use the technology that is available? Hopefully this online course will help you use the available technology more efficiently and effectively.