Just as the invention of the printing press opened the written word beyond the world of scribes and conclaves of learned individuals to untold numbers of persons, in like manner the coming of the Internet has opened up the world of scholarly publishing to a worldwide audience, most of which has no familiarity with disciplinary journals in their paper form, which for generations have held sway in regard to the advancement of scholarship. The landscape in publishing is, however, changing rapidly and radically. Increasingly, scholars and authors expose their original work directly to very large populations of peers and others from around the globe as they strive to refine and advance a range of concepts, ideas, hypotheses, theories, and empirical generalizations.
This contrasts ever so sharply with the traditional "peer review" (review by two to five individuals in a particular discipline) of scholarship prior to its publication in paperbound academic journals. Peer review now takes on a broader and more profound meaning, given the range of peers who are now positioned to review the scholarship of an individual via the World Wide Web. What is being witnessed in this exciting and invaluable development in academic publishing from niche exposure to truly global exposure is akin to the difference between the "World Series" in baseball and the "World Cup" in soccer.
It is against the backdrop that has just been called out that the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Libraries have developed a new publication series on the Internet entitled the "Golda Meir Library Feature Article." Given the empirical fact that the featured articles will be accessible to a worldwide audience, it is hoped that through this access both scholars and the libraries at UWM will make truly significant contributions to the advancement of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom across the planet in the years and decades to come.
Winston Van Horne
| Social Sciences ON VIOLENCE IN THE CITY: THE DESPAIR, HOPE, UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS, RESIGNATION/DESPERATION SYNDROME |
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By Winston A. Van Horne |
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| Professor/Chair, University Library Committee Department of Africology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee |
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